Archive for Design

How much does it cost to develop an iPhone application?

// Thursday, October 14th, 2010 09:46 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design

I get this question a lot. Here’s a great case study with actual figures.

I’m one of the developers for Twitterrific and to be honest, I can’t tell you how many hours have gone into the product. I can tell you everyone who upvoted the estimate of 160 hours for development and 40 hours for design is fricken’ high. (I’d use another phrase, but this is my first post on Stack Overflow, so I’m being good.)

Twitterrific has had 4 major releases beginning with the iOS 1.0 (Jailbreak.) That’s a lot of code, much of which is in the bit bucket (we refactor a lot with each major release.)

One thing that would be interesting to look at is the amount of time that we had to work on the iPad version. Apple set a product release date that gave us 60 days to do the development. (That was later extended by a week.)

We started the iPad development from scratch, but a lot of our underlying code (mostly models) was re-used. The development was done by two experienced iOS developers. One of them has even written a book: http://appdevmanual.com

With such a short schedule, we worked some pretty long hours. Let’s be conservative and say it’s 10 hours per day for 6 days a week. That 60 hours for 9 weeks gives us 540 hours. With two developers, that’s pretty close to 1,100 hours. Our rate for clients is $150 per hour giving $165,000 just for new code. Remember also that we were reusing a bunch existing code: I’m going to lowball the value of that code at $35,000 giving a total development cost of $200,000.

Anyone who’s done serious iPhone development can tell you there’s a lot of design work involved with any project. We had two designers working on that aspect of the product. They worked their asses off dealing with completely new interaction mechanics. Don’t forget they didn’t have any hardware to touch, either (LOTS of printouts!) Combined they spent at least 25 hours per week on the project. So 225 hours at $150/hr is about $34,000.

There are also other costs that many developer neglect to take into account: project management, testing, equipment. Again, if we lowball that figure at $16,000 we’re at $250,000. This number falls in line with Jonathan Wight’s (@schwa) $50-150K estimate with the 22 day Obama app.

Take another hit, dude.

Now if you want to build backend services for your app, that number’s going to go up even more. Everyone seems surprised that Instagram chewed through $500K in venture funding to build a new frontend and backend. I’m not.

iTunes 10 Is The Best Desktop iTunes Controller

// Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 10:45 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design, Random

There are many Mac applications which will sit on your desktop, displaying cover art and other information about your currently-playing song in iTunes, and give some controls such as play/pause, next, etc. But since the recent release of iTunes 10, one application does this far better than any other, and that’s iTunes itself.

Apple must have realized just how many people use a third-party iTunes controller, because it has added the functionality directly into the latest version of its media application. The feature is built on top of what was just an album art viewer back in iTunes 9.2.1, adding Quicktime X-esque controls.

Launching the controller

Getting the controller which is built into iTunes 10 running is simple enough; in the bottom left of the iTunes window is an icon which looks like a triangle inside a square. Click that to slide up the Now Playing pane, which shows the album art of any currently playing media.

Now all you have to do is click the Now Playing pane once. A new pop-out window will appear: simply a square containing the album art you just clicked on.

This window can be resized to as big as you like. It might not look anything special, but it’s a different story when you hover over this image while the song is playing. The name and artist of the song are displayed in the small title bar, and all the iTunes controls you could think of are shown near the bottom in the same way as when you watch a video in iTunes or QuickTime X.

Why this is better than a third-party application

For a start, using iTunes itself negates the need to run another application, which often takes up a space on your Dock, and uses considerably more CPU. Another reason I prefer to do it this way now is the fact that the pop-out window has standard window controls, so you can minimize or close the window as you would any other. All the dedicated controller applications I’ve seen require quitting the software to hide the album art.

Adobe to Roll Out iPad Publishing Software

// Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 09:05 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design

Adobe is working on a new kind of creative software specifically intended to help you publish digital magazines for tablet devices such as the iPad, the company revealed today. Here’s an overview of what Adobe is calling the Digital Magazine Workflow/Digital Content Builder:

This new software, which will soon take its place in the Creative Suite pantheon, will be downloadable from Adobe Labs and will include tools that bridge the gap between print-oriented InDesign and software for interactive formats.

The company’s goal is to make it simpler for more publishers to create and profit from tablet magazines like Wired’s hugely successful iPad offering. Wired used InDesign and a mix of other software to make its product.

The new Adobe technologies will focus on mobile hardware-specific needs, including 360-degree image rotation and pinch/swipe gestural navigation for panning and zooming. This is currently accomplished through an AIR utility, the Interactive Overlay Creator. In future versions of InDesign, the Interactive Overlay Creator will be an integrated feature.

