Bloomberg Redesigned

Bloomberg – another app that I wanted to redesign so long, because the app is pretty badly designed ever since day one. It is almost an exact port of the iOS version, with a really strange ‘MENU’ button at the bottom of the app, and the deadly legacy menu button. Below show some shots from the current version for comparison:

So what if the app is redesigned with the Holo UI approaches and full Android experience? Below are some shots that I have redesigned:

And also some redesigns for tablet version:

What do you think? Do you like the redesigns? Don’t hesitate to shot in the comment box!

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Taylor Ling 35

LinkedIn Redesigned

LinkedIn app is one of the app that I wanted to redesign so badly that I hate it when I am using it (only for accepting request and replying message). It might looks good 2-3 years back, but not anymore today.

There are a few reasons that I think this app deserve a complete redesign:

Resemble iOS version almost completely
Lack of navigation in the app
Unnecessary skeuomorphism
Legacy menu button
Badly designed UI (for example, the dashboard give really limited information)

Below I included some screenshots from the current app:

Using the Holo UI approaches, I have redesigned a few screens that fit nicely in today’s Android devices. I have replaced the dashboard UI with the Sliding Menu due to the huge number of sections available in the app. Check them out below:

Update 28/12/2012: After taking some feedback from my G+ post, I have decided to give it another revision for better LinkedIn branding, and below are some updated shots. What’s changed:

Action Bar is in dark grey color to give a distinct UI layers
Added frame for photos
Used Card UI for details
Added some iconography
Increase the size of the sliding menu and smaller icons
Added Share button besides Invite to Connect button

What do you think about my redesign? Do you like them? Shot me your comments or suggestions!

Posted on December 26, 2012December 28, 2012 by Taylor Ling 9

Movie Ticketing App Redesigned

Last month Roman Nurik posted a wizards pattern for complex user inputs, and I have now used it for my redesign of a local (Malaysia) movie ticketing app, which is definitely a perfect match (I think). Hopefully this redesign can inspire any developers or designers that are looking to create/redesign movie ticketing app.

Why I am redesigning this app? I have placed a few shots below to briefly show the user interface of the app to explain that. Completely implemented with iOS look and feel, legacy menu button, badly-resized images, in-app advertisement (about themselves), bad user interaction design – everything is so wrong. Give it a try if you want to understand my frustrations.

I think many will agree with me – app that just work without proper UI/UX design is no longer enough to stand out and compete with thousands of other apps in the market.

Completely redesigned with Holo UI approach, the movie ticketing app is aimed to provide great and easy ticketing service with sufficient information about cinemas and movies. Here’s my take (It’s a long page!):

What do you think about my redesign? Shot me in the comments if you have any suggestions/feedback/critique!

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Taylor Ling 20

Outlook.com App Redesign – Tablet Version

Last week I have published a redesign of outlook.com app after the disappointing official release, and since then I have also started to look into the tablet version. The redesigned phone version has been a shared around Android Google+ community during that day, and it was also mentioned in latest episode of Android Design in Action – big thanks to everyone who re-shared and commented on the redesign.

Below are my take on the tablet version, probably not much surprise for some (Before anyone say it, yes, it looks like Gmail/Email app, since it’s an Email client):

What do you think?

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Taylor Ling 4

Outlook.com App Redesigned

Over 25 million active Outlook.com users and they said they are ready for Gmail user to switch – with this low quality app.

I really disappointed with this surprising move since they did a really great job in SkyDrive app in Android. Seriously, it’s not rocket science to craft a beautiful and usable email app with Microsoft identity. They invested heavily in UI/UX for their new product lines, but yet they failed to understand the importance of Aesthetic-Usability Effect.

What I really hope to see when I run the outlook.com app:

But what I see today with the current app (usually I don’t post these):

What do you think? Just feed me with any idea or suggestion you have!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Taylor Ling 15

Google Finance Redesigned

I have been thinking to redesign Google Finance app for a quite some time since I think all Google apps should have at least adapted to Holo Style UI, and I think there are still quite some number of users for the app (unfortunately not me because it doesn’t support share market of Malaysia), but I didn’t quite find the time for it. However, last Android Design in Action episode has put up a challenge to all Android developers/designers for some redesigned screens of any current apps, and that motivated me to continue working on this redesign despite of the really packed schedule.

The current Google Finance app is really ugly, which looks like a web-app rather than a native app. The graph is not loaded at the proper size, old Android UI elements are still there, and the ugly legacy action overflow. Therefore a redesign is definitely required. And the objective is pretty straight forward: Make it a clean and nice app to be used by every user levels. Therefore I tried to preserve the familiarity so the existing user will not have to re-learn the new UI while still providing a refreshed UI compliant to Android Design Guideline. Here’s my take:

What do you think? Shot me in the comment box 🙂

If you want to see some comparison shots between the current version and my redesigned version, I have posted them in my G+, feel free to comment there as well!

