What is the best way to work with a user interface/user experience designer on an iPhone app?

Question

I have a friend who is a graphic designer & user experience designer who will be collaborating with me to develop an iPhone app. He does not have previous iPhone experience. What is the best way to work with him on developing the user interface, i.e. custom colors for UITableViews, UIButtons, etc? We've looked into Photoshop mock ups, but that depends on me (the developer) implementing what he drew in Photoshop, which might get tricky.

Most of the methods I've thought of have long turn around time, i.e. he uses Photoshop, sends me the image, I develop, send him a test build of the app, he doesn't like it, rinse, lather, repeat.

Do you think it's feasible to set him up with Interface Builder so he can modify XIB files? Potentially, he could build and run the app in the simulator...

Does anyone have experience doing this? Any suggestions?

Thanks much, -dan

Answer 1

One suggestion is to start with the elements that do not need graphic design but you know they will be there, this will be things like table views, tab bars, any UI element provided by UIKit or even custom UI elements that you make...I would say you will probably have most of your app made by this approach and will look VERY plain...once you have that basis you should be able to work with the graphic designer and identify where and what he needs to make, it should also be pretty easy for you to integrate it since it will probably be mostly images or textures, things like animations and such will have to be handled by you anyway...just a suggestion, hope its helpful

Answer 2

Omnigraffle is your best bet for quickly mocking out UIs. It produces nearly photorealistic mockups. It's easy for non-artist to use but can also utilize imported images of arbitrary complexity if he needs to do something fancy.

If you want my advice, keep the graphic designers away from the app until it is fully functional logically. They should only be brought in at the end of the process to tweak the UI.

They cause train wrecks if they come into the process early. Everybody in that field has been trained first and foremost to create visuals that attract attention. In an UI, that always translates into flashy, non-standard elements that turn into annoyance with repeated use. A good UI is essentially invisible to the user. Ideally, they should notice it only because they notice that they don't notice it. (It's all very Zen.)

People trained to attract attention in the blizzard of competing images of a media saturated world don't make invisible interfaces. They make "in your face" and "look at me!" interfaces that get old in a hurry.

Don't get me wrong: a good graphics person can really enhance an interface by the skillful and subtle use of proportion and color. Unfortunately finding a good UI graphics person is a challenge. Be prepared for fights over what works transparently versus what looks cool and draws attention the first time you see it.

Answer 3

This goes for a developer or designer. The best way in my opinion is to mock up designs in photoshop, debate on what is good and what is bad, then send the final mock ups to the developer.

The reason you want to do it this way is because your designer can't do everything he wants to do by simply using the IB. You need to allow your designer to express his creative freedom without the burdeon of figuring out how to use a piece of software correctly.

You can find plenty of templates of iPhone and iPad components on the web. Having those components will make it very simple for your friend to put together concepts. It will also keep things consistent so you can have an easier time implementing them.

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