The Quest for the Best in UX: Game-Changing Tablet

The Quest for the Best in UX:
Game-Changing Tablet Apps
What’s in the eBook?
This eBook identifies the features, elements, and user experience that make for gamechanging tablet apps, including examples, best practices, and areas of opportunity.
Why Do Tablet Apps
Matter?
Exceptional Tablet App
UX: What It Looks Like
Take Your Tablet App
To The Next Level
Find out why and when
tablet apps matter
3 game-changing apps and what
makes them so great
11 best practices for
creating outstanding tablet apps
Who is AnswerLab?
AnswerLab is the user research partner trusted by the world’s leading brands. Since our
founding in 2004, our sole focus has been providing impartial, custom user experience
research to help our Fortune 1000 clients understand what people see, do, think and feel
when they use websites, mobile applications, and other digital products and services.
Insights To Build Outstanding Tablet
Experiences
AnswerLab research insights help
you build the right thing, build the
thing right, and watch it succeed
Mobile Research
At Every Stage Of
Your Product
Development Cycle
Our cutting edge research
methodologies allow you to make
informed business decisions at
critical points throughout your
development cycle
A Holistic Approach to
User Experience
Strategic recommendations to
build an exceptional end-to-end
customer experience based on
our knowledge of your industry,
our cross-platform experience,
and our quantitative and qualitative
research expertise
Behind The Research: User Experience Researcher Megan Sauter led the AnswerLab team in developing the methodology, findings, and reporting for The Quest for
The Best in UX: Game-Changing Tablet Apps. Megan has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Northwestern University, where her dissertation examined the nature of
representation in technology, focusing on user experiences with new interactive tools for science learning. In producing this eBook, Megan worked closely with a number
of AnswerLab User Experience Research Team members, including Ligja Gill, Beth Lingard, Nick Nomm, Alisa Richardson, Laith Ulaby, and Pamela Walshe.
www.answerlab.com
Table of Contents
02
04
06
What’s in this eBook?
10
Lessons from the
game-changing tablet apps
•
•
•
What you can learn from Flipboard
What you can learn from Evernote
What you can learn from Houzz
•
Honorable mentions
Why tablet apps matter
23
About the research
•
Survey: Finding the tablet app contenders
•
Social mining & in-depth-interviews:
The “why” behind the winners
Best practices for tablet
app ux
Why
Tablet Apps Matter
From the couch to the cubicle, tablets are demonstrating a
remarkable ability to change the way we work and play. When first
introduced, some critics saw tablets as a fad – just a larger version of
a smartphone. Tablets should not be seen as such, even though their
portability allows us access to content at a moment’s notice. With
their processing power and portable and comfortable form factor,
tablets are tapping into the computing space usually reserved for
traditional PCs. People are turning to their tablets more and more as
a way to explore information, build connections, and consume media.
AnswerLab chose to focus on finding the best in tablet app user
experience (UX) because:
“ I don’t think I’ve turned on my
personal laptop in almost a year, as
the tablet is so much quicker and
• Between 32% and 43% of American tablet owners are using
their desktop less and picking up their tablet more often
[Nielson Report; Google Think Insights report].
• Up to 28% of tablet users report using their tablet as their
primary PC.
• More than one-third (34%) of Americans now own a tablet.
• U.S. consumers spend an average of more than two and a half
hours per day on smartphones and tablets, with 80% of that
time spent inside apps and just 20% spent on the mobile web,
according to recent data published by Flurry.
• Consumers strongly prefer apps over mobile sites because
they are considered faster, more convenient, and easier to
browse, according to a study by Compuware.
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more comfortable to use.
”
– UX Professional
Tablets present a great opportunity to create rich experiences that
aren’t constrained by the relatively smaller size of smartphone
screens. Where smart phones are personal devices that are wellsuited to micro-tasking, tablets tend to be more frequently shared
and can address more complex tasks with richer content. Given
the relatively new landscape of tablet apps, UX designers are
challenged with striking the right balance between simplicity and
complexity to create a truly great tablet experience. Some of the
more common questions we get from our clients include:
1
2
3
What are the newest “game-
How, specifically, should we be
What are the best practices
changing” tablet apps, and what,
thinking about designing for the
for creating great tablet app
exactly, makes them so great?
tablet app that may differ from
experiences?
our design approach to the smart
phone app?
