Monthly Archives: January 2011

Lee has asked today’s question which has turned into a whole series of questions on the same topic. Feel free to answer them all-

Do you prefer apps that are free, but with ads or paid apps without adverts?

Do you actually ever click on ads in apps (intentionally or otherwise) and if so is it because you are interested in the item being advertised or are you doing it to support the developer?

Do you think that the developer is money-grabbing by sticking ads all over the place in a free to download app? What about ads in paid for apps?

Do you see a difference between iAds and other adverts (do you “trust” iAds more somehow)?

Where you have a choice to remove ads through in-app purchase – would you take it (assuming that you like and use the app).”

I work in the motor industry, have done so for over 20 years in design, and feel that I have an innate grasp of how to merge beauty, design and practicality in a product that people want to own. The wheels spin differently in the car trade compared to consumer electronics though because beauty and luxury on wheels are too many turns down the road for the average human.

Writers use car analogies all the time to explain the subtleties of smartphone design and more specifically the way these phones work, but few grasp just how closely linked both industries are at an emotional level. You can take analogies from any industry and link them to how smartphones work, but I want to stick to what I know. I know how good design can ingrain itself into your being and become at one with you. I know how branding is a superficial layer on top, below and all around the product. I know how the initial experience of buying an exciting product wears off in an instant when you realise that you have bought a tool to do a job that looks good on the forecourt or in the shop. Good design is not wholly about looking pretty or stuffing the product with the latest gizmos that the public wants to see.

Good design is all about building a product that works from A to B, from top to bottom and from every conceivable angle. Good design gives you that special feeling every time you sit in or pick up the product and even when you simply look at it. You cannot buy this feeling. No, you can if you have £100,000 to spend on your next car. Without wishing to sound like a car snob it is difficult to create a vehicle that encompasses all of the aspects of design that is ahead of its peers in a price range that the average consumer can afford. The Ferrari is the perfect example of a four wheeled product that brings together refinement, performance and the emotional feeling that pulses through your veins when you look at it. It is unexplainable why a Ferrari makes you feel this way because in the eyes of a sensible human they can be stupendously ugly. In the eyes of someone who appreciates the virtues of good design they are capable of gently pushing away the deficiencies many Ferraris have built into them.

It is all about lines and the gentle ways your eyes capture what is in front of you and this brings me to the Ferrari of the smartphone world, the iPhone 4.

As a designer the first iPhone and 3G/S were carbuncles that offered little emotional attachment outside of the splendid software inside. The garish chrome surround and insidious curved back were nods to copycat smartphone design that relied on feeding the owner with technology in place of emotion. The iPhone 4 is, by contrast, all about the lines. Forget the toughened glass and the claim that it is the thinnest smartphone in the world. The clever camera and retina screen are mere features within a form that begs you to look at it, pick it up and be in awe of what it is. There is no other phone that feels brand new after months of ownership and no other phone that doesn’t look like it came off a mile long production line. It feels hand-crafted despite being nothing of the kind and most important of all, it looks nothing like a phone despite obviously being a phone. It is difficult to explain what makes the iPhone 4 so unique within a field of similar looking smartphones, but from a designer’s point of view it is an achievement that stands head and shoulders above the rest.

It has failings, well documented failings, yet it pushes these deficiencies away just like a Ferrari does. To attain the luxury of a Ferrari you spend 6 figures so most have to make do with a low 5 figure car. To attain the luxury of an iPhone 4 you spend the same as you do for most of its competitors. It is not amazing for the technology. It is amazing for what it is and the fact we can all own one.

Kelvin