Mobile devices have become ubiquitous. Most people carry a mobile device like a phone or tablet nearly constantly and use them in various contexts to meet informational, geographical, and personal needs. When designing applications for mobile devices, developers must consider whether to build a native or web-based app, which device features it will use, how it will handle offline use, and how people will interact with it on touchscreens of varying sizes. Concepts for mobile apps can be developed and communicated through concept maps that show relationships between ideas like the app's purpose, target audience, and business model. An example concept presented is an iRadio app for finding favorite radio station frequencies on the go.

1. Multimedia Information Systems
Mobile interactions

2. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Part 1
Context

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Common sense
 The best camera is the one you
have with you when something
interesting happens

4. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Jakob Nielsen
 The best computer is the one
you have with you when you
want something done. This will
often be your phone or tablet

5. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Mobile devices
 Mobile devices have become pervasive
 Most people carry one, have them turned on almost
continuously and use them in different contexts

6. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Mobile devices

7. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Mobile devices

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Mobile devices

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Mobile devices
 The design is dominated by the screen
 Multi-touch based interactions
 The device becomes the content
 Always on, always connected

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Mobile devices
 Attend to…
Informational needs
Geographical needs
Personal information management needs

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Mobile devices
 Informational needs are focused on the goal of obtaining
information about a topic
“Is the Arsenal game on TV tonight?”

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Mobile devices
 Geographical needs are focused on the goal of finding
an answer to a question
 The expected answer is dependent on location in some
form
“Nearest Pennies or Dunnes Stores”
“Where do I get coffee?”
“Direction from Belfast to Randaldstown”

13. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Mobile devices
 Personal information management needs are focused on
finding out something private relating to the individual
 Personal information management needs encompass
personal items, friend requests, scheduling tasks and to-
do list items
“What are my airline loyalty pin codes?”

14. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Mobile devices
 The mobile phone and other personal mobile devices
have gained a new role
 A gateway to data and applications which are stored on
the network

15. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Part 2
Interaction design

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Interaction design

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Interaction design

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Interaction design

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Interaction design
 So, what to consider when designing mobile
applications?

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Interaction design
 Native, web application or both?
Native applications
Provide a richer experience
Integrate with various operating system features
Need to be approved in the App Store
Web applications
Can be used on a multitude of platforms
Don’t need to be approved in the App Store
Functionality is limited, because they only work in the browser

21. David Lamas, ULP, 2010
Interaction design
 What features of the mobile device does your
application need to use?
 Does it need to work offline?
 How are people going to use your app?
 How much will it cost?
 Do you need to support various screen sizes?

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Interaction design
 In any case…
Following UI conventions
Human interface guidelines
Don't break existing patterns
Design for touch interaction

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Part 3
Developing a concept

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Developing a concept
 The application concept
What does your application do?
Who is your target audience?
How will people use your application?
How much will the application cost?

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Developing a concept
 And how do we describe a concept?
Using a concept map!
 But, what is a concept map?
A diagram showing relationships between concepts
Represents relationships between ideas
Makes it easier to communicate ideas in teams
Surfaces strengths and weaknesses of ideas
Basically, just boxes and arrows

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Developing a concept

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Developing a concept
 And how do we build a concept map?
Identify a focus question
Identify 10 to 20 concepts that are related to the focus question
Begin to build your map by placing the most inclusive, most
general concept(s) at the top
Select two, three, or four sub-concepts to place under each
general concept
Connect the concepts by arrows
Label the lines with or a few linking words
Look for crosslinks between concepts in different sections of the
map and label these connections

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Part 4
iRadio,

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iRadio
 An application to find frequencies of favorite radio
stations on the go

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