how i single-handedly designed, built and launched an iphone app

HOW I SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESIGNED, BUILT AND LAUNCHED AN IPHONE APP AND

LIVED TO TELL THE STORY

Alexander Baxevanis@futureshape

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Hello everyone, and thanks for having me here to speak tonight. About a year ago, a few things were happening at about the same time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewblack/331090762/Tuesday, 14 June 2011

I had a long, boring commute into London

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewblack/331090762/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretlondon/4366328006/Tuesday, 14 June 2011

London was getting ready to launch a Cycle Hire scheme

http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretlondon/4366328006/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretlondon/4366328006/


I was curious to find out if there was going to be a cycle hire station close to where I work, so I sent a Freedom of Information request to Transport for London.


In a typical public sector manner, they replied with a spreadsheet in PDF, with the coordinates in “British National Grid System” (not something you can easily plot on a map).

Copyright Any copyright in the material provided with this response is owned by TfL or one of its subsidiary companies unless otherwise stated. The disclosure of information does not give the person or organisation who receives it an automatic right to re-use it in a way that would otherwise infringe copyright (for example, by making copies, publishing it, or issuing copies to the public). Brief extracts of the material may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting. In respect of use for criticism, review and news reporting, any reproduction must be accompanied by an acknowledgement that TfL or one of its subsidiary companies is the copyright owner.

Re-use If you would like to re-use the information supplied with this response please contact TfL using the details provided in the attached letter. Requests for re-use will be considered in accordance with the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.


And a scary copyright notice saying that I wasn’t allowed to use the data they sent me in any useful way. Which I completely ignored.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhodes/3177112624/Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Because I thought - “I’ve got some spare time, wouldn’t it be nice to use this information and build an iPhone app”?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhodes/3177112624/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhodes/3177112624/

OpenStreetMap


Fortunately, thanks to some great development resources and libraries out there, it wasn’t very long until I had a first working prototype.

LESSON #1Don’t reinvent the wheel, but pay attention to

the details


Using all these resources out there made it very quick to get something working, but it wasn’t perfect. Copying or building off an example will get you a long way, but the user experience comes from the details.

DETAILS OF A MAP APPLICATION

• Does the map scroll automatically as your location changes?

• How do you ask for directions from A to B?

• What kind of markers should you show on the map?

• ... and many more

• (Exercise: try to deconstruct the interactions of the standard Google Maps application on an iPhone)


Some of you are probably already getting suspicious here - I’m talking at a UX event, and I’m saying that I went straight to writing code?


In fact, I did do a bit of sketching, and it’s proven to be quite useful, but it’s also had its limitations.


There’s 2 things that I found particularly challenging when sketching for mobile apps:1) Getting the information density right (i.e. how much you can realistically fit on a screen)2) Simulating complex interactions (explain popup ...)

LESSON #2Prototype at the right level

“sketch in code” if necessary


Using all these resources out there made it very quick to get something working, but it wasn’t perfect. Copying or building off an example will get you a long way, but the user experience comes from the details.

... Anyway, I had something working quite early, was making progress on these details, and I was obviously quite excited ...


I made a website to publicise the upcoming app, got a couple of hundred people to sign up to my mailing list


I got Londonist, a quite popular London blog to write about my app (I really like the headline they chose)


I even got somebody from the Mayor’s office writing to me - I thought they were going to tell me off for using their data without permission, but actually they were just excited that somebody was planning to build an app for them, for free.


They told Transport for London who got even more excited and put out a call for developers to create more cycle hire apps. Meanwhile, with the scheme launching in less than a month, I was still in designer’s den, still agonising over a few remaining details, and I had one of the stupidest ideas in my life ...

“Nobody’s going to need my app until the Cycle Hire scheme launches, so I’ve got plenty of time to get

my app out there”


Here it is, in Comic Sans, for added effect.


Unfortunately, other people weren’t thinking that way. Encouraged by TfL’s press release, they built their apps and launched them before me. Of course they weren’t as good as mine :) But people started downloaded them! Which leads to our second lesson...

LESSON #3“Real Artists Ship”

(quote attributed to Steve Jobs)Tuesday, 14 June 2011

If you stay in your cocoon and agonise over the details, you’re missing the chance to get your work out there, and you’re missing on all the feedback and recognition you’ll get. This doesn’t mean deliberately launching bad work, it means knowing when your work is good enough.


So I rushed to go ahead and ship, and one of the last things left to do (probably because my graphic design skills aren’t that great) was to make an icon for my app. I wanted to make it familiar and recognisable by Londoners, so I went for an abstract version of cycle hire docking stations look like. I knew that it was a bit risky to put the TfL logo in there, but other apps at the time were also doing so, so I decided to take the risk.


Except, it just happened to be that time when TfL decided to crack down on all apps using their logo without permission, so I got a polite email from Apple asking me to remove the logo and resubmit my app. And I had just lost more than a week waiting for Apple to approve the app.

LESSON #4Pick your battles


If you have to fight over something or take a risk, make sure it’s worthwhile. In my case, having a nice icon was probably more likely to satisfy my designer ego than to make a significant difference in the experience of my app.

Although I mentioned a couple of things that went wrong, there were also things that went very well.


One of the things I had in mind from the beginning, given that this was an emerging field and I couldn’t always predict what people would need, was to at least allow users to send me feedback as easily as possible, from within the app.


This isn’t optional - if you don’t make it easy for people to get in touch, they’ll take their complaints elsewhere. In my case, they’ll probably go and leave a negative review in the app store.

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your note - I shut down the app and restarted it and it has added the new docking stations as you advised, thanks. I added a review on the App Store with 5* rating - thanks for the app, it's great stuff!

Regards,

Ian


If you do let people talk to you directly, and reply to them politely (whether they’re right or wrong), you’ll get feedback like this ...

(after explaining how exactly a feature of my app works)

Alex,

Many thanks, obviously I've been hit with the stupid stick lol

Dean


... or sometimes even more funnier things like this.

LESSON #5Make it easy for people to talk to you


... and listen carefully, and try to reply promptly.


So, what’s happening now? I still get about ~40-50 people downloading the app every week.

80%

20%

Stuff I designed but rarely use Stuff I use


I still use the app myself, although not very frequently as I’m usually on my own bike. And when I do use it, I probably only use 20% of the features I designed ... which might be proof that I didn’t fall into the trap of designing just for myself.


There’s still a couple of annoying bugs that cause the app to crash or misbehave in a few occasions ... but I have to admit I’ve lost a lot of the initial enthusiasm and haven’t been able to convince myself to sit down and work on a new version.

LESSON #6You learn a lot when you build

(just don’t expect the enthusiasm to last forever)


So, my last lesson for today ...

Matt Jones

Thank you!

Alexander Baxevanis@futureshape

If you want to try the app, search for

‘Cycle Hire’ in the App Store


I’ll leave you with this beautiful poster designed by Matt Jones - as I truly believe in getting excited and MAKING things - not just designing them. Try and do it yourselves and see what you learn. If you can’t build something, try to learn how to, or find someone who knows. Just give it a try.

Thanks for listening!



how i single-handedly designed, built and launched an iphone app

Technology