To address these questions and provide examples of great tablet
apps and best practices, AnswerLab conducted a multi-phased
study that included a survey of UX experts in the field (including
designers, researchers and product managers), in-depth interviews
with consumers, and social media mining.
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About
The Research
1
Survey:
Finding the tablet app contenders
To identify these game-changing apps, we reached out to User
Experience professionals to uncover their impressions of innovative
apps in the tablet space. We sought out respondents who were not
only experts in UX, but were also tapped in to the tablet experience.
Our sample is on the cutting edge of app adoption and have a keen
eye for what makes a great user experience.
About our expert sample
79
95%
UX professionals took the survey
said that UX was very important in their role (Q:
On scale of 1-7, how important is UX in your role;
95% answered 6-7)
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The professional profile of the survey respondents includes*:
38%
Ux Designers
24%
UX RESEARCHERS
34%
PROJECT LEADS
24%
INDIVIDUAL
CONTRIBUTORS
32%
Work for
Fortune 500
companies
27%
work for
large companies
19%
Managers
23%
work for
Small – Medium
Size
*Numbers do not add to 100%. Remaining respondents were in various other categories.
To qualify for the survey, we asked respondents about their role in User
Experience and how (and how often) they used their tablets, to ensure we
had a user-savvy sample of the most seasoned tablet users. We required
that respondents:
2X
PER WEEK
Were directly involved
in the strategy, design,
development, or
marketing of a digital
product or service
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Owned a tablet
(majority owned for 6+
months, 92%; majority
owned iPads, 86%)
Used at least 2x per week
(majority used every day,
84%)
Downloaded an app
within the past 4 weeks
(majority downloaded a
new app within the last
7 days, 65%)
Use the tablet for at least
3 different activities and
perform each activity at
least 2x per week
Finding the app contenders
To gather the top tablet app contenders, we asked the following question
about app experience across 11 categories: In your experience, which
tablet app has the best experience? We also provided respondents
with the opportunity to tell us why these apps (or additional apps that
transcend these categories) stand out. We asked respondents which apps
they couldn’t live without, which game-changing apps they downloaded in
the past 6 months, and how owning a tablet has changed their lives. We
took all of these thoughtful answers into consideration when identifying
our 3 winning apps.
The following categories were covered:
Social and Communication
Finance
Games
Children
Reading
Home Utility
Video / TV / Movies
Productivity / Business
Music
Lifestyle / Fitness / Wellness
Retail
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2
Social mining &
in-depth-interviews:
The why behind the winners
After hearing from our experts, we journeyed into the digital
frontier to understand how people use these apps and how their
lives are changing as a result. We scoured social media, message
boards, blog posts, comments, and app reviews to understand
app use cases, both common and remarkable. We then reached
out to 6 users of these apps for a deeper dive to understand their
usage and behaviors.
In our sessions, we observed our users’ behaviors while they used
the app in order to identify the key interface elements and gestures
that lead to seamless app experience. We also talked to users
about the context in which they used these apps and how it may
have changed the way they approached these tasks in the past (for
example, note-taking or keeping up with the news). This contextual
information helped us to best understand the app’s key features
and use cases for why users are picking up the tablet and diving in
to the app.
Based on our findings, we identified what makes these apps
great, as well as what lessons you can take away to create a
great app experience.
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Lessons From
The Game-Changing Tablet Apps
To provide examples of great tablet apps and best practices,
AnswerLab conducted a multi-phased study that included a survey
of UX experts in the field, in-depth interviews with consumers, and
social media mining. Through our research, we identified three apps
that represent outstanding tablet app design, and highlight some of
the specific UX elements that set them apart from the pack.
