App Design - Cookbook

jakecoxy

New Member
Hi There!!
Iv recently started to design a hypothetical Cookbook app to bulk out my portfolio and need some feedback.
The idea was to create an app that was completely controlled by gestures so that when you've got sticky fingers 'mid-cook' you dont have to smother your phone in melted butter or whatever while your trying to find the next step.
Theres 4 shots attached but im still working on the initial opening screen, the search screen and a few other bits and pieces.
Any suggestions, improvements or general feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

I had to upload them onto tinypic because they were over the limit... sorry!!

Thanks in advance

http://i49.tinypic.com/2qx8i9d.png
http://i50.tinypic.com/330h5xx.png

http://i47.tinypic.com/152cj9c.png
http://i47.tinypic.com/2z88c34.png
 
Oddly working on a similar sort of thing... more book however. I thought of the gesture control because of sticky fingers but we're going down a different path in the end.
I have two suggestions:
1. The white text and graphics on the light background will be quite hard to see, they need more contrast.
2. The text you have there will need to be bigger, its quite small on an example screen that's twice the size of the screen on a phone.
Those are the two obvious ones I can see. I like the background colours though.
 
Ahh yeah, good point!! Ill get it on it now.
Thinking of changing the text to something with a bit more weight too, should make it easier to read at a glance hopefully.
Thanks for the notes Astarin, much appreciated.
 
all I'm going to say is... if you're designing for apple you need to follow apples guidelines for design not androids..... seriously that looks like its an app designed following googles guidelines for an android app.
ps.... take a look round the forum and don't forget to join in :)
 
jakecoxy said:
Thinking of changing the text to something with a bit more weight too, should make it easier to read at a glance hopefully.
Yup, good call, I was going to say this but it would be interesting to see if it was effective as a darker shade. I often find myself at a distance from my phone when using it for a recipe.
 
Levi said:
all I'm going to say is... if you're designing for apple you need to follow apples guidelines for design not androids..... seriously that looks like its an app designed following googles guidelines for an android app.
ps.... take a look round the forum and don't forget to join in :)
I disagree with this. It's not completely necessary to follow the Apple guidelines. It's advised, and if you're using xCode sometimes it's easier to use the built in functions but there's no reason an app has to use all the apple menus and there are plenty out there that don't. You do however have to be careful not to completely contradict the Apple guidelines and make it an intrusive or unintuitive experience for the user. I don't think it looks like an android app either, I'm intrigued as to what is similar to android?
 
Have you used a STOCK jellybean with apps that are designed following the ui guidelines for android 4.2 (in otherwords - fragments so it works with both phone and tablet) . If you're thinking of the older gingerbread ui etc then yes you're correct it isn't very android but it is very much like the newer ics and jellybean ui guidelines.
Honestly there's more about those designs that follow stock android guidelines than those of apples.
 
Yup, it's called Holo. I use a stock rom on my S3. I just don't think there's many elements you can attribute to being solely responsible by Holo though. This is just my thought if I was creating an app of similar style too.
 
Appreciate the comments Levi, i can see where your coming from. The app was designed based around the concept of the 'Clear' app for iphone (http://www.realmacsoftware.com/clear). I was aiming to create an app that was used completely through gestures throughout the cooking process and had tap-able features for other areas - Choosing a recipe, creating a shopping list etc.
I really appreciate both your comments and im going to go back and make a few edits to try and iOS-ify it a bit.
 
The first of the Edits to make it more iphone user friendly.

Thoughts?
 

Attachments

  • Interface 2 Edit IOS.png
    Interface 2 Edit IOS.png
    653.1 KB · Views: 29
I preferred your first versions. I think they had some way to go but I liked them. I think what you've came up with the second time round looks more amateurish.

Is the target market the App Store, and no other sort of smart phones?
 
Have you thought about doing this as a flat design? I think it would work pretty nice with the colours you've chosen.
 
I think flat colours are the way forward. I prefer flat stuff anyway.
 
Everting is going flat, the drop shadow is dead...... Long live the flat.

What next though? Drop shadow again just to be retro?
 
Personally I would add some contrast to the white text. Get rid of the flip function. And change the font and its size.
Really like the graphic icons style though.
 
Really appreciate the feedback!! Its been a great help.

Gone with a larger and slightly weightier font throughout. Played around with flat colours but ended up keeping the curved surface look as it conforms with the existing Apples user guidelines, promoting interaction and all that, and the idea is that it would be designed exclusively for the App Store too.

Might give it a make over when i get a minute and put together a flat colour version of the same sort of thing. Should be a nice little piece.

Added a quick shot of the opening screen. Hope you like it!!
 

Attachments

  • Opening Page.png
    Opening Page.png
    528.9 KB · Views: 23
Looks good, the bottom font on the recent screenshot is too narrow for my liking though... But that's just me ;)
Edit: It might actually be the 'i' that are putting me off. There are no tops to the letter, but there is a base (Its an upside down T?)
 
Really like that opening screen man! Feels really fresh. Maybe a bit too fresh for a cooking app? Too clinical perhaps?
 
Back
Top