Justin Baum's Barbarian Blog

Roadmap Pattern: From App to Service

justin@barbariangroup.com(Justin Baum) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:40:59 -0500

Paprika is a thoughtfully designed recipe manager for the iOS that first launched on the iPad in September of 2010. I purchased it then, squeamishly, for about ten bucks. Motivated by my growing evernote notebook of cocktail recipes I was intrigued by something purpose built. The app was expensive, but it delivered with elegant simplicity. I remember my only complaint being, “crap, how do I get this data onto my iPhone?” Sure enough Paprika for iPhone launched a few months later in December and to my delight included a sync service circumventing the need for a web app to provide cloud-like continuity from device to device. I happily forked over another $5 bucks for the iPhone app and $20/year for the sync service. Those are big price points for the current market, but I am down the cocktail rabbit hole and it was worth it for me.

I like this service roadmap pattern of transitioning from an app to a service through the addition of increased device support and syncing capabilities. I wish more folks would follow suit, wikipanion in particular. Being able to sell top dollar apps individually on all devices in addition to charging for a sync service is a hard sell. But if your service experience is focused (niche) and polished (high quality) I believe your customers will be there. Omnifocus is another example of this model but they have yet to start charging for their sync service which is in beta. It will be interesting to see how these apps gone services fair in 2011. While the web is still addicted to free, people like Paprika are trying to realize the value of context driven access to unique types of personal data. I hope this theory turns into a pattern for profitable businesses.

Something Interesting is Afoot

justin@barbariangroup.com(Justin Baum) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:15:22 -0400

Reading an interesting interview with Odopod’s Tim Barber prompted me to eject some thoughts from my head that have been percolating for way too long. When asked how the SF creative scene is doing these days Tim talks about the walls breaking down between a few different domains and the resulting “tumultuous, inventive energy.” Excuse the ven…

When you look at the rhetoric coming out of these camps over the last 10 years its fascinating to think about what falls at the intersection.

Product Design – Design Thinking + Design Strategy + Design Management etc

Lean Startups – Agile + Customer Development + Open Frameworks etc

Digital Agencies – Social Media + Augmented Reality + Viral etc

The sun at center of this universe is The Internet of Things and the concept of information as material that Mark Kuniavsky writes about in his new book Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design. What better concept to draw together these domains than a world where it is impossible to separate them? One thing I am missing from the macro view is the role of Hollywood / Game industry and Transmedia Storytelling.

If I was in school right now I wouldn’t know which way was up or where to focus. Interesting times.

Editorial Objects Meet Social Objects

justin@barbariangroup.com(Justin Baum) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:11:53 -0400

Continuing the spirit of ejecting overly incubated ideas from my dome -

I have been thinking about connecting the dots between the recent surge of content strategy and the best social design strategy going – social objects.

Content and community have been bound forever on the web for obvious reasons. But I am curious about methods of design that embrace the connection between the two now that content strategy has got its foot in the agency door and “social” is a daily reality, not the next big thing.

Can we grow social objects within an editorial framework?

Does Content Strategy + Product Strategy = Editorial driven social applications that enable community to create content within an editorial framework?

Do your Editorial Objects Sync With Your Social Objects?

Are you giving the community the same tools as the publishers?

All questions I would love to hear peoples thoughts on.

Konigi Keynote Templates

justin@barbariangroup.com(Justin Baum) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:03:29 -0400

Konigi, makers of some of the best UX templates out there (and our preferred OmniGraffle wireframe stencils at TBG) released their Keynote templates this AM.

http://konigi.com/notebook/keynote-wireframe-toolkit

I have always been a bit iffy on using presentation software for wiring but at the end of the day whats a wireframing tool besides boxes, lines, text and the ability to template screens and pages?

Excited to try this out on Keynote iPad and see how it stacks up to OmniGraffle iPad.

Id like to buy some products & services

justin@barbariangroup.com(Justin Baum) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 04:03:31 -0400

Turns out the following rule is better for both the google bots and usability. Obvious to the cool kids, but good post-fodder for clients and the uninitiated.

p. …stop using words like Products, Solutions, and Clients and start using words that actually describe what you offer…

Jared Spool talks about a coleuge’s research into the ever present and ambiguous navigation labels products, services, and the like. Might as well say “stuff.”