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Symbian Blog: Design Category

From user interface design to asethetics, Symbian bloggers discuss the value of how things appear.

Symbian^4 UI Concept Proposal

Jan 15th by Effie Vraka Retweet Share on Facebook

Momentum behind the evolution of the Symbian open eco-system continues to gather pace. Yesterday the Foundation placed its web run time tools into open source. Today Nokia, market leader in mobile devices, put forward proposals for a new framework for Symbian-powered UIs, to the Symbian open community. The proposals will undergo open evaluation and critique.

The UI Concept Proposal for Symbian^4  provides additional details on the Orbit and Direct UI major contribution proposals that are currently being voted by the Symbian Foundation councils.

The document highlights how the Symbian^4 UI will benefit from Nokia’s contribution and will introduce important usability-focused improvements, for example by providing interaction and layout patterns that apply to all applications, for a unified and more consistent user experience.

The proposal also contains a list of features and a number of screenshots that give us a glance of how the UI will benefit from new layouts, user-facing libraries for Contacts, Music, Photos and Applications and many other features that deliver a fresh user interaction: my attention was caught by the proposed removal of a number of prompts to the user, a redesigned control panel and the elimination of tunneling Options commands, which seems to be a great response to what the community has been asking for!

Nokia have clearly focused on providing a highly competitive UI framework proposal that will place the Symbian User Experience into the race with the Android, PalmOS and iPhone.

But, for me, the most positive of all that puts this proposal beyond competition is the open approach they are taking: by publicizing the concept proposal so early so that they get valuable community feedback to take into account for the final proposal, they are taking openness a step beyond just code-openness.

The following screenshots can give you a taste of what has been said so far, but for the full details please review the proposal and let us know what you think!

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Design in the Open: the S^3 Widget Carousel

Dec 16th by Scott Weiss Retweet Share on Facebook

What you see here is from a YouTube video featuring a Symbian code prototype of a new way to manage and enjoy widgets for Symbian^3. This is the release of the Symbian platform coming to device creators early next year. Click the image to see the video. It was produced using the Symbian emulator.

The prototype, created by Jaakko Haukipuro, the Package Owner for Homescreen, is not a completed design but instead a design concept, for which he would like your input.

The concept has a corresponding page on ideas.symbian.org where you can add your thoughts and vote. You can even add ideas of how to improve the design, which is the primary goal of this posting.

Business Objectives
The existing method for adding and removing items in the widgets is ready for improvement. It is based on menus and lists, while the proposed redesign is drag-and-drop. At the end of this posting is a sequence of graphics that depicts the current method for adding and removing items.

Summary of Changes
1. The widget “tray” is being replaced by a (kinetic) scrollable widget carousel. Flicking left or right within the carousel scrolls to reveal other widget items. A carousel will not scroll if it holds four or fewer items.
2. The call to action to edit the carousel is proposed to be a graphic, currently the small upper-left red box. Clicking that smaller red box causes the widget item palette to appear (and the larger, lower-right red box appears when the palette appears).
3. One can drag items from the palette to the carousel. Items can be dragged from the carousel to the palette, too.
4. Clicking the lower-right red box closes the editing session and hides the palette.  

Architecture
In the prototype, the carousel holds the shortcuts to the applications that were installed on the device. Data is managed in and published from each individual plug-in, making it possible to show any kind of item in the carousel. A new plug-in can be introduced to show your favourite contacts, bookmarks, MP3s, you name it.

How it is in Symbian^2
In the current Symbian platform, widget item selection is made via the Options menu, and then through a set of lists of items, as you can see below. The proposed change (above) is direct and drag-and-drop, much more modern, and is likely to be more fun to use. What do you think?

Tell Jaakko What You Think
Please post your comments on this posting’s Ideas.symbian.org page.


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UI Concept: San Francisco

Nov 4th by Scott Weiss Retweet Share on Facebook

Lee Williams included a 50-second video in his keynote last Tuesday at SEE that I’d like to share here. The video is an  artist’s concept for what a future Symbian UI might be, and we had a lot of fun making it.

