This week you will begin to design a concept for a smartphone app. You will research design opportunities, identify a project direction, and test your ideas. You’ll also learn some important interaction design concepts and terms that you’ll use throughout the rest of the class.

Objectives: Learn and apply four important interaction design terms in solving an interaction problem. Develop a project direction through research, brainstorming, and testing your concept

Project Brief: For this project, you will design the interface for a specialized calculator app for a smartphone. You will design it for either the iOS (Apple) or Android platform.

Identify a profession or activity that would benefit from a specialized calculator app. Next, brainstorm the functions your calculator must provide. Then design an appropriate interface using the principles of interaction and usability testing. Explore different ideas for your calculator app, and be creative. This assignment explores observation, conventions, and feedback—three important concepts in interaction design.

The Goal: Developing a mobile calculator app that allows users to count calories, track meals and snacks througout the day, and calculate their BMI in a clean and easy to use interface.

Responsibilities: User testing, wireframing, digital design, and prototyping

Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, XD

Before doing any ideation I began by brainstorming over 50 different mobile calculator app ideas before deciding on creating a mobile calorie counting app. After brainstorming, doing research on existing calorie counters, choosing a target audience, building personas, and creating scenarios, I finally created my first round of sketches.

Sketched out different screens to cover all scenarios and test the flow of the app. Started with paper sketches and then refined them digitally after conducting user testing. After a second round of user testing with the wireframes, I created a rough design of the app.

Process is essential. For a big project, the process acts as a roadmap to navigate through what can be a foggy route. This is especially helpful to me as a new UX/UI designer. Simplicity is strength. It is easy to be drawn towards trendy and attractive designs, but the focus should always be the user, understanding their needs and problems, and then coming up with a design that solves it.