And the winners are…
Flipboard
Most engaging content consumption
Flipboard is described simply on iTunes as “your
personal magazine,” and is an excellent example of
personalization and optimization of content.
“ “The ease and efficiency of
aggregating news feeds from a variety
of sources and presenting them in a
much more attractive and readable
format is brilliant. This is one case
in which utilizing an offline interface
online really works.
– Participant
Evernote
Creating an app for your “whole life ”
Evernote puts your digital junk drawer in order. With
”
“ My whole life can be associated
with it.
– Participant
”
Evernote, you can quickly and easily find that item you’re
looking for, no matter what device you’re on.
Houzz
Integrating scrapbooking, social, and retail
Houzz enables users to create virtual scrapbooks, tap
into expert and crowd-sourced advice, and connect with
retail outlets to purchase home goods.
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“ It’s a great combination of pin board /
mood board for your home and shopping
tool. I can create a dream room and also
buy some of the items easily via the apps
connection to vendors.
– Participant
”
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What You Can Learn From
Flipboard
Released in 2010, Flipboard is a free, fully-customizable magazineformat app on Android and iOS used for aggregating digital
content and social networks and publishing your own digital
magazine.
Flipboard
What does this app do?
Whether you want to keep up with what’s happening in Washington
Flipboard is
or just keep up with the Kardashians, all you have to do is add a
“ a fully-customizable digital magazine
tile to your Flipboard home screen and you have instant access to
the latest news that matters to you.
that delivers all of your favorite social
media and web content to you in one
beautiful little package
You save your favorite stories, photos and videos online, then
create your own magazine so you can consume what you want
when you want – and share it with your friends, too.
The app doesn’t just provide you with personalized content – the
app transforms the content into a high-def, never-ending digital
magazine that keeps you flipping for more.
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– Social data-mining
”
What makes this tablet app innovative?
UI brings the magazine
to life while maintaining
familiar magazine-like
layout.
Bold and intuitive interface: The app makes
full use of the tablet’s unique UI to create an
experience that is inventive while simultaneously
familiar. Users can swipe across the app screen, just
as if they were flipping through a magazine. With
the emphasis on content, the navigational elements
are minimal, yet never hard to find. One of our
participants, a self-described “news junkie” noted,
“
I’m not even that good on my iPad but it didn’t
take me more than five minutes to get comfortable
with it. It’s very easy. And while the app is also available on mobile
”
devices, the bold and high-def presentation really
shines in tablet form, bringing the digital magazine
to life.
Makes discovering digital content easier:
Flipboard’s data infrastructure is both massive
and precise, allowing for good content to be
discoverable – and allowing users to define what
“good” means to them. With the recently introduced
Create Your Own Magazine feature, Flipboard users
are now able to discover even more content as
they are able to collect online content into their own
custom collections and share them with other users.
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Navigation elements
are minimal, keeping
the content frontand-center to the
experience.
Changes the way users consume content:
With the wealth of online content available through
the app, the app transcends the latest news. Before
users start to consume content, they indicate the
types they want to see as part of the setup process.
Once they complete this, they land on their board of
articles. The large images that represent each story
draw users in to relevant, curated content that they
care about. One participant noted that Flipboard
intuitively leads her right to her interests:
“
I never thought to look for Photography news
before, but I have a tile for it here. This app isn’t just
where I get news. I can get inspiration from it too!
As users continue to consume content, they can
”
provide feedback through “liking” articles, which will
continue to refine their curated stream of content, as
well as keep track of their favorites.
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What You Can Learn From
Evernote
Evernote is the app equivalent of a paper notebook one might have
carried years ago to capture random thoughts, to-do lists, and
the ephemera of everyday life. Unlike the paper notebooks of the
past, Evernote brings a level of order and accessibility to eclectic
Evernote home screen
collections of information by enabling syncing and search across
devices, with the ultimate aim of keeping users organized, saving
ideas, and improving on productivity.
What does this app do?
