You don't need a world-class art department to make something people will buy -- you need a clean, usable interface, an original idea that fills a need, and well written code. If you're a one-person shop, you're writing niche applications, anyway. You're not competing directly with Apple, and you most likely don't need any fancy photoshop skills, just the basics... if you're writing an app that requires stunning graphics, then you're either over your head in terms of your project's goals and you need to expand your team to 1+N, or you're already proficient.
edit - and it should go without saying, BUT: don't build another twitter app. Please.
I live in perpetual design envy of most Web 2.0 apps and Mac shareware shops, but my very... unspectacular design has not succeeded in totally dooming me yet. I am agnostic on the truth of this, but I keep hearing everybody and their dog saying that the iPad is made for Real People. I sell to Real People. You don't need to win design awards to sell to Real People.
I had to abandon twitter for the sake of my productivity, and I generally think it's filled with a ton of unimportant noise. However, I'm a reasonable person who knows that some smart people will be able to make new and interesting apps that use the twitter API, and though I, personally, would probably not use this app, I'll just say what I think about your design. :)
It is clean and professional looking. I might add a more obvious frame around the content on the right that links it to the selected tweet on the left, but there's no reason you'd have to add a bunch of snazzy graphics. They'd only create clutter. I suppose you could go over to sitepoint or 99 designs to have a designer make you a fancy splash page/logo, but I bet you could getaway with a text splash, too.
Thanks for the comment. I'll definitely try to add some border around the frame (web view). I'm thinking some thing like a leafy effect would be nice (like the ipad mail app, if you have noticed) but i'll see what I can do.
Comments
You don't need a world-class art department to make something people will buy -- you need a clean, usable interface, an original idea that fills a need, and well written code. If you're a one-person shop, you're writing niche applications, anyway. You're not competing directly with Apple, and you most likely don't need any fancy photoshop skills, just the basics... if you're writing an app that requires stunning graphics, then you're either over your head in terms of your project's goals and you need to expand your team to 1+N, or you're already proficient.
edit - and it should go without saying, BUT: don't build another twitter app. Please.
One more edit: this is a good rebuttal to the "awesome design is necessary!!!" school of thought http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/21/iphone-apps-desig...
Overdesign is not good, either.
I live in perpetual design envy of most Web 2.0 apps and Mac shareware shops, but my very... unspectacular design has not succeeded in totally dooming me yet. I am agnostic on the truth of this, but I keep hearing everybody and their dog saying that the iPad is made for Real People. I sell to Real People. You don't need to win design awards to sell to Real People.
[deleted]
I had to abandon twitter for the sake of my productivity, and I generally think it's filled with a ton of unimportant noise. However, I'm a reasonable person who knows that some smart people will be able to make new and interesting apps that use the twitter API, and though I, personally, would probably not use this app, I'll just say what I think about your design. :)
It is clean and professional looking. I might add a more obvious frame around the content on the right that links it to the selected tweet on the left, but there's no reason you'd have to add a bunch of snazzy graphics. They'd only create clutter. I suppose you could go over to sitepoint or 99 designs to have a designer make you a fancy splash page/logo, but I bet you could getaway with a text splash, too.
Thanks for the comment. I'll definitely try to add some border around the frame (web view). I'm thinking some thing like a leafy effect would be nice (like the ipad mail app, if you have noticed) but i'll see what I can do.
Thanks again.