Disclaimer: Due to being unable to test the Emergency Call system without dialing real emergency numbers, I may be incorrect on certain points. Feel free to correct me if I am and you know from experience.
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This concept showcases an addition to the Emergency Call interface. On top of being able to dial a number, you can swipe over to view a list of numbers to call. The user of the device can set four emergency numbers in Phone settings to display in this view (or possibly more – potential scrollview however I don’t see it as being that useful). Tapping any of the cells will automatically dial the number. Security/privacy is retained since no one’s number is displayed ever during the call.
In light of potential exploitation or accidental dialing, an additional add-on would be a notification that remains on the lock screen to alert you that an emergency call was dialed.
Here’s another idea I have but I’m posing it as question in case this is already built-in.
1) The dialer recognizes if the number is not an emergency number and won’t dial if you type any number in. But, does that mean you have to dial an emergency number to call or can you press the Phone dial button on the bottom right immediately for it to automatically dial the appropriate number? If it doesn’t do this already, it would be an excellent addition
Originally posted on Dribbble.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
Earlier this morning, I posted an idea for scrolling text on iOS notification banners. I made note of the fact that the lock screen is a viable place for this implementation as well. However, there are two significant differences between lock screen notifications and the banners.
- Notifications on the lock screen do not clear until the device is unlocked
- Lock screen alerts show more than one line of text.
With this in mind, I feel the best way to go about scrolling in this view is to do it like native iOS - vertically.
In this post, I will be discussing my thoughts on how to go about this when in the bubble view.
Note: All measurements are rounded to the nearest whole pixel.
Analysis
Here are some important figures to note:
Number of Characters Visible (Unexpanded) = 130 (including whitespace)
Full Size Bubble Dimensions (Unexpanded - Max Characters) = 262 pixels by 592 pixels
Evaluation
I find that the best way to alert the user that the bubble is selected for scrolling is by expanding it. This can be done by simply tapping it. Upon tapping it once, it will expand and show more text (three new lines). However, if you scroll your finger through the bubble, you can move up and down through the message. To exit the selected bubble view, tap it again and it will resize.
Note: The scrolling bar on the side of the bubble in the picture is only viewable when you scroll (just like native iOS).
Here are some more important figures to note:
Number of Characters Visible (Expanded) = 225 (includes white space - scrolling allows the user to view the entire message thus making it an infinite amount of characters that can be viewed)
Full Size Bubble Dimensions (Expanded - Max Characters) = 297 pixels by 592 pixels.
The reason why I chose it to be these dimensions and allow three new lines is because, if resized evenly, it expands just a tiny bit but allows three more lines of text. It will look clean and still won’t completely cover the screen. Plus, the importance of the expansion is to alert the user that they can scroll in this view. Making it any larger would surely make the bubble obtrusive in my opinion.
Conclusion
As all the core information is above, here’s the full message I sent myself.
“Tap to select the bubble. It will expand at that point and will allow you to scroll through the message from top to bottom and back again. Tap the bubble again to bring it back to normal. This will still allow full compatibility with Abstergo.”
-Josh
UPDATE
This concept has been brought to life. Check out my project Reveal with Conrad Kramer on Cydia today! Watch this video to see how Reveal works.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
Due to the fact that the banner can only stretch as far as the length of the iOS device’s screen, many times characters and words are truncated in order to fit. A way to alleviate this issue would be to implement a scrolling ability through the text like in the Music application when the name of the song or artist is longer than what is viewable.
Note: Although this is oriented towards banners from the SpringBoard (while using the device), this could apply to notifications that appear on the lock screen as well.
Analysis
After timing and toying around with the implementation of this feature in the Music application, I came up with some figures alongside facts on the banners themselves that would make this addition viable and user friendly.
Note: All figures are rounded to the nearest second.