In this video we demonstrate the following features:

  • Kinetic scrolling (in Symbian^2)
  • Location-based services (in Symbian^2)
  • Different widget sizes (coming in Symbian^3)
  • Animations and transitions (coming with NGA in Symbian^3)
  • Compass and accelerator integration (coming in Symbian^3)
  • Menu at the top of the screen (inspirational idea)
  • Toolbar at the bottom of the screen, replacing soft keys (inspirational idea)
  • Augmented reality integration (inspirational idea)

Because we’re hoping for you to comment, we’ve created a discussion thread. Please share your thoughts there.

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UI Brainstorm update

Nov 2nd by Effie Vraka Retweet Share on Facebook

UIbrainstorm

Hi,

I am Effie Vraka, Technology Specialist in Symbian foundation, looking after the Multimedia Applications area of the platform.

DSC00056

Last July Scott Weiss started the Symbian UI Brainstorm blog, which has become so popular that the Brainstorm team has grown to include James Aley and me. We work together to publish the wonderfully frequent stream of brainstorms that come in. In this post I will share a taste of the UI Brainstorm to date, some background, stats, and even some success stories. Read more »

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Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity

Oct 6th by David Wood Retweet Share on Facebook

The inherent complexity of present-day smartphones risks all kinds of bad outcomes:

  • Smartphone device creation projects may become time-consuming and delay-prone, and the smartphones themselves may compromise on quality in order to try to hit a fast-receding market window;
  • Smartphone application development may become difficult, as developers need to juggle different programming interfaces and optimisation methods;
  • Smartphone users may fail to find the functionality they believe is contained (somewhere!) within their handset, and having found that functionality, they may struggle to learn how to use it.

In short, smartphone system complexity risks impacting manufacturability, developability, and usability.  The number one issue for the mobile industry, arguably, is to constantly find better ways to tame this complexity.  Hence the title of this post: simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.

But I’m not calling for the rich functionality of modern handsets to be eliminated.  Instead, I’m calling for improved packaging and selection of that rich functionality.  The concept of “simplicity” itself turns out to be far from simple. Read more »

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Design

Sep 29th by Haydn Retweet Share on Facebook

Making good on my suggestion that we run a few posts from notable designers, I got the chance to talk to  Danish designer/Philosopher Jens Martin Skibsted. Skibsted has designed for Puma, Volkswagen, and his own ethical bike company Biomega. His work is on permanent display at MoMA. He recently wrote Instant Icons, an account of design that proves to be a game changer in a particular market. He has alaso appeared in International Design magazine’s list of 40 influential people in the world of design.

Skibsted’s Puma Bike is a collapsible city bike and its functional difference from normal or then routine city bikes was in its acceleration and braking. Above al other functions it performed both exceptionally well – in addition to looking great.

I am continuing the interview with Skibsted as I write – so if you have questions you would like to put to him please add them to the comments list and I will ask Jens to respond in time for the relaunch.

So what is an instant icon?

“Typically these products are newer in thinking. What is notable about them is their paradigm-changing powers. Though this product or icon may not look that different, the thinking around them is by providing a new manner of use that inspiring other shifts and developments. The Polaroid looked like a camera but it’s image developed quickly. It is this category that began the impetus for the “Instant Icon” book.

The Walkman is another Instant Icon. These particular icons would last forever if not for their technology becoming obsolete. Instant Icons can morph into retro collectibles, if not they are landfill bound. We want the icons of the future to be Instant due to visionary concept,  but long lasting due to brilliant usage of materials and consideration for long-term human necessity.” Read more »

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To Tap or To Tap, Tap?

Sep 21st by Scott Weiss Retweet Share on Facebook

To-Tap-or-to-Tap-Tap-3‘

The Symbian user interface has a two-tap model for text-based lists, like Contacts or Messages: tap to highlight, and tap again to open. However, that UI differs from the Home Screen’s System Menu, where one can tap an icon once to open it. The two-tap model for lists inspired three contributors to the Symbian UI Brainstorm to suggest design changes. These suggestions inspired Ixonos to propose a Major Contribution Proposal entitled Remove Double Tapping from Platform Applications.

Single Tap Example

The above illustration shows the proposed change. In the current system, tapping on a contact would highlight it, and a second tap would open the contact. Many users have expressed frustration about this two-tap UI model. In the proposed change, the single tap would open the contact immediately. Like many great UI enhancements, this one seems quite obvious. In Symbian^3, we are striving for subtle, yet substantial usability improvements.

