The title of this post, Flash is dead, could not be further from the truth. Flash is not dead, it is more alive than ever. This thought overcame me as I sat there listening to a guy who blurted this out in a cacophony of dribble along with about 20 other mental dumps in finality with this comment... "Even Adobe said so!". Now I don't exactly remember Adobe saying that Flash is dead or anything like that, maybe they did, but let me clue you in to what I know.
Google uses Flash. YouTube, Maps, Google Docs and collaboration platforms and interactive functionality that could not be achieved via normal HTML standards use Flash. Now, even tho Google has played a large part in maturing javascript beyond what we knew of it, Flash still performs many tasks within its contained operational boundaries well.
Zynga uses Flash. All of the interactive games presented thru Facebook and social media in past years and reaching 10 million active daily users were developed in Flash. Farmtown and all the others pumped thru Facebook and the Internet are Flash based.
Video Display uses Flash. Flash opened the door to video playback and an architecture that worked with Interactive functions beyond just stop, pause and play. Flash allowed developers to create full sites or contained modules that can access video components in many ways beyond just simple display. Within flash we could create gaming elements, layered motion images, decisive video components based on user interaction, transparent motion images and an overall ability to make video work as a part of the user experience and not just a "watch this" chunk of content.
Why do I care? I am using Flash as a way to communicate the User Flow of touchscreen interaction and User Experience designed functions on a current device controller app and it has worked amazingly well to communicate the user touch points, user flow, content flow, selction result and connection between the user, the screen function and the device function.
This practice coupled with a Windows or Android Tablet has made the project come to life without programming the entire app within any platform but rather rapidly developing and translating the Interface Design to user controlled motion interaction. This has saved time and allowed me to alter the user flow while determining the motion and control elements as we want them to be programmed for the final result. We will know what we want and how we want it to work on screen before actually programming it for the final result.
Pre Visualization is valuable and this action takes the pre-viz portion of the project to new heights. Normally I would....
1. Design wireframes, get approval, design the interface, get approval, design the content screens, get approval... the client not actually connecting with the user flow or not being able to actually test its strengths or weaknesses until the functionality is built ...or...
2. Design the content screens, develop a simple HTML user flow that limits the interaction to clicking buttons to screen selections. For a simple data flow app this may work fine, but as functions, control and display elements mature this limits the visualization process.
Finally, limited pre viz action means I have to babysit a project during programming phase or come back and modify processes that after being fleshed out we found could be better, which causes delays in development deadlines or doesnt allow me to move on to another facet or project. Solve the issues early with as much intelligence as possible so when your project goes into programming you already know the end result.
Function, Design - Designing functions, functionaly designing.....Ugh! Cranking away on this latest project and it is a mind scraper. As with any app or anything interactive you want to connect with the user or viewer and narrow in on the elements to get them as close to the product or function as possible. This App or screen interactive is not being designed for the masses, yet desgined to be used by the masses! WHAT? Let me explain.
Although this latest project is an Android App, it will not be on the Google Play store or loaded by random people for random tablet usage, it has specific purpose and function. Specific function? Don't all apps have specific function....Yes! The difference here, without giving away the goods, this App Interactive has specific function on the screen that translates to specific function on the person who is controlling the screen. Different than a game where you click up and a character goes up, or a Financial app where you click transfer funds and funds get transffered from one account to another magically, all while sitting on the couch.
This App is a device control, which controls a device that is therapuetic in nature and has a determined effect on the person controlling it immediately. Not off in some distant financial wonderland or investment opportunity and certainly not just on the screen and within the tablet itself, this interactive has immediate effect with potential fine control to adjust it just right for optimal effect. So the Big question...How do you design that function within the interface to translate to the physical result?
The answer: the Function is the Design.
How do you control with precision to get desired results? How do you connect the user with the function? What should the control look like? Mechanical, Organic, Flat design or what? I have been grinding on this for what seems like a small problem and a small feature, but truth is a small feature to one could be a huge feature to another, enhancing the User Experience right then and there by meeting the user right where he is at, in the moment.
So I tried to see the function through the lens of the design when I needed to see the design through the lens of the function. The function is the design, the buttons and levers and clickers we design into these apps must be indicitave of what can be done which will determine the design of the apparatus and potentially enahnce the usability of the device. Nuff' said!
We see many tablet, mobile, web and screen interfaces these days, more than in the past, but can the human eye differentiate between buttons when we are quickly scanning pages or trying to focus in on smaller screens while walking or boarding a train or bus or - I hate to say it - driving down the road caught in a log jam of traffic. This is reality.
Differentiating the button design can allow for enough difference in the human mind that it causes you to note a function or interact differently allowing you to submit to the functions focus and not miss it. This will inherently trickle down to the the User Experience if the user:
is aware of functionality when seeing a familiar button
sees a button that stands out
notices a button that has has some sense of function stated in the design
recognizes a more common element
The goal is for the user to take note of a button that leads to a function that may have been lost in a sea of buttons we instinctively take for granted. Function Validation or the act of clicking to see what happens, can be good or bad as humans are known to press buttons and complain later depending on the ability to quickly end what they just activated or return to where they were. The unique nature of a functions button design, placement or interaction may increase the acuity or sharpness of thought needed by the user at that moment to make a good decision and enhance the user experience.
It may just send out a few endorphins from the brief mind workout too, furthering the love they have for your product. Just ship me my Janoski's man, I need to ride!
For the record, this APP does not predict Gender for anything, not your baby, not animals at the zoo, not the person at the bus stop named Pat or Chris who causes you to stumble in your thought process of determining the nature of their gender disposition or the surreal nature of being Gendererally challenged as some might be. So, no, you can't hold this up, scan a person and get feedback on their DNA structure. I will invent that next as it feels like we need that at times, don't we. Just kidding.
So what does the app do? It shares your prediction experience from the Organic Gender prediction kit with people who you want to share it with, people most close to you, people you love... Who you ask?
Why your FaceBook friends of course, the most important people in the world.
Well the first designs recently made their way to the client for initial approval. I won't be posting any relative descriptions of this App as of yet, but I can tell you a bit about the screens showed in this post.
I am glad the client went for the spinny wheel design and allotted time for us to program the wheel, this interface will be more interactive and fun than the block of icons, altho that one did look nice also, just plain. I am currently working on the next revision of the spinny wheel interface and interior screens. More to come....
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