A Chart-Happy iPad App Proposal
Tsunamis, earthquakes, and iPads are annoying and extremely lame. Totally useless for human progress. Alas, they are driven by forces far too powerful for us mere mortals to resist or comprehend; we have to whisper the Serenity prayer and accept them. So despite my earlier objections, here goes nothing: a brief visual sketch of an iPad experience I’d like to see. Apologies in advance for all the diagrams.
The iPad should be like the Kindle on crack. It should be a new, amazing way to:
- Navigate to content sources that matters to me.
- Consume the content chosen in a new and amazing way.
- Consume with focus on stories and ideas I want to experience more deeply.
- Socialize via sharing and participation.
Because of the iPad screen size, like on my desktop or laptop, I should be able do all these things all on one screen, on an ongoing basis. Maybe a flow like this on the screen:
Let’s carve these activity blocks out a bit, and use a concrete brand as an example: NPR.
Let’s go through this diagram, block by block.
At the top we have our nav, which has all your channels and apps, whatever I’m subscribed to. Right now I’ve selected NPR.
Below this nav is my main content area, with NPR subjects listed on the left. Right now I might be looking at a blog post on the NPR Olympic coverage, reading about how Bode Miller just won his first Vancouver gold medal. This content could be anything: articles, video,or audio. Like a slick multimedia version of my desktop RSS reader. This box might go fullscreen if needed.
If I want a deeper dive on the story I’m looking, I scan down to the next content area, which might have a relevant playlist of other NPR media, related to what I’m looking at. Maybe an NPR audio story about Bode growing up in New Hampshire pops up here, or a video highlight reel of his winning Super-G run. The dock below might have even more choices for additional content.
To the right we have a social media bar, which would always be present. For inspiration, I look to the wildly successful CNN Facebook widget, where visitors commented on the coverage in realtime using their Facebook accounts. Through this area, I can share anything I see or do as I travel through the NPR app (and other apps) with my social networks: Facebook, Twitter, and the NPR community (that I signed up for).
Hmm. OK, I could see using an app like this on my commute. My little NPR mission control. Or, while cooking dinner, instead of flipping on the TV, I might have my NPR playlist running, maybe with a remote nearby so I can flip channels, or maybe flip over to Epicurious.com for a recipe. OK Apple, I’m back. Just put a camera on the next one, OK?
UPDATE 2/25/10: Here’s the PDF of these awesome charts for you all to enjoy.
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Although I think what you’ve mocked up is a little overly complex and cluttered, I think this is the direction of what you’ll be seeing.
Check out what wired is planning on doing for the iPad. Very much like what you’re hoping for.
http://aoog.me/9hzL9W
Yah, I saw this, that’s totally it. I know my sketch makes it look a little tight, but I could see it designed nice and intuitive-like. What I’ve mocked up here is the full-blown mission control mode; I think we’ll see all the classic docking and minimizing, etc which will manage the chaos.
[...] might have been obvious from my earlier posts, but I won’t be jumping on the iPad bandwagon just [...]