“ I’ve been keeping favorite recipes in
Evernote... View on iPad in kitchen
Evernote is an organizational powerhouse with cross-platform
and check iPhone for ingredients at
reach, allowing you to create and retrieve your notes, ideas,
the grocery store.
sketches, photos, and more on any of your devices. The tablet
app really stands out in its ability to uphold a consistent customer
experience while taking advantage of the tablet’s unique
affordances.
The iPad’s large screen is perfect for propping up on the counter
while cooking, but maybe not perfect for carting to the market.
Evernote makes it possible to access the same information on
whichever device is best suited to your needs.
With all that information stored in one place, it is surprisingly
easy to find what you need. The app facilitates both capturing
and inputting new information by providing a variety of means
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”
– Social data mining, photographer &
stay-at-home dad
for sorting and retrieving the information. Notes are stored in
notebooks, and can be given subject matter tags, as well as GPS
enabled geo-tags. The tablet app also has handwriting recognition
software allowing yet another way to input text! Evernote really is
like a second brain, keeping everything you need accessible in any
format on any device.
What makes this tablet app innovative?
Seamless design across platforms: While
functionality varies across the desktop, mobile, and
tablet experiences, there is a consistency in the
visual design that provides a level of continuity not
always achieved in other apps. Evernote also takes
into consideration the visual affordances of each of
your devices by offering an appropriate default view
for tablet and smartphone: the tablet version takes
advantage of the larger screen size with a tile view
and the smartphone app features a more compact
list view.
Evernote’s default
view varies depending
on device, taking into
consideration the
screen size affordances:
the tablet version has
a default tile view and
the phone app a default
list view
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platforms: Portability meets searchability:
The ability to access content across all devices
is key to delivering on the promise of creating
a platform for users to genuinely integrate their
whole lives – personal and professional – into a
single unified experience. Often, it can be difficult
to retrieve information that was stored weeks,
months or even years in the past: Where did I write
down my mom’s Thanksgiving stuffing recipe?
Where did I leave those minutes from last quarter’s
design meeting? What was the name of the guy
that Jim recommended to fix the roof? Evernote
provides multiple approaches to search, so that if
you only remember a keyword (“Thanksgiving”), a
tag (“recipe”), or the geographic location you were
in when you wrote the note (“Spirit Lake, Idaho”),
chances are that you will find exactly what you need.
Meaningful use of gestures: Gestures mimic
familiar real-world activities. For example, pulling
a tab to open and browse your notes is much like
flipping through physical papers on your desk. A
small pull down provides a preview while pulling up
opens the tab. Both of these become intuitive very
quickly. Within the tabs, the individual notes offer a
clear preview of what content is inside them helping
the user to quickly zero in and tap on what they are
looking for.
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What You Can Learn From
Houzz
Houzz is a stand-out inspiration and shopping app focused on
interior decorating that enables users to create virtual scrapbooks
full of design ideas, tap into expert and crowd-sourced advice,
and connect with retail outlets to purchase home goods. Killer
Houzz App
App review calls it “Architectural Digest without the ads and
subscription fee.”
What does this app do?
“ It is kind of my little corner to do
things and explore. I don’t play video
Whether building your dream home or just refreshing your bedroom
games, I like this. This is my Farmville,
décor, Houzz can provide you with all the inspiration, help, and
my candy crush. It relaxes me. products you need. Houzz goes beyond typical image inspiration
sites by providing its users with high-resolution images that look
straight out of a design catalog (with appealing calls to action to
purchase the products you like) and areas to interact with and even
hire experts to make your design dreams come true.
You can also use the app to organize your design plans. Just about
anything you find in the app that strikes your fancy can be added
to your “Ideabook.” The app also encourages comments, so you
can get feedback from the design community about whether that
rug really ties the room together or not.
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– Participant
”
The app is thoroughly engaging, prompting users to travel between
practical projects and fantasy feats. Houzz engages its users
through its seemingly endless carousels of high-quality images,
which seem to always prod for just one more swipe.
Navigation tucked away on
the left so the spotlight stays
on the images and content
important to you.
Maximizing real estate for visual impact:
Houzz truly maximizes real estate by tucking away
navigational elements to the left so that the focus
remains on the high-quality interactive images.
