A UX Designers Take on the Kindle app vs. IBooks app.

By Josh Aronoff | March 11, 2011

Since the birth of our daughter, I’ve found myself with small two hour chunks of time where i spend holding her and reading news or blogging, or checking Facebook etc on my iPhone. This i usually do while holding her and rocking her gently, while she sleeps.

Lately, I’ve discovered that I’m able to get a lot of reading done, because I don’t have half the distractions that I normally do. I’ve started to read two books on my iPhone 4 and because of the resolution, my eyes don’t really tire, and I find it actually not that terrible.

Which is why I wanted to give you a brief overview of the two apps that everyone is using (other than Stanza) to read pubs on the iPhone. My focus will be on the usability of these apps, focusign on typography, readibility, book selection and load time and response.

A page from Making Ideas Happen, by Scott Belsky, on the kindle app.

Kindle app-
Typography — the typography is pretty good, while you don’t have the option of picking a font, you do have the option of making it larger or smaller in different point sizes. I’ve found that if I’m reading at night, on a black background the font has to be blown up more, because I have the brightness turned down as to not wake the baby.

Book selection — the selection of books is pretty good. Ive been able to download books fairly quickly. They use a browser based store, which is not that great but the good thing is the level of reviews for the books. Theres lists on there too, split by category as well as NYT Best sellers and amazon best sellers.

Load and response time–
One thing I really like about the kindle app is the type treatment and the response tome of the page turning. Since there’s not alot of animation to it, the book itself falls away and you’re able to read pretty rapidly.

A page from Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal on the iBooks app

iBooks app
Typography- the overall design of this app is more aesthetically pleasing than the kindle app, I’ll give it that. The typography is fine. The layout of the book leaves some things to be desired. The background of the app is similar to a book, with a beveled edge and “page” numbers etc. This is a nice added touch but it gets in the way at times in my opinion. If I want to read fast, I don’t want the interface or anything to get in the way of that.

Book selection
I actually like the book buying ezperience a little more in iBooks because of the layout and GUI make it an easier experience. It’s integrated into the app, which doesn’t take away from your perception that this is a standalone app. Not a deal breaker really, but something people probably like but don’t realize.

The selection of books is fine. The it’s very easy to find the NYT bestsellers etc. The interface for the iBooks store is identical to the layout and structure of iTunes and the iOS app store. No issues there, nothing to relearn.


Simple layout of the iBooks store app make it easy to use.

Load and response time
This is the biggest kicker for me on the iBooks app. The store, the page turns, the whole app itself seems to have a delay in response of a microsecond. This starts to creep into the overall experience and makes you want to get the show on the road in any of the interactions your doing. This is the reason why with all of the great design oriented things that the iBooks app has for it, don’t match up to the speed and less is more interface of the kindle app.

Because when it’s all said and done, you wanna read as fast as you can with a real book. Books don’t have things that get in the way of the words on a page other than the page numbers. You know your in a book cuz your holding said book.

This is why out of these two my bets on the kindle app overall. Which ebook reader do you use? Why? If you agree or disagree, leave a comment.

Print isn’t dead, it’s just in a different distribution channel.

Location:Hawthorne Rd,Pittsburgh,United States

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The Mesh, a new paradigm in businesses large and small.

By Josh Aronoff | March 10, 2011

I was wandering through Borders a few weeks ago and came across this colorful book in the business section. Colorful books and the topic of business are usually at the opposite ends of the store. Literally, the other side of the store is comics.

So, I picked it up not thinking anything of it. I read the back cover and the synopsis seemed pretty interesting.

Well, I can say that this book is nothing short of groundbreaking. For those of you in the Internet age pf products and services, watch out. The mesh is here to stay.

Essentially the mesh is any business that uses networks of people to influence their business model and product design and structure. At first glance, this doesn’t seem that revolutionary until you get into the social good and philanthropic aspect of doing business is this karmic good sense.

The book focuses on the value of reuse in our culture. With case studies of apple, Patagonia, zip car and Netflix it’s easy to think that all these companies are blue chip west coast hippy type companies chewing granola and riding segways to the bank. You would only be partially right. There is a value to having a streamlined supply chain, in that your being more responsible to the environment, etc. However these companies have chosen to take their good karma and partner with other companies and services to make some groundbreaking change within their industries.

One example I love is that patagonia has figured out how to make their distribution channel go in reverse, lessening their environmental impact Abd their bottom line.

They’ve partnered with global giant wal Mart, to do the same, and they have a service consulting model out of the idea of sharing.

Add this level of potent business model openers and self awareness with the power of the social networks and the wide netted reach of listening to the customer and you have entire industries being created before our very eyes within a matter of years if not months. Businesses start to diversify. Their products and services become indistinguishable and their brand becomes an organism that lives in the zeitgeist unconscious of their customers.

I highly recommend this book. You will think about the potential for change in your businesses and want to start moving mountains. I know I did.

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6 things I want my daughter to know.

By Josh Aronoff | March 5, 2011

I’ve sat down to write this blog entry 2 other times. Once 5 days before Lucy was born and one other time 1 day past her due date. Four and a half months after she’s born, I’m sitting here rocking her during a nap writing it again.

The reason for writing this is because I have a underlying fear of death. Not of dying per se, I know that I’ll die eventually I’m ok with that. I write this because my mom died when I was 12, and I don’t have many things that has been passed down from her to me in terms of wisdom. So, while lucy’s wrapped in her swaddler rocking back and forth I’m not going to wait around and going to list out things I want her to know when she grows up.

1) This world is hard.
Lucy, you will realize very soon that the world is a hard place. I want to shield it from you for as long as I can, but I also want you to know about it so that you can be there for others in their time of need, because that is important to our family, to be there for the people around you.

2) your mommy and daddy will ALWAYS love you.
Lucy, know this. There is nothing you can do in your life that will make your mommy and I stop loving you. As you sit in my arms I realize I would rip a mountain in half and crush a planet into a star if it proved to you the strength of our love for you. Always remember that.

3) you are a promise from God.
Lucy, your name means “light”. Your middle name is Ellen, who was my mom, who died when I was 12. Your name is the embodiment of the beauty of life, and the fragility of it. God honors the prayers of His people, and your mother and I wanted to have you, and God honored our prayers with giving us the best little baby ever.

4) God loves you, and wants you to love other people because He loves them.
If you learn nothing else in life, the most important thing to me as a father is that you understand Gods Love for you. It is paramount to how we act towards people, how we live our lives as children of God and how we are in the world. Your actions in this world, have reflections in another world. Please God and your mommy and daddy with your sweetness and kindness towards others.

5) this world is beautiful.
I’m amazed with the things of this world. Animals and people, different cultures and lands, cars and buses and technology and roads and cities and the sun and the moon and the stars. You have a responsibility to make this world a better place somehow. Take care of the land, take care of people and take cAre of yourself so you can do the first two well.

6) follow your passions
Find something that gets you out of bed in the morning and gives you strength and puts a fire in your belly. If you do that, your work will not tire you, you’ll gain strength from it and you will have the strength to continue when it doesn’t because you know that this time is only for a season.

I’m sure I’ll have more than 6 as you get older, these are just a few biggies.

Love,
Your daddy.

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