View Time of Notification Banner = Seven seconds (approximate - based on three counting tests)
Number of Characters Viewable on Banner = Fifty-four characters (includes whitespace)
I preceded to Music to do some timing tests on how fast the scrolling was when playing a song. My tests were undertaken as follows:
The text (in this case the artist) disappears from view as it passes under edge of the bar. As soon as it started moving again, I counted to one second and benchmarked in my mind where the text was at the time when I went to two. I then counted the number of characters that were already hidden before I moved on to two. I did this three times to ensure better reliability in timing.
Number of Characters Scrolled Per Second = Nine characters (approximate - includes whitespace and based upon three measurements)
Evaluation
Now, with these numbers, let’s see what happens. For the best user experience, the banner needs to stay on screen without motion for a least one second. This will allow the user time to focus on the banner itself and what text is on there.
9 x 6 = 54 characters in six seconds
54 (what’s already visible) + 54 = 108 characters
Conclusion
With this said, you could read most likely read an entire text message and almost an entire tweet (maxed out at 144 characters) by the time the banner disappears from view. And this would all be done at a pace that is easy on the eyes and user intuitive.
As an example, if this had been implemented, you would have seen the entire message I sent myself in approximately three and a half seconds:
“Imagine if this scrolled like a stock ticker. The banner stays for about seven seconds.”
Similar to how the Music application handles this, the text would disappears as it hits the edge of the character cell (the divider before the icon on the far left). If the text is too long for the screen but not much, it will scroll again through the message if time allows. However, it will always wait one second after returning before scrolling again.
- Josh
UPDATE
This concept has been brought to life. Check out my project Reveal with Conrad Kramer on Cydia today! Watch this video to see how Reveal works.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
This project is in progress.
The pre-beta release of Mountain Lion gave us the definitive conclusion that unification between iOS and OS X is coming. It’s a great thing and will enhance the user experience and reliability between devices.
With that in mind, I feel that the iPad could take some additions from OS X like the Mac has done in regards to the iPad. Adding iOS 5 Growl-isk banners to the iPad would utilize more of the screen real estate, but allow for more content and could potentially fit this device quite well.
These banners are based off of the iOS 5 bubble notifications that appears on the lock screen and have been transformed to fit the iPad screen. The logistics of how you can interact with the notifications is in my head but hasn’t hit paper yet.
Keep looking back and see what happens! I really like this rendition. I would appreciate all respectful and constructive criticism that you have!
-Josh
Special thanks to my cousin Nevin for the iPad image.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
Here’s revision two of Pushpin. Look back at the other links to get background information if you’re unaware of what Pushpin is all about.
Special thanks to all those who gave me great suggestions. Constructive and respectful criticism is still greatly appreciated.
Another step towards perfection.
Twitter: Joshua Tucker, John Heaton
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
Everything, including the name, is subject to change.
This project is in progress.
I have been vigorously working today on Pushpin to design a better pin. After many hours of saving Photoshop images and comparing them on my iPhone, here’s what I’ve come up. I accept all respectful and constructive criticism so please feel free to express your thoughts. Below is the concept link if you haven’t seen it yet.
Let the process continue.
Twitter: Joshua Tucker, John Heaton
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
Everything, including the name, is subject to change.
This project is in progress.
Pushpin will allow you to pin notifications from certain applications (i.e. Messages or Mail) or even existing notifications to the Notification Center. This will keep them from ever clearing as well as being a reminder to you to do something.
Note: Pins of different colors may play an important role.
I won’t speak any further on how it will work but this is a runner up. This is a project John Heaton and I will tackle together.
Stay tuned as always.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
All aspects of Pushpin, including the name, are subject to change.
This project is in progress.
Twitter: Joshua Tucker, John Heaton
This is revision three for the interface I’m working on. In the process of designing what I had in mind, I drifted away from what I’m really aiming for in this concept. I haven’t really expressed it either so here’s my goal and vision for this interface concept:
Mission Statement:
To create a seamless, user intuitive interface with access to all of iOS’ core features that can be viewed with one unified action or gesture.