Posted on November 10, 2012November 11, 2012 by Taylor Ling 7

Holo Planning Poker

Planning poker (not sure if it’s still commonly used now?) shouldn’t be a stranger for you if you work in agile software development environment. During the estimation practice today, I suddenly have the idea to make a really simple concept app that simulating the planning poker cards for use during the estimation.

The concept app is really simple – I used the card UI for the poker cards, so in order to change the card, you just need to swipe left or right. The card will just show the number in sequence and nothing else. It comes with light and dark themes.

~~I have a feeling that this app is really simple to develop, any taker?~~

After 48 hours, the concept app become a reality thanks to Mark Mooibroek! You can download it now in the Play Store.

Posted on October 24, 2012November 3, 2012 by Taylor Ling 13

Password Manager Redesigned

During the 25 billion app downloads celebration at Google Play Store, I noticed mSecure – Password Manager was in the 25 cents list, and after I reviewed the screenshots, I immediately buy it – not to use it (at this moment), but to redesign it. It really surprised me when I found out the app is actually selling at $9.99 with this pretty dated and ugly user interface (and possibly bad user experience).

So I started to play around with the app, and as expected, I got really frustrated using the app even though I am just trying to do some simple stuffs – a redesign is definitely required. I start sketching using my GUI Sketching Kit and transfer my sketching to the digital version, and it was pretty fun! It turns out to be pretty inspiring, and I am actually thinking to work with some great developers to make this design a real working app (Any taker? Let me know if there is such possibility!).

Anyway, below are all the mock ups for the redesign:

What do you think? Do you like this redesign? Hit me with your comments/suggestions/critiques!

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Taylor Ling 12

The Verge Redesigned

It has been quite some time I wanted to do a redesign on The Verge app due to their not-so-great UI/UX. Just to be fair, they have just pushed a new update which is a lot better than the previous version that I am referring (and I didn’t see that coming!). The new version is smoother, and it has Nav Drawer navigation (which coincide with my new redesign, but I am not surprised because it’s a natural choice) and scrollable tabs, which are definitely welcomed UI patterns. While my redesign might be slightly similar to their new update, I still want to publish them because I think there are still many room for improvement to achieve better user experience.

Below are all the mock ups that I have done (07/10/2012 – updated with tablet version), and I have included some comments for my choice of UI patterns:

What do you think? Don’t hesitate to hit me with your comments/suggestions/critiques!

Posted on October 5, 2012October 8, 2012 by Taylor Ling 19

Android UI/UX Tips #2

After publishing the 1st Android UI/UX Tips, it seems that I am able to find more UI/UX mistakes in various apps (perhaps I become ultra-sensitive now?), so here it is, Android UI/UX Tips #2 to inspire Android Designers/Developers in developing app with awesome UI and UX.

Don’t Make it Hard for The User

If your app have some awesome features that simplify user interaction, think thoroughly when to/not to remove it from your app.

One example that I would like to show is the Update button in Play Store app. When there are more than one apps require update, the Update button is very useful. Updating all the apps will only take one touch. But, when there is only one app having update, the Update button mysteriously disappeared. The problem is, now to update that particular one app, three touches are required (Select the app > Click Update > Click Accept & Download). I personally do not see any use case requires such interaction design – if you can do the same for multiple items, you should be able to do it for a single item.

Consistent with Android Design

In Google Drive app, most of the dialog in the app are using the basic button, which looks really ugly and inconsistent with Android Design. The buttons in default dialog in Android should be (I am not sure) already using the borderless buttons, so I am just feel like asking the Google Drive developers:

Why make the dialog looks like a Microsoft Windows dialog?

No Double Up Combo, Please

Astro File Manager has a new update with refreshed UI, and it comes with a double Up combo! As I mentioned in my Google+ post, it is definitely unnecessary and downright ugly. Just use the app icon for better identity establishment. Perhaps the app designer want to help enhancing the Up affordance?

Consistent with Icon for User Interaction

Again, it’s Google Drive. In the Detail View of a file/folder, you can see there is a Done button (Tick icon) in the Action Bar, and a Cross icon near the file name. You might think that the Cross icon is meant for the file/folder itself, perhaps for deletion or discarding changes? Nope. It behaves exactly the same as the Done button, and this is really a confusing design. In Android, the Cross icon usually meant remove, discard, or cancel. This is not Microsoft Windows. Just stick with the Done button at the Action Bar and it will be just nice.

That’s all for Android UI/UX Tips #2! Hope it is inspiring!

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Taylor Ling 4

#androiduiux