Jonas Lood, Prescient Digital Media

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Elia on a number of high profile web projects for our clients. He is highly knowledgeable and understands the fundamentals of good design and how to apply it for outstanding results. He continually meets or exceeds my expectations. Hiring Elia for your next project is a sure bet for design success.

Mobile Traffic at glance (by AdMob)

A few days back, AdMob published a very interesting report on market share of various mobile OS and smartphones. The data suggests that Apple’s dedication to User Experience results in  higher apps approval and user adoption rates. The report is a great read but for those that don’t have time here are the highlights:

Smartphone Traffic by Manufacturer – Worldwide

• Apple – 50%
• Nokia – 24% (Mainly from India, Indonesia, Philippines and South Africa markets where Nokia has 89% of the market)
• HTC – 12%
• RIM – 7%

Smartphone Traffic by OS:

• Apple OS 50%
• Symbian OS – 25%  (Mainly from India, Indonesia, Philippines and South Africa markets where Nokia has with 89% of the market)
• Android OS – 11%
• RIM  OS – 7%

United States Data by Manufacturer

• Apple – 55%
• HTC – 22%
• RIM – 12%

Smartphone Traffic by OS:

• iPhone OS – 55%
• Android – 20%
• RIM OS – 12 %

It is interesting that Apple’s traffic comes from only 2 devices – iPhone and iPod. Android traffic comes from 9 devices currently available worldwide. RIM traffic is a result of their current 11 smartphones and probably some past models.

The full report is available here. http://metrics.admob.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/AdMob-Mobile-Metrics-Oct-09.pdf

Atlanta’s Premier Vacufit Studios

Rossul Design has been contracted to create a new look and feel for upcoming Atlanta’s Vacufit Studious website.

Usability tips on Twitter

Follow us on Twitter (rossuldesign) for daily usability tips that will help you to improve performance of your website or web application!

Remembrance Day

Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language?  Are they dead that yet act?  Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism?  ~Henry Ward Beecher

One of my grandfathers was killed in the first few month of World War II, and his wife raised 2 kids by herself. My other grandfather was killed during the Russia Finland War 1939-1940 and his wife raised their son.  My father’s life was forever affected by Leningrad Siege that started on 8 September 1941. It is hard to find a family in Russia which is not affected by the Second World War.

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. –  Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

There was never a good war or a bad peace. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

It is possible to live in peace.- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. – Isaiah, II:4

Peace is the respect for the rights of others. (El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz)- Benito Juarez (1806-1872)

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. – Matthew, V:9

Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war. – Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. – Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)

Smartphone sales per OS vendor

Stats from June 09 shows Symbian being the clear leader on Mobile OS market, thanks to Nokia and a few Sony Erricson and Samsung devices.

It will be interesting to see what the chart will be for Q2 2010 with new Android phones introduced every week or so, Windows UX-focused Mobile 7 and Samsung’s Linux-based Bada.

Windows Mobile 6.5 UI issues and Windows Mobile 7

ZDNet reports that Windows Mobile 7 is on track for release to OEMs for testing. It is interesting to see what MS can come up with in the new highly competitive market. Android, Sumsung’s just announced Bada, iPhone OS, Symbian^2 – the first open version of Symbian’s OS.

Windows 6.5 was not up-to-speed with the competition. The UI is complex and hard to use. But, intuitiveness has never been a strong point of MS products. Here is a small analysis of the Windows 6.5 home screen from usability prospective.

The iPhone 3.1 home screen is an ample or much better and usable approach. And here’s why the Windows 6.5 screen isn’t as intuitive.

• Uneven grid in additional to uniquely shaped icons makes it look untidy and harder to scan.
• Inconsistent icons style.
• Background under the icons makes it harder to scan the screen.
• Icons are allowed to have unique shape, which theoretically helps to find an icon but the current implementation presents 2 problems:
  • Icons are not consistent for some have unique share and some just use rounded corner “iphone” frame.
  • Without knowing what background colour might be there is high probability or poor visibility of the icon for lack of contrast. (Camera icon and AT&T Music illustrate the problem).

It may be hard for Windows Mobile to recapture the market unless they make it really usable and appealing to end-users.

Usability over Aesthetics

I really admire good design, a tasteful colour palette and the fine finish of all UI elements. But Google pays no attention to any of it. Their design is completely data driven and they are known for things like testing 64 shades of blue for few months before deciding on the colour of the box boarder. And still I find myself dumping the beautiful Apple Mail for Gmail. I bought Things – a most eye-catching app that scored Apple Design Award and yet find myself using Gmail Tasks. Beautifully designed iCal is also an app I rarely open, opting for Google Calendar instead.

What’s the reason? Usability I guess. Google is an adept in making usable apps. All their apps are highly intuitive and usable, albeit ugly. I save great deal of time when I have all apps in one window talking to each other. The ugliness of design elements does bother me but the usability pays me back in time saved.

I guess to justify Google’s approach to UI, they need to think about every bite going through their server with the amount of data they process. To a certain degree they comply with a basic rule of design: Take out everything that is not necessary until you can’t anymore and then you have a well designed product. (Michelangelo used to joke that his trade is very easy. Take a rock and cut off everything unnecessary).

New Website Launched

Rossul.com has been launched with completely new design and architecture structure. We’ve worked hard making it more focused on our main business  - design of Usable Graphical User Interfaces for both Web and Desktop Apps, Web portals and complex websites.

TweetBoard Alfa

TweetBoard makes Twitter available right on your website. The window is dynamic and doesn’t get in the way. It seems to be very cool and usable way to facilitate your marketing efforts and may be even communicate with your customers. We are awaiting alfa testing approval and will let you know about integration process and usability of the product.