June 1, 2017 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Everything we do, including UX design, is in a lean and agile way. Three UX design studio sessions held over 7 consecutive days covers the users and their needs, the information and content to satisfy those needs and the visual presentation and interactions with that content. The first UX design studio session takes 3-hours (a […]
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Blog posts and articles from Arter Kirkwood & Associates, a mobile app development company based in Alberta, Canada. Read the insights and findings from our top authors below. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like us to write on a particular topic.
The effects of an underpowered technology infrastructure on notification speed
April 23, 2018 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
In an earlier post, Hop to it…the hops a notification message takes, we outlined the hops a notification message takes to reach a mobile device and the effect those hops have on notification delivery speed. To recall, there were four primary hops, or steps, that a notification message takes. The physical technology infrastructure underpinning the […]
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Get to the points! How to create bullet points in a UILabel
April 4, 2018 / by Evan Kirkwood / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Your target audience likely consumes a lot of content on mobile devices, so naturally you want to provide tones of valuable detail in your app. It’s critical that you present that content in a way that user can easily read and digest it. Nielson Norman Group notes in their user experience research findings on comprehension […]
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Hop to it…the hops a notification message takes
March 28, 2018 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
In our post “Who likes queues anyway?“, we introduced the first factor affecting the speed of app notifications from the time of sending to the time of receiving. This post talks about a second factor, the hope, or steps, the notification message takes along the way. There are generally four (4) steps in the process […]
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Pump up the volume! Control volume for audio on iOS using Swift
March 20, 2018 / by Evan Kirkwood / Uncategorized / 0 comments
In most circumstances, you’ll want audio playback to use the volume settings on the device – users are typically not going to be happy if they turn down their volume, then hear something loud. But occasionally there may be a need to override the device settings – say an important alarm. We wouldn’t want to […]
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Who likes queues anyway? Service agents do.
March 14, 2018 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Notifications can experience variable delays on their way to mobile devices, no matter the notification or mobile app. Sometimes notifications can seem to arrive fast and sometimes they can seem to arrive slow. This is largely due to five key factors: 1) a notification queuing model, 2) the number of hops a notification takes along […]
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How we build a MVP in just 4-weeks!
October 2, 2017 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Continuing with sharing of how we work in a lean and agile way, we’d like to now share how we develop a minimum viable product (MVP) for a mobile app in just 4-weeks. Before starting development of the MVP, we like to make sure everyone is on the same page on what will develop. Our […]
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How we do UX design in only 7-days!
June 1, 2017 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Everything we do, including UX design, is in a lean and agile way. Three UX design studio sessions held over 7 consecutive days covers the users and their needs, the information and content to satisfy those needs and the visual presentation and interactions with that content. The first UX design studio session takes 3-hours (a […]
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How we do Product Ideation in just 5 days!
May 15, 2017 / by Rick Arter / Uncategorized / 1 comment
As an advocate and practitioner of lean and agile methodologies, we can form a customer’s idea for a mobile app in just 5 days! How do we do this? Careful planning, scripted ideation forums, template deliverable and an obsessive focus on time management. Careful planning upfront to secure and align all participants for the 5-days […]
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For Relevant Push Notifications, Location is Key
April 3, 2017 / by Evan Kirkwood / Uncategorized / 0 comments
Personalized push notifications have been found to be more appealing than generic notifications that get sent to all users. In our MobilizeWorx Notification Model, we outline a number of factors to consider for users to find your push notifications meaningful. The user’s “context” – where the user is located, the proximity to points of interest, […]
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Getting Personal with Push Notifications using Amazon SNS
March 24, 2017 / by Evan Kirkwood / Uncategorized / 0 comments
While research proves push notifications have a dramatic effect on an app’s ability to engage users, sending too many or irrelevant notifications can undermine your user retention, and lead users to uninstall your App. Appropriate targeting of notifications is key. A recent study found that the most desired type of push notifications are personalized ones. […]
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