Most designers stipulate that typical app design requests are focused around iPhone apps, but you may also receive a few knocks within the Android realm. Either way, when looking to design a basic mobile app, it’s rather beneficial to know a few of the archetypes floating around. This not only helps you communicate with the client what their desires are, but it helps you create the app,plus knowing what you’re talking about is halfway to success.
- Table-based Apps: A good way to think about these sorts of app designs is to consider the stock email client that comes with the iPhone. You start with a master table that the user must make a selection from. Clicking on any of the options returns a second list with even more specific options. Eventually, the user ends up at a very specialized page of information, from which they are free to read, watch, etc. In our example, this would be like choosing an email account, then a sorting box, then lastly an email. These are called table-based apps, for what we hope are obvious reasons.
- Games: Thankfully, we don’t think we’ll have to do much explaining here. A game is, of course, anything that is built for entertainment but doesn’t necessarily reveal any sort of educational or informational value. Then again, we suppose it could do either of these things, though it’s not quite the intent. Think about items like Angry Birds, PapiJump, Air Control, or any of the thousand other now classic iOS titles that people tend to play during the morning commute. That’s what we’re angling at here, and it’s an hot business to be in.
- Fully Dynamic Apps: Lastly, a fully dynamic app design is for any app that entirely uses outside information to fill out its tables. All social networking applications are fully dynamic. For instance, Twitter needs a connection to Twitter’s servers to work on the iPhone. In essence, a fully dynamic app is like a window into another room. It allows users to access the same features they love on the desktop, only through the smaller screen of their iPhone.