The photos and galleries really foster a sense
of “tappiness” as you glide through them. The
consistently high quality of the photography and
large image size is a big part of what makes the
app stimulating and inviting, and would be hard to
achieve on a much smaller smartphone app.
“Tapping” into the wisdom of the crowd:
Houzz provides a great example of effective crowdsourcing, creating a user forum, expert reviews, and
curated photo galleries. All of these crowd-sourced
ideas can be easily added to an “ideabook” (similar
to a Pinterest board) that encourages sharing with
other Houzz users, but also lends itself well to “show
and tell” with partners, friends, and spouses who
may share the device itself.
Integration between the app and the
physical environment:
Real-world context is critical to making design
choices, and Houzz supports this by integrating
the tablet camera so users can upload photos of
their spaces and enabling community members
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Seemingly endless
galleries of highquality images can
lead to endless
design inspiration
for your home
and experts to offer suggestions tailored to the
actual space (rather than just offering generic
tips on a hypothetical bathroom, for example).
Portability also enables the user to more effectively
visualize suggestions from the community, such as
previewing kitchen ideas in their actual kitchen.
See something you like? Buy it. One of the most
convenient features is the ease with which one can
move from design fantasyland into purchase mode
through the direct integration with retail providers.
Love that lamp in the photo of that enviable living
room? A shopping cart is a click away. What this
functionality really represents – aside from the ease
of simply acquiring more stuff – is an overall shift to
an online environment with fewer barriers between
sites. That is to say that design is making an even
greater leap into user-centered design by creating
experiences that bridge the traditional boundaries of
sites to seamlessly support holistic end-to-end tasks.
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The animated green
tags catch users’
attention… click one
to find details and
purchase products
in the photo!
Honorable Mentions
One of the most interesting findings to come out of our survey
research is that some apps cited as “great” tablet apps by our panel
of UX experts still seemed somewhat limited upon closer evaluation.
This suggests to us that plenty of very popular apps may be on top
simply because no one else has done it better – yet.
The survey did reveal a few tablet apps that warrant an “honorable
mention” for innovation in UX. Here we share why these earned
that distinction and how they can improve.
Sephora
What it is: French cosmetic brand that has physical and online
stores.
What makes it honorable: Sephora does a great job utilizing
the tablet device with large, high-quality images that fill the screen
and swipe-able, browse-friendly content. Most of their content
includes do-it-yourself written and video instructions, that invites
the user into their own private make-up session with a specialist
and in some cases provides them with product they can buy to
complete the look. The Virtual Mirror section pulls out all stops as
it not only provides the DIY content and videos, it also uses the
invert view of the tablet’s camera as a mirror, so that users can try
applying these new techniques as they watch the video. The tablet
app features not only add value to their brand by establishing
Sephora as a trend leader in the cosmetics space, but also by
educating users on tools and techniques to get the look they want,
using Sephora products.
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Make it even better: Picture it. You have a hot date coming up
and you want to impress with your “baby doll, doe eye, and cat
eye” look. You tap the “Virtual Mirror” and watch the video, but you
don’t have the Guerlain mascara. You need it in order to complete
the look, but you can’t buy it without backing out of the video and
Virtual Mirror section and then tapping the Shop button. Now you
have to remember what that brand of mascara was and how to
spell it… the app makes it difficult to shop products from some
sections, such as the “Virtual Mirror” and “Beauty Studio”, but easy
from others, such as the Nail Studio and The Sephora Glossary.
Sephora is almost there, but since shopping is core to their
business there should be greater integration between the purchase
flow and these great tools in future versions.
Sephora virtual mirror tool
COZI
What it is: Multi-device family organization tool that provides
users with the ability to collaborate, communicate, and create lists
and calendars with other family members.
What makes it honorable: For the busy, constantly on-the-go
family, this tool helps them stay organized and reminds them of all
the logistics that can easily be forgotten, like picking up Sarah from
soccer practice or dropping by Safeway for flour and milk so that
you can make cupcakes for the family get-together this weekend.
