[gb] Studio

I am trying to get back into the swing of writing these Wednesday design posts. I don’t know that many of you even read them, but it’s a good exercise for me and makes me think differently and view my work (and others) through a different lens. That said, I thought I’d ease myself into the new year with a post on somebody else’s work: Weighbot, the deliciously-designed weight tracking program for the iPhone.

This app is slick. I had read a review at one point saying this app was not only gorgeously designed, but had excellent ui design as well, so I thought I’d check it out.

What is Weightbot?

The concept behind Weightbot (iTunes Store Link) is simple: If you happen to be in the habit of weighing yourself and tracking your weight over time, Weightbot assists in recording your weigh-ins and tracking your progress with graphs and goal-setting. The app is made by Tapbot who builds Robots for your iPhone and iPod Touch. For the moment, it looks like Weightbot is their only public app, but I can’t wait to see what else they do.

Simplicity

This is my favorite kind of software: an app that takes a simple concept and executes it really, really well. They’ve carried that through to the visual design as well. The design is simple, elegant, but still has personality.

I love the robot/scale icon and the gradient treatment. Who thought you could anthropomorphize a scale and make him cute?

Making things intuitive

Take a look at the images above. One is main screen on startup, the other for entering weight. To enter a weight, you simply slide the scale along the bottom to the date you want to enter the weight for, touch the glowing weight indicator, and then slide the scale. Touch the indicator again to lock in the weight. They tell you this on the beautifully illustrated instructions, but I think it’s almost self-explanatory for most people. A red dot indicates that a weight has already been entered.

Often in the visual design world designers don’t take the time to think about how something will actually be used. Tapbot has a done a great job of creating an interface that not only begs to be touched, but is almost self-explanatory.

Oh, and through the magic of the iPhone, to erase a weight entry, you simply shake the phone.

Data visualization

Data visualization is an area of design that interests me. If you haven’t yet, check out Daytum. They’ve managed to bring some beautifully executed design into the world of data.

Weightbot is no exception. Turn the phone sideways to landscape mode and it displays the graphs:

The graphs are simple, but give a quick visual picture of your body-weight over time. Slide your finger to move through the graph in time, or tap the screen to switch between graphs. Rotate the phone back to portrait mode to return to the weight display.

Context

Context is important in design. Whatever you are designing, and whatever medium you are designing for, think about the context: how will it be used? Who will use it? What ways can the design and interaction be made as intuitive as possible?

More Pretty Screen Shots

BONUS: Have an iPhone or iPod Touch?
Give Weightbot a Spin for yourself

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