Adobe is also making it easier to add mobile-friendly multimedia to slick, print-reminiscent layouts. From what we can see in a brief demo, it looks like designers will have a lot of fun taking an on-screen mockup to a .issue format magazine with relative ease. We can’t wait to try it out ourselves.

Adobe will let you import layouts from InDesign to the new workflow. From there, you’ll be able to add metadata, experiment with portrait and landscape layouts, and export content to the .issue format — a brand-new, ready-to-render file for digital magazines.

Geek Artist Making $50 Caricatures Over FaceTime

// Monday, July 19th, 2010 10:01 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design, Random


Dlanham Portrait

Dlanham Portrait

Does your Twitter/Facebook/IM avatar suck? The answer is likely to be a resounding “probably”. You need a custom caricature, and being a proper geek, you should get it not from the dodgy street-artist with the portfolio of sample “work” downloaded from the internet, but over the actual internet.

That’s just what Dave Lanham, artist extraordinaire and designer at the Icon Factory (the people behind Twitterific and a lot more besides) is doing. Dave is holding FaceTime calls with his iPhone 4 and drawing the portrait of the person at the other end. The hi-resolution Retina display no doubt helps him to see deep into your soul.

The fun started when Dave broke his foot and was left lounging around the house. His friend Gio Gutierrez (right) volunteered for a portrait and then things just got bigger and bigger. Dave is charging $50 per portrait, which you can then use as your online personality (or print on a T-Shirt, we guess, if you are really narcissistic). The demand is likely to be huge, so even if you can’t get on his list, you should check out Dave’s website, which has time-lapse videos of his work being made.

FaceTime Portraits [Dave Lanham on Flickr]

@dlanham [Twitter]

Dave’s website home-page [Dave Lanham]

[Post from Wired by Charlie Sorrel]

Apple’s iAd Mobile Advertising

// Monday, April 19th, 2010 12:03 pm GMT -5 // No Comments » // Advertising, Design

Apple is set to deliver a mobile ad platform by the name if iAd to one billion devices (iPhones, iPads and iPod touches). This ad platform isn’t just banners and text links. It is robust brand advertising that is as fully functional as a website or an app itself. Yes, ads that are apps within an app. iAds will be defining mobile advertising and will definitely shake up the mobile market. People aren’t searching on mobile devices, they are using apps so it only makes sense to enhance this experience. No one is happy clicking a banner and leaving their current site/app. This alone is brilliant. The ads have been hinted to be “premium” which sounds expensive. Sure they’ll make money from all this but I think it’s more for Apple to be the leader in this market. They want to to be the innovator in mobile advertising, reshape the industry and stick it to Google. Another tidbit is they’ll offer 60% of the revenue back to developers (ala Google Adsense) to help the creation of great apps on the App Store. And then HTML5! Every Flash shop in the country better be sharpening their HTML5 skillz. Anyway you see it, Apple’s new iAd is an exciting move.
Only problem is Apple will now massively once again control something else. Will they approve our anti/parody Apple ad?

First thoughts on the iPad

// Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 08:39 pm GMT -5 // 4 Comments » // Design, Personal

While we ate lunch and followed the announcement, David asked me: but if you have an iPhone and a MacBook Pro, why would you need an iPad? It’s a good question. Perhaps if you don’t have a laptop it’s a great way to own a second, more mobile computer that’s more powerful than the iPhone. Maybe it’s great for my mom as she just uses it to surf the web, facebook and pay bills. But is there really a need for a third, in-between semi-mobile computer?

I’m trying to imagine the situations: at home, in the office, I have my MBP hooked up to the 24? LED Display and various hard drives so to all intents and purposes it’s a desktop, but I can take it with me when I’m travelling (which I do a lot) and that’s why I love having the flexibility of a laptop. But would I use an iPad when I’m at work? No, I’d use my MBP. What about that other common situation, where I’m sitting in front of the TV at night — casually replying to emails or surfing the web (as I am now)? Would I use an iPad then? No, probably not because truthfully I’m working as well and need access to Photoshop, Coda, etc. I’m pretty sure I’d continue to use the laptop on almost all occasions. Ok, so what about on very small journeys where it’s between home and work without getting out the laptop? In those circumstances I usually use the iPhone to reply to emails and I guess that would be an instance where it’d be preferable to do it on an iPad. But is that it?!? Is there really a need for a third, in-between semi-mobile computer?

I do see scenarios for the iPad: My mom for example. I just bought her first computer and the cheapest Mac I got her was a white MB for $999 (God knows how much time I would have spent doing tech support if I had bought her a cheap PC). All she does is surf the web, pays her bills online, facebook, transfers some photos, emails me spam and that’s about it. This would have been perfect for her and at half the price. She would even save money in the long run with the unlimited $30 a month of AT&T’s 3G as opposed to Comcast’s $50 for hi-speed cable. Another use would be for a student who uses iWork/Office for schoolwork except this doubles as a gaming device and iPod as well. Or an iPad as a replacement to our more pricier “Office Laptop” that we use solely for the purpose of  keynote/powerpoint presentations that we can do now on our iPad. So I do see potential.

