#app map

What are app maps? Essentially they are the mobile app design's equivalent to web design's site maps. Just like a map helping a tourist orientate himself in a foreign city, the app map will serve as a key way for clients, project managers (PM), designers to "get on the same page" when transferring & sharing objectives -- they hit across objectives in business, UX, and marketing, etc. Just like a blue-print of a house, the app map will showcase all the key screens (as well as the transitional ones) but they show the User's journey within the product all in one glance. As for producers & PMs, an app map is the bible for digital projects. 

Sketch it out You won't need to be an artist or a designer to create one. Forget aesthetics or ornaments (throw out any interruptions of color & stylistic preferences for now). Business owners, clients, PMs, and producers can do this and should be leading this phase. Simple boxes and arrows, circles and more boxes with scribbles of notes are what's needed here. Objectives which are unique to each screen/box should be the focal point -- write them down , articulate in minimal usage of words. I've found that large pieces of plain paper (A3 size is my favorite) or a whiteboard works well. Business input is key here and many questions asked without getting stumped with the "how" as that comes later. Structure and pillars of what will hold up this product is discovered and mapped out here.

Keep it in 1 page Turning the rough sketches into a line-art is ideal here. PMs and producers commonly turn to designers at this point to start creating WireFrames at this point. I say, no need. Today, the industry is full of tools where non-designers can Do It Yourself. See below for tools which are available. Regardless which way you head, keeping it simple is the best way, in line-art (meaning collections of lines nothing more), and in black & white only. I've seen pieces of papers taped together with photocopied outlines of iPhones serving as great versions many times. Post-it notes stuck on? absolutely--use them! The key is to have it all in one page ---where you can place it on the wall or on the floor and the group involved can see the TUX (Total User Experience) of the whole journey. It may not be pretty yet or fleshed out, but we can all get an idea how it's taking shape from the point of view of the USER.

Include UX elements Within 5 minutes of googling, anyone can find common UX design elements of buttons, gestures, etc. It is not un-common for even designers to do this--put them all in one page and print it out, then cut and paste them to the map. Hide/unhide elements of UX should be communicated on the app map. For designers Adobe Illustrator is the preferred tool for vector(line) art--it serves perfectly for creating & moving around navigational parts to get the idea across. Tip: the work created in the app map can be transferred easily to wireframe stage (which then is used for final designs). Yes, the wireframes can be doctored into 1 page to serve as an app map (why not??) and vise versa.

It's Alive! The map should be a living document with changes and corrections updated as they flow. Tip: save versions of the files (if you are working digitally) as you can retroactively access some parts which are needed at a later stage. This is known to happen, frequently. Any substantial changes should be shared with the stake-holders, clients, of the project--whom by now are familiar with the app map so you'd only need to point out the updated part.

     Hello, and welcome to The App Map.  Here I will be bringing you the newest, coolest, and craziest app reviews on the weekly!  Don't know whether you want to spend that .99 cents or $2.00 on a new app?  Let me do that for you so you know whether or not the app is worth your money, and more importantly, your time.

     When it comes to your iPhone or Droid most of us think of are usual go-to apps like Twitter, Facebook, Four Square, InstaGram, etc.  But what if I told you that there are other apps that you could use and actually get REWARDED for it!  Yes, it may be crazy but this new trend is only growing.  Apps like Shopkick, CheckPoints, Viggle, and iPoints will actually pay you when you either log in or simply just check-in to your favorite store.  Now, it'd be nice to get straight up cash for playing with our phones or tablets, but unfortunately that's just not realistic.  But these few selected apps will reward you actual gift cards to awesome places like Chili's, Starbucks, Best Buy, Amazon, and MORE!  I'll be  breaking these 4 apps down for you to let you know how you can get full value out of your phone.

    The first app I want to talk about is one of my favorites, Shopkick.  Shopkick is an easy-to-use app that let's you rank up points just for walking through the doors of your favorite store!  All you have to do is load the app, check the latest participating stores, and walk into them to claim your points.  For example, I had to go to Sports Authority the other day.  When I loaded Shopkick, I was disappointed to see that Sports Authority wasn't on there like it usually is.  However, Best Buy was on there for 40 POINTS! And Best Buy was only a store away.  To say the least, when I finished my shopping at Sports Authority, I walked over to Best Buy, loaded Shopkick, walked in, and claimed my points.  To my surprise, Best Buy was also offering 10% off on Shopkick.  I ended up buying a USB drive for my upcoming semester originally $7.99 for a little over 7 bucks! Now that's not too big of a deal, but it's a deal and with my points I acquired, it's an even BIGGER deal!  Now I  can use my points to treat myself to a free Starbucks latte or those new pair of Nike's I've been eyeing up. Or save them up and splurge on the designer goods you crave, like a Coach handbag, NikeID sneakers or even a NYC shopping spree.  

     The next app I want to talk about is Viggle. This app practically pays you for watching television. Users accumulate points by syncing their phone with a show on TV and checking in. Those points can be exchanged for rewards like gift cards to Starbucks, Best Buy and Chilli’s. The more points you accumulate, the bigger the prizes: think MacBook Air and Kindle Fire. Users can accumulate even more points by answering trivia while watching featured shows, like the recent MTV Movie Awards or The Bachelorette.

     Another cool app that I found that is also growing in popularity is iPoints. If you’re like me, then you end up spending a few bucks here and there in the iTunes purchasing music or videos from time to time. But now, you can get rewarded for your iTunes music and TV video purchases, with the new iPhone app iPoints Rewards, by Apps That Rock. This FREE iPhone music application provides rewards in the form of free apps, cash back (PayPal/Visa Debit Cards), or gift cards (Target, Walmart, Amazon and iTunes) for iPoints that are earned from your iTunes music and video purchases made from within this application. This app is as easy as 1-2-3, but first, you must setup a FREE iPoints Rewards account, which can be done from within the app and takes only about 10 seconds. Once this is done, you can search music and videos from the app even previewing music from within the app, and videos (takes you out of the app to iTunes). Once you decide on a song, album, or video to purchase, you tap on the amount and you will be taken to iTunes to complete the purchase. Once the purchase is complete, you earn 170 iPoints for every $1.00 spent in iTunes — which then can be used to redeem for apps, cash and/or gift cards. This FREE iPhone app is great for anyone who purchases music and/or videos from iTunes. Why not get rewarded for something you’re already doing anyway.

    And finally, there's CheckPoints.  They call themselves "The App That Pays You Back", and that's exactly what they do.  Like ShopKick, you just fire Checkpoints up and whenever you go shopping and scan participating products or complete offers on your phone you'll get points!  When you get the magic number of points you can get awesome rewards like gift certificates for your favorite stores including iTunes and Amazon, plus airline miles and must-have electronics!  With this app, the possibilities are practically endless.