Here at Palm, we’re always on the lookout for interesting apps. That’s one of the reasons we started the Hot Apps contest! We love to see apps that are functional, well thought out, and well designed. One of my personal favorites is “Absolute Fitness” by Aqua Eagle, currently near the top of the Hot Apps competition. I’d like to take you through some of the features that really get my attention.
1) Non-default, but tasteful color scheme
Customizing your app’s color scheme is great way to make it stand out from the crowd. Absolute Fitness makes use of a subtle, dark blue background that contrasts well with its other graphics and white text. The screen is easy to read, and the graphics really pop out. They’ve skinned the headers and drop down selectors, and designed appealing buttons. The overall effect is very tasteful and friendly.
 Food entry |
 Nutritional info |
 Exercise entry |
I especially like how the “Nutrition Facts” display (in this particular case, customized to my favorite morning beverage), looks just like the equivalent label on the store package. I can instantly relate to the data on this display, because I recognize it from somewhere else. The designer could have made use of standard text, or made some graphic to show how it fits with the day’s requirements, but instead chose an easily recognizable meme. Good job.
2) Correct selection of the opening scene
The main scene should be immediately functional. After all, when you open a mobile app, it’s because you want to do something right now. Absolute Fitness’s default opening scene is the day’s consumption list. Although this scene isn’t as colorful as the daily percentages, it is the scene you’ll need if you’re entering what you just ate. Consequently, it’s likely to be the one you’ll want when you first start up the app. For example, say you’re in a restaurant and have just finished your meal. You’ll want quick access to the “add” button. And if you happen to want access to the other scenes, they’re just a button tap away.
|
 Absolute Fitness main scene |
|
3) Quick, intuitive access to all available data
Absolute fitness provides a command button bar at the bottom of the screen that gives quick access to the day’s food diary, weight information, daily percentage tracking, and progress charts. The icons are clean and intuitive, with nice shading to make the button bar stand out without being obtrusive.
 Weight entry |
 The day's percentages |
 Fat intake graph |
4) Easter eggs
No, not the chocolate kind – we’re trying to lose weight. But I love an app that has more levels than are immediately obvious. For example, tap on the “Calories” percentage bar, and you’ll get a breakdown of where all those calories came from today. It took me a while to discover that, but it was a great surprise when I did.
There is also a place to enter how much sleep I got the night before, what my blood pressure is, and how many glasses of water I’ve drunk. All components of overall fitness, but not immediately obvious. Note that these are a bit hidden – they’re part of the weight entry screen shown above, but you have to scroll down to get to them. This is okay, because they’re not essential. The essential component, entry of your weight, is on top where it belongs.
|
 Fat details |
 Sleep entry |
|
5) Efficient, focused design
When you are working with such a small screen area, uncluttered design that gets the meaning of displayed data across, and allows for easy entry of that data, is paramount. You can’t afford any wasted pixels. However, there’s a compromise to be had with user interaction, in that buttons and fields that are too small will be unusable. You have to find clever ways of presenting data. Look at the percentages screens below. At a glance, you can see where you’re doing okay, and where you’re in trouble for the day – with no need to squint! And as noted before, if you want a breakdown of where the fat and calories came from, a quick tap on the progress bar will display the breakdown. That’s a great use of color and space.
|
The day's percentages |
 Oops! Went overboard! |
|
6) Do one thing, beautifully
In addition to the UI, focused design also ensures that no functionality is wasted. Mobile apps should concentrate on doing one task, but doing it really well. Absolute Fitness doesn’t, for example, help you with your grocery shopping. It might be tempting for the developer to add that kind of functionality, but it doesn’t really enhance the app’s primary purpose. (And once feature creep starts to set in, it’s hard to know when to stop!)
Absolute Fitness is a fun, well-designed app, that I’m really enjoying using, and I think you will too. If you are developing mobile apps, it offers a lot of great lessons on good mobile app design. That fits my criteria for an interesting app.
Check out the Palm Hot Apps competition for more interesting apps!
