Design Qualms

[Mat B]

Hey Guys, I wasn't sure whether to post each of these issues in different threads or not, but I decided that it was probably better if you could gloss over all of the in one post. Please find below some of my thoughts in relation to some elements of Tentr:

More significant problems:

Bottom (black) Navigation Bar: Up until IOS5, the glossy nav-bar was very prominent within the native UI of the OS. However, in IOS6, this design style (a glossy black bar with protruding blue icons) ceased to exist anymore, with apps such as the App Store and Music adopting a more refined style where an icon looks "pressed" when it is selected, rather than pushed up and out of the screen. In addition, another notable change in the standard UI was that the colour of the bottom nav-bar always matched the top nav-bar, which creates (im my opinion) a much more cohesive and centralised experience. I think it would be great to see these new design changes reflected in the design of Tentr, possibly through the use of a nav-bar that looks something like the Music app, but blue (either with white or black icons) instead of white. I think this would make the app look a whole lot better, and also give it a fun first impression - as there are not many new apps that have a blue bottom nav-bar!

Main Content Area (the place where your the posts go) Firstly, there definitely should be avatars beside each post - it creates something visual to associate a comment with instead of just a name.

Secondly, I think the content of the post should span the entire width of the screen instead of appearing like one big card as it does in the native Twitter app. By letting the content take up the whole screen, you allow the content to do the talking. Also, this would better fit the current pull-to-refresh system, as currently this is separated by one line that crosses the entire screen, instead of another 'attachment' to the rest of the card-like interface - which definately is not cohesive.

Thirdly, the blue arrow to the left of every post looks very out of place. Either get rid of the arrow and make the function of the arrow into a gesture (like in Tweetbot), or at least make the arrow simply light grey-ish and without the big blue circle around it.

Finally, I think a change in font would really make the app stand out from the rest. It's not that the current font is bad, but I think a font such as Proxima Nova would really draw a lot of positive attention - especially from people in the blogging corner of the internet.

Smaller problems (just a list of little things)

• I don't know if the pencil icon in the top right hand corner is the correct choice, I think something like the once in the native twitter app would be better
• Ditto the last statement for the "Bonds" icon; it's too small in comparison to the other icons and I think something like a chain link would be better suited
• The toggle between Followings and Followers needs to be the same height as the compose button next to it.
• The big black box that appears when you refresh the app needs to go.

Well, that's everything. I hope it all makes sense and I'd love to know what you all think ;D

[Chris Barry]

Speaking from the iPad perspective, the text feels really small, and feels too wide, especially in landscape mode. I'm sure this would be helped by adding avatars, but having that much width can be hard to read at times

[Tierney Coren]

Any updates on this Marco?