Product Strategy
Successfully molding an early vision into final product requires clear goals, a plan of action, and some creative thinking.
I’m Jonathan, a UX designer & strategist living in Boston, MA. I like to keep things simple, look to the future, and focus on the user. I help shape and launch products for mobile & web that solve problems and do cool things.
Successfully molding an early vision into final product requires clear goals, a plan of action, and some creative thinking.
Understanding your target audience is key. Each feature or design should be built around their needs and behaviors.
Crafting a color scheme and deciding where the buttons are placed and is the fun part. Great designs balance form and function.
It’s not a problem perhaps yet, but I definitely see an approaching issue where companies will have trouble managing their social brand/identity. And now that social media — in all its forms — is no longer the future wave of the internet but now kinda is the internet, companies are doing more and more to create solid strategies and navigate the space effectively. Simply having a website and facebook page soon won’t cut it. Some companies just dabble with the stuff. Others already have dedicated resources, budgets, and strategies around managing their social responsibilities.
Here are some stats:
I’m actually really impressed with how easy it was to install wordpress to my private domain. I’ve previously dabbled with Blogger but found it not to be customizable enough. I then did a bit of research, handed over over some dough to the wp peeps, installed it within 5 mins, and here I am. I’m now playing with a nice Dreamweaver plugin called ThemeDreamer that lets me view and edit my themes & design via GUI… easy. Let’s see how much damage I can do hacking away at some PHP and CSS.
Finally. I actually feel compelled to say hooray. Especially after my last post about mobile browser-based apps, its nice to see this little announcement: RIM has acquired Torch Mobile, a WebKit browser developer for an undisclosed amount.
This move is a sure bet that the native Blackberry browser will finally be getting a much-need upgrade. BB users will be getting a better web browsing experience, which, depending on the model, was historically mediocre at best. But I think what’s more interesting is that the mobile browser as a platform is starting to see some solid standardization. With RIM now jumping on the WebKit bandwagon, all major smartphone platforms are on the same page. This means that developers can count on a more uniform experience across devices and that the idea of build once, deploy everywhere perhaps might come true.
You’ll get a different response depending on who you ask, of course. The Google camp is definitely pushing the idea that browser-based applications will be the future of how people interact with and use the web, especially on mobile devices, but not everyone agrees. Seeing the incredible success of app stores (especially Apple’s) and the lukewarm excitement around web apps, it’s a tough position to take. Ultimately, I think Google’s predictions are correct but way premature.
There are many benefits of developing for the browser but also some big drawbacks. As the big picture of the mobile platform battles pans out, we’ll surely still a variety of options to develop for. Apple’s iPhone Google’s Android OS, and Blackberry will likely lead the pack with Win Mobile, Palm’s Web OS, Symbian, and others still fighting for a slice of the action. With such a fractured landscape, a browser solution would allow companies and individuals to develop a single application that’ll work across all platforms with powerful — most likely WebKit — browsers. This would not only ensure a consistent experience from device to device, but also greatly reduce the amount of time and money required for design, development, and maintenance. Although this sounds great, a lot still needs to happen before we’ll begin to see a browser-based app strategy really reach its potential.
I think two key things need to happen in the mobile ecosystem before the browser will be a real competitor to native apps:
So is the future of mobile in the browser? Read more →