Developing native apps for Apple’s iOS devices (currently: iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad) is certainly a complex process. Of course, that’s true for almost anything worthwhile. Fortunately, app developers are usually the type accustomed to learning new tools & skills. Back when I managed technology in universities, I hired programmers based on not what they knew but on their aptitude and skills for learning. And I still think that’s valid for hiring developers on salary to work in-house, but I suspect most publishers will contract their app development to firms specializing in those skills.

While there is a significant learning curve for new app developers, Apple provides an extensively documented environment for building apps. The learning curve is about three months to obtain a firm understanding of developing apps in Objective C and Apple’s SDK (known as Xcode). Clearly, though, the learning of new techniques and more involved aspects of the iOS SDK is an ongoing and never ending process. Again, that’s also true for any development environment.

Some sort of programming background is essential for coming to terms with the tools for iOS app development. Experience in a C-based language is helpful but not necessary, though having a basic understanding of how a programming language functions is essential. Those with only a background in scripting languages such as PHP or JavaScript will have a slightly harder time but not so much harder. Personally, I actually find Objective C a lot simpler to understand that JavaScript but that might simply be the way my own mind is wired.

Developing a native app requires a very different mindset than developing for the Web. The screen dimensions is only one aspect. Apple provides great guidance in its interface guidelines. And there are many technical issues. You must deal with memory management. Xcode provides both an iPhone & iPad simulator but what works on the simulator may not work on the actual device, which has much stricter memory limitations than a desktop machine. The complexity of loading views (i.e., a screen of information) is not nearly as simple as making an href link to a new Web page. In iOS a lot more is going on behind the scenes. Of course, that also opens up a great deal of functionality, features, and capabilities that can be presented in a native app.

Knowing how to take advantage of those features in native apps requires an understanding of the possibilities presented by iOS. And that’s where the design of the app is so very important, and not just the visual, graphic design but the underlying structure and functionality of the app. The value of an app rests in the functionality, which really needs to be something more than a page curl animation. That’s merely eye candy. The task of conceptualizing an app is the most difficult part of working in Apple’s app world. But that’s nothing new. System analysis and design always has been more difficult than programming.

Katie Peek over at A Canary in the Data Mine: Explorations of Data Analysis and Information Display blog posted an interview with me on the topic of book design and the changing world of electronic publishing.

One of my favorite projects of the past year was designing the book Tomorrow May Be Too Late by Thomas Marino. The work included the design of the book cover, page layout, and the book website.

From Rich Merrit’s review:
“Banker by day, stripper by night. Twenty-one year old Tom Marino invites you to be a voyeur on a year of his life, one of youthful exuberance and mistakes, loves and loves lost. Enjoy a sexy romp through the late eighties from Philadelphia to New York. You will cry, laugh and grow angry along with Tom as the man he loves takes advantage of him…. His honesty makes this a compelling read and perhaps you will avoid his mistakes, or if you don’t, perhaps you will have as much fun making those mistakes as he did.”

This is how I love to describe the book: Tom was married, worked in a bank & lived a straight life. When he started stripping & fell in love with a guy, it all changed. The book is a ‘naked account’ of his love story during that first year as a gay man. Oh yes, we had fun working on this book design.

AS A FIRST STEP WE LOOKED FOR THE BOOK CONCEPT:
A LOVE STORY.

THE BOOK COVER

I consider memoirs delicate works by definition, so it needed to be treated carefully and at the same time it had to be true to the content, including many stripping nights & hot scenes.  After reading the book and discussing the cover concept with the author we decided to go with a hot-love cover. The challenge was to keep it masculine, because that is also true to the story. Helvetica Neue Caps with strong weight variations was a big part of the answer.

THE PAGE LAYOUT

For the layout, I gave it good margins for holding the book (ideally, the reader’s thumb will fit in the interior margin to hold the book in your hands) and also for resting the eyes. (The book is about 380 pages). For the text:  Caxton Light, a very readable font that allows the text block to breathe in a normal line-height due to its small ascenders & descenders.

The Helvetica Neue in different weights (from the cover) worked well for the headings and Table of Contents.

MISC

Using the story told in the book as a theme, I’ve done a set of broken-heart-icons to use in different pieces (back cover, chapter numbers, website & more).

THE WEBSITE

The Web site for Tomorrow May Be Too Late has grown quite a bit from the initial idea: we started with a basic book Web site (cover, blurb, reviews, about the author and about the book).

Later we added new features:

• We integrated an author blog to the Web site.
• Shopping cart -very important if you are self-publishing!
• The time frame of the book (’80s) was used to create a soundtrack page with the music mentioned in the book.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is coming up next month and one our clients, Ellen Bryson, will have her debut novel promoted at the fair.

Ceci did the illustrations for the novel (and, yes, it’s adult literary fiction with illustrations). We’re also in the processing of building Ellen’s website. Her novel will be released by Henry Holt in the summer of 2010. I’m going to have more posts about the developing of Ellen’s author website, but for now you can look at the preview page at ellenbryson.com.

Publishers Weekly has a great list of books promoted by publishers and literary agencies at this year’s fair. Here’s the brief on Ellen Bryson’s novel:

On the adult fiction front, Foundry has the debut novel The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson (Holt, 2010); set in 1865 New York, the book follows the titular character—he performs as the “living skeleton” in P.T. Barnum’s American museum—whose life is changed after being hired by Barnum to be the showman’s personal detective.

Everybody knows by now that authors have to take responsibility for promoting their books. You can’t just leave that task to the publisher. Of course, every author wants people talking about their book. Many of our clients mention that they want a viral marketing campaign. A lot of blogs out there talk about Internet marketing but one of the sites I enjoy the most is Web Ink Now by David Meerman Scott.

David has several books and some great free e-books on the topics of PR and viral marketing. His latest book is World Wide Rave:

A World Wide Rave is when people around the world are talking about you, your company, and your products. Whether you’re located in San Francisco, Dubai, or Reykjavík, it’s when global communities eagerly link to your stuff on the Web. It’s when online buzz drives buyers to your virtual doorstep. And it’s when tons of fans visit your Web site and your blog because they genuinely want to be there.

He’s come across a really great method for getting people on the Web to talk about his book. According to David, “Your challenge: Creating triggers that get millions of people to spread your ideas and share your stories.” ….and, so here’s me promoting the poster of David’s book in Buenos Aires.