I had a quick chat with Ilkka Syrjälä from Ixonos about Ixonos and the Remove Double Tapping proposal.

Scott: Tell me a little about Ixonos:

Ilkka: Ixonos is an ICT (Information Communications Technology) services company creating innovative solutions for mobility, social media and digital services. We develop products and services that let people enjoy inspiring digital experience, anyplace, anytime. Our clientele comprises globally leading mobile and smartphone manufacturers, network vendors and telecom carriers.

Scott: What inspired Ixonos to propose this change to the Symbian^3 UI?

Ilkka: Symbian touch enabled devices use mainly single taps for interactions. However, there are places where double tapping is required and this breaks UI consistency. Since this idea was also introduced at the Symbian UI Brainstorm site, we contacted Symbian Foundation and started to discuss different contribution needs and priorities. These discussions led to the actual proposal that was published 16th of September.

Scott: How does this change affect lists when a keyboard is present, or on non-touch phones?

Ilkka: One of the goals and requirements regarding this change was not to break any 3rd party applications developed for Symbian platform. The proposed change affects only the platform application layer and only the touch functionality. Therefore the non-touch device functionality, like highlighting and selecting items in a list, remains as it is currently.

Scott: Thanks for your time today, Ilkka.

This contribution is a great example of the increasing diversity of contributions coming to the Symbian Foundation. The success of the Symbian operating system is directly related to the generosity of our contributors.

Please read through the proposal and share your comments on the proposal’s forum thread. And keep sending the great UI Brainstorm ideas!

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Design for Mobile: How do we identify good experience?

Sep 10th by Haydn Retweet Share on Facebook

Design is one of those issues that has risen to the top of many people’s minds – not just in the mobile space.  A year ago I was lucky enough to interview a string of designers, from BMW, DesignWorks, Dyson, Phillips and many more. Design introduces a stream of knowledge and insight that I was thinking belongs on the Symbian blog.  Beginning early October we’ll run irregular interviews with designers (suggestions welcome). We’ll start with Christian Lindholm over at Fjord.

In the meantime I took a quick look around mobile handset sites to see what support there is for design issues, starting with Nokia’s Design Centre. Nokia has a gallery, for inspiration, an area covering principles of design, tools, community and a section on the user experience.

The piece that’s missing I think is an area for users to become involved, if only to give an opinion. As an aside I interviewed a marketer from Nestle some time ago and he told me over 20% of calls to customer service were people wanting to say how much they loved Nestle product – but the system did NOT ALLOW THIS. As a user I’d love to interact with my phone company sometimes just to say what I really really like. My point is if we don’t allow this, how do we identify positive experiences?. Read more »

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GIMP: Great open source UI example

Jul 13th by Scott Weiss Retweet Share on Facebook

gimp_yellowGIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, and is free, open source software for photo retouching and image creation. It is a great example of user interface innovation in open source.

GIMP contributors can program new features, report bugs, write documentation, translate the product or its documentation, participate in a wonderful brainstorming site, work on the GIMP site, and more.

The GIMP UI brainstorm is a blog that is implemented as a visual brainstorm. Idea generators create images and email them to an email alias, and once vetted, the ideas are posted directly to the blog. As a proper brainstorm, comments are switched off.

The GIMP UI Redesign site is a wiki that contains background information and specifications for GIMP features. It is a great way to share technical details with the community.

The UI brainstorm is such a fantastic idea that Symbian has created its own version, aptly named Symbian UI Brainstorm, aptly named symbianuibrainstorm.wordpress.com. Please have a look and email your UI brainstorms for inclusion.

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MUI Diversity

Jun 29th by Scott Weiss Retweet Share on Facebook

biodiversity_yellow

In response to Lauren Sarno’s post on this blog, …what you really, really want, Nick Healey asked, Where does UX live in the Symbian Foundation organisation? My role at Symbian Foundation is “UI Technology Manager,” and I look after the user experience of developers and consumers, covering our web sites and the Symbian operating system. I also chair the UI Council (UIC). Read more »

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