Cozi is accessible wherever you are and provides a seamless
experience across desktop, tablet and smartphone and with
multiple contributors, i.e., your family members.
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Schedule view in the Cozi App
Make it even better: The tablet app is essentially a larger version
of the smartphone app – a missed opportunity for optimizing the
tablet experience based on user context. It makes sense to have
the calendar and lists as the primary features on the smartphone,
because most users are on-the-go accessing bite size information,
such as the ingredients needed for the cupcakes. This also makes
sense on the tablet app, because users are likely using their tablet
when they are sitting on the couch, half-watching the news while
at the same time reviewing tomorrow’s schedule. After users are
done with the tools, Cozi could take advantage of user downtime to
surface relevant Cozi Tips and Articles currently only found on the
desktop version. Additionally, the interface for the tools does not
take advantage of the real estate that a tablet screen provides or
the space to make tapping, typing and swiping easy. For example,
Cozi could take advantage of tablet real estate by defaulting to a
calendar view rather than a visually limited schedule view.
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Best Practices
For Tablet App UX
Based on AnswerLab’s multi-phased study that included a survey
of UX experts, social data mining, and in-depth interviews with
consumers, we recommend these best practices for designing great
tablet app experiences.
1
Design with
context in mind
As prices for tablets drop and sales continue to soar, you don’t
want to get this experience wrong. Before you start developing
your tablet app, it is imperative that you understand when
and why your customers are using their tablet, as opposed to
another device, such as their smartphone or desktop computer.
For example, in our survey we found that users often pick up
their tablets when doing a task requiring optimal portability and
screen size.
“ It has made my life more compact.
I can grab my iPad and go to
meetings instead of bringing my
laptop, mouse, pencil and paper for
those quick sketches, etc. Everything
is turned down a notch in terms of
functionality to make experiences
While app functionality and use cases may vary across the
smoother, simpler and faster.
”
desktop, mobile, and tablet experiences, those that leverage the
unique qualities of each platform while maintaining consistency
in visual and interaction design are the most successful at
creating a seamless experience for the user.
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– UX Professional
2
Fill a need
Like with any product you build, you need to make sure you are
solving a problem or filling a need. This is extremely important when
figuring out what your tablet app should be. After you understand
why and when your customers are accessing their tablets, it’s
important to understand the types of activities they are doing on
their tablets, especially how that relates to your product’s purpose.
Look for pain points, gaps, and workarounds. These are all clues
“ I love to paint. I don’t have enough
time to paint. The Paper app
to help you optimize the tablet experience for your customer. Some
simplifies that hobby and allows me
great examples of apps that really fill user needs are those used
to strengthen that interest in my own
to support hobbies. The tablet’s portability and large touch screen
convenience.
lends itself well to hobbies that may otherwise require heavy or
expensive equipment or lengthy set-up, such as painting.
3
”
– UX Professional
Design for
core tasks
Once you find out why people would use your app, make sure
that you create an experience that provides cues for how and
where to initiate key tasks. Orient users by highlighting the callsto-action on the home screen, like the eBay app demonstrates
(pictured). Eliminate or reduce the prominence of any secondary
tasks. Once a user starts their key task, make sure the flow
matches their mental model and that they know where they are
in the process.
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eBay’s tablet app illustrates the core tasks
for browsing and shopping, as well as the
gestures for navigating these features
4
Make search
obvious and easy
Similar to smartphone apps, users expect to be able to search the
tablet app and find the search box at the top of the screen. Visual
cues such as a magnifying glass or box that has the word “search”
in it help users identify the search feature. They will also know
to tap it when they want to use search, and a relevant key pad
should automatically appear.
The YouTube App prominently features
search at the top of the screen,
accompanied by the magnifying glass icon
5
Focus on the
browse experience
The large screen and light weight of tablets lend themselves to
browsing. After all, they are about the same size and not much
heavier than a magazine. Early research has also concluded
that many times tablet users are on their device to do leisurely
activities that encourage