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Going back and re-thinking how I wanted to go about this, I changed a lot of things (as you can see from the pictures). Although I didn’t feel like I was rushing, I’m nonetheless going to take my progression a little bit slower so that I get a level of in-depth development. I appreciate all the suggestions and feedback you’ve given me so keep it up!
Before I move forward with the explanation of this revision, read up on my previous work to get some background. They are of the past now, but it’s good to get some well-rounded information about my progression.
Oh one last thing: Here are the assumptions I made when building this concept:
- To achieve the seamless nature, the interface is an overlay over a blurred image of what’s in the background (wherever you came from)
- No matter where you are when in this interface, all the features work and are useable.
- This interface is accessible everywhere except the lock screen (for security reasons — manage lock screen notifications with this concept).
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Activation:
Activating this interface could really be anything, however the methods that I’ve chosen for this interface are:
- Double tap Home button
- Swipe down on status bar
To get out of this interface, you can tap the Home button twice again or swipe up from the bottom of the shade.
In iOS 5, the way you access the Notification Center is by swiping down from the status bar while accessing the App Switcher is done with a double tap of the Home button. Since this interface is unified, you’re able to access both while within the interface. However, the starting page can be different depending on what you do. Here’s how I have it working (conceptually):
But first — note that the App Switcher interface I’ve designed is a merge between launchpad and multitasking functionality. It will be explained in more detail farther below.
- Double tap Home button — It will bring you to the App Switcher/launchpad interface first. From there, you can move from page to page
- Swipe down from status bar — You start off at the Notification Center. From there, you can swipe to get to the App Switcher/launchpad page
Note: In terms of the page dots, the Notification Center is the first dot and the App Switcher/launchpad page(s) are after. The number of dots varies on the number of pages you have on your App Switcher/launchpad.
Pages:
The page you’re on is noted by a page dot. To get to other pages, simply swipe left or right like on the SpringBoard.
When on this page, you not only have access to what applications are multitasking but also applications that you can launch. The page(s) that pertain to App Switcher/launchpad are organized from top to bottom starting with applications that are multitasking (most recent first). After that, they are organized in alphabetical order by default. The layout of the App Switcher/launchpad isn’t based off of what your SpringBoard looks like. You can make it the exact same if you want to our change it up however you wish. Putting applications into folders works in this interface just like on the SpringBoard.
Two Notes:
- To restore to the default alphabetical order for this interface, there will be a reset button somewhere in Settings.
- You cannot delete applications from this interface. That is all done through the SpringBoard like default.
You can at anytime arrange the icons however you want by going into Wiggle mode (holding down on one of the icons). When in Wiggle mode, applications that are multitasking will be distinguished by the default minus button which will allow you to quit the application out of the background if you wish to.
Note: My design incorporates my multiple icon mover concept (outdated but the premise is the same. I’ll at some point go back and revamp it to match this interface)
Notification Center:
The Notification Center is another page that is directly accessible from this interface. You can move to this page at any time as well as start on it (read above under the Starting Page section). And of course, you can move to the App Switcher/launchpad interface from here by swiping to the respective page.
All the normal functionality of the current Notification Center (managing notifications and what not) applies here.
Note: There are components of my older Notification Center concept will be incorporated eventually (outdated but many of the parts apply to this).
Spotlight:
The Spotlight feature is definitely a staple a component of this interface. It is taken to a new level because it is available no matter what page you’re on. Swiping between pages switches content below the Spotlight header but never hides it. You always able to access and utilize its functionality.
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Here is my checklist for this concept as of now
- - Review what’s already done and tweak accordingly
- - Incorporate music/rotation lock controls
- - Work with the Spotlight feature in more detail
- - Add important toggles
- - Elaborate on the quitting applications functionality (individual and multiple)
- - Put in multiple icon mover functionality (or I should say demoed with this interface)
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The first draft reveals the art, revision reveals the artist.“ - Michael Lee
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
