The Hill Holliday’s 35th floor conference room was packed with inquisitive digital enthusiasts this past Friday morning. Hill hosted a MITX event “Designing iPhone Apps: It’s More than Just Beautiful Coding” on Friday February 19, 2010. Raj Aggarwal of Localytics moderated the event. Speakers included Bryan Maleszyk of Molecular/Isobar, Anna Callahan of Software RaizLabs, Dan Katcher of Rocket Farm Studios, Steve Brykman of Apperian, and Yoni Samlan of Active Frequency.

The purpose of this session was to create a better understanding of the design process for these apps. Apps and mobile sites must meet the needs of the consumer. As noted by many of the speakers, if you waste time developing an app or mobile site that sits on the shelf in an app store, it is not generating impressions on your brand.  Read the MITX recap.

Bryan Maleszyk started the session off with basic design principles to consider when designing for iPhone/smart phone. Designers should understand users and where they may be when they use the app, be results-orientated, always add value, be conscious of privacy issues, be findable on searches, and able to measure key performance issues.  Most importantly, designers should “THINK BIG”. Why not consider medical devices and health care systems as points of integration?

Anna Callahan talked about the need for designers to focus on only doing one thing at a time. Apps should not be bloated and only fulfill one task, not 10. Anna reminds us to keep in mind the ergonomic limitations of fingers and knuckles as we design. Just like with any other type of design, she encourages designers to prototype as a way to save time, and most important, money.

Dan Katcher spoke about how to make a successful Smart phone gaming app. A successful game should be unique, be fun and pleasurable, offer discovery, incorporate sound and animation when appropriate, and offer simplicity. Games, like any other app, starts with a good integrated process and should be tested externally.

Steve Brykman provided the group with his perspective on how to best work with clients to provide the best mobile solution. He advises designers to be flexible and how to work in a collaborative client/consultant environment in order to ensure brand needs are met. Projects should include initial upfront research including competitive analysis and features lists.

Yoni Samlan was the last speaker of the event and concentrated his discussion on talking about the Android device. Android is increasing in popularity, outselling the Palm this year, so designers need to keep this underdog in mind throughout the design process. The most important takeaway for designers from Yoni’s presentation is that an iPhone design is not a one-size-fits-all design since the Android’s functionality and layout need special attention. If designers just slap on an iPhone skin to a Droid user, there may be significant usability issues.