Interactive Design Lab

Pondering the Future of Flash in an iPad World?

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:18:22 +0000

A List Apart has an excellent article by Dan Mall about the necessity (or lack thereof) of a battle between Flash and standards-based development. Want to learn a lot about the current state of the web and check out some mind-blowing interactive experiences at the same time? Read on.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flashstandards/

Marketing Your iPhone App

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:23:08 +0000

Here is a very condensed version of my notes from the “Marketing iPhone Apps” seminar at the iPhone Forum back in November:

There are about 150 blogs that announce/review things like iPhone apps (e.g., TechCrunch)

Moopf: scrapes reviews, rankings from international iTunes stores

You should produce marketing assets for your app before launch; some of the assets can be included in your page in the App Store

Have a US-based iTunes account if possible

You must have a website that explains the app: have screenshots and video

Provide a feature in your app to “tell a friend”—unlockable content if you tell 5 friends

Put an ad for your app inside other people’s apps

Underserved markets: children, women, Latinos (my idea: create an app for female Latino children)

Track everything you can with analytics

UPDATE: Smashing Magazine has just published an article on marketing your iPhone app:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/03/how-to-market-your-mobile-app/

Robot Salmon

tvoyer — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:19:44 +0000

Check out our web design school blog. We are students at Capilano University. Web design is our passion.

Robot Salmon

ROBOT SALMON

We decided to call our blog Robot Salmon because sometimes we feel like digital fish swimming up stream against a strong current of digital content. We thought it was fitting; like we were swimming up stream to spawn creations into the world… figuratively of course. Robot Salmon is our attempt to catalog and curate our journey to learn to become interactive designers.

If you are a web designer, information architect, web developer, copy editor, taxidermist or print designer then Robot Salmon can offer you some nostalgia (and hopefully some laughs) on your journey upstream and into the cloud.

We are Tayber Voyer, Nicole Farley, Laura Mason, Max Stockholder and Kyle Brownlow. You can read more about us individually in our profile pages. Together we are Robot Salmon.

Had to Think About It

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:20:10 +0000

Not an easy question—Microsoft or Apple?

http://www.prostress.com/2010/01/21/artificial-intelligence/

Online Portfolios

bcalvert — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:26:19 +0000

The clock is ticking on the 2010 graduating class preparing their online portfolios. The challenge of presenting 2 years worth of work through an authentic online portfolio is a task they are more than ready to complete, but it never hurts to have a top 10 list to drive further inspiration…http://designshack.co.uk/articles/inspiration/10-expert-tips-for-designing-a-one-page-portfolio

Great Products Are Triumphs of Taste

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:51:52 +0000

Signals vs. Noise has a thoughtful article on how designers grow:

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2129-great-products-are-triumphs-of-taste

Whither Flash?

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:08:11 +0000

Everybody’s favourite standardista, Zeldman, posts a thoughtful assessment of the future of Flash in a world of iPads, iPhones, and standards-based design:

http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/

To finish up (maybe), read Zeldman’s follow-up to the post as well:

http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/03/ahem/

Directions for Optimization

bcalvert — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:19:09 +0000

In the SEO / Analytics course Interactive Design students are optimizing four new sites surrounding this site and learning about the importance of keywords, links, descriptions, tagging, social media integration and above all else - compelling content creation.

Explore the directions north, south, east and west for their experiences.

Monkeying Around

jackie — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:05:52 +0000

Recently in visual design class, students were challenged to draw monkeys using only type.

Here are the results:

The Decade In Design

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:09:16 +0000

Ten years of Apple, starchitects, and design for change:

The Decade In Design