Let’s go back in time and look at a few of the reviews about the iPhone when it was launched:

The iPhone: Apple’s First Flop

Initial review of iPhone

iPhone Already Getting Some Negative Reviews – Yep, It’s the Touchscreen

iPhone 1.0: Looks 10, Utility 3? Wait for Version 2 in October

iPhone: Good News and Bad

Apple iPhone Review Roundup

The Big But

I’m disappointed that the iPad isn’t a device that can dock with another Mac. I feel a little let-down that’s not being quite as ground-breaking as I’d hoped. And I’m concerned that there may not be an actual need for it (I guess only time will tell). But has Apple created another gorgeous device? Yes. Have they pushed yet more UI design boundaries? Yes. And have they come through and delivered it all at a reasonable price? Amazingly, yes. So I’m still pretty excited.

I’m prepared to admit that — as a self-confessed Apple fanboy and a designer with a soft spot for all things pretty — the device’s beauty is possibly overpowering my logical reasoning, but the iPad really does look like an amazing piece of kit and it’s one I can’t wait to try out, as that’s the only way these concerns might be confirmed or quashed. Is it actually worth buying? It’s simply too soon to tell but I’ll make sure I have one and be the one to judge.

Google + Sesame Street

// Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 02:04 am GMT -5 // 1 Comment » // Design

It’s the 40th year anniversary of Sesame Street, the most successful educational TV series in American history. Google is celebrating Sesame Street’s characters by change it’s logo everyday. What’s interesting with this sort of marketing is that it keeps me going to Google everyday just to see how creative they get with this as opposed to using my built in search tool in Safari. There will be more Google Sesame Street logos and I hope to catch them all.

Check out some of my favorite ones below!

google-sesamestreet

Condé Nast Brings Titles to iPhone

// Monday, October 26th, 2009 02:34 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design

Mega publisher Condé Nast is now taking steps in embracing this digital age of ours with electronic versions of its most popular titles for the iPhone. The first magazine will be GQ this December priced at 2.99 vs the 4.99 cost of the printed edition. Important note is the fact that the iPhone version will include the same editorial ads as the dead-tree version which is important for advertisers along with rich media content at little-to-no-extra cost.

So me being a GQ reader (and other magazines), I would not pay 2.99 for a digital copy and I don’t think I’m alone on this. The iPhone screen is pretty tiny for a reading experience of long duration and not comfortable as opposed to some tablet/ebook. Even a bigger problem for myself is the price is just too much. I think the selling point for me personally would be .99 cents and this is how I feel about any magazine with ads that I’m subjected to read on the iPhone. I could just fire up Safari and see the same content for free on the publisher’s site. Regardless this is exciting news because it’s a sign of things to come. Newspapers and magazines have been suffering long enough and have been too slow adapting to the digital platform as most of us turn to the internet and other electronic services and devices to get our content. How much longer before we see every big print title in every digital format available to consumers?

Cut & Paste

// Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 10:30 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design, Videos

Cut & Paste, the first design competition to square designers against each other in a live tournament-style battle. From the initial sold-out event in NYC, Cut & Paste has grown into a nationwide tour with stops in sixteen cities featuring local designers and judges in each spot. This video captures the three high-energy rounds, a lively 1200-person audience set at a Brooklyn warehouse-turned-club with some young New York designers duking it out on stage.

YouTube Preview Image

Email Marketing

// Friday, June 26th, 2009 04:36 pm GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design

When you send an email campaign, it isn’t just a simple note that’s launched into the ether. You want the message to be clear, and you want a guarantee that it’s received. You want to make sure your words are read, and you need to see that your dispatch was effective. Gone are the days of cold calling. No more cold shoulder. With Email Campaigns, your company goes beyond signed, sealed, and delivered.

Email campaigns are cost-effective and powerful, they’re the bulwark of tangible results. People click, people question, your site gets hits, your business gets business. It’s simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s without risk. By following the industry’s trusted practices, including email client testing, SPAM filters, and white-list email servers, you need to make sure your missives aren’t dismissed. Custom designs marry your existing site design with clear, concise, visually compelling communication. Self-publishing is a cinch with web-based, intuitive WYSIWYG software platform, meaning that this first love note won’t be your last. And once your campaign is sent, you can track your results in real time with your password-protected account. Email campaigns certify that your company will be a special delivery.

Services include: Custom design, HTML and Plain Text emails, web statistics, easy web-based publishing, spam filtering and mailing list segmentation.

Feel free to download my Email Marketing Presentation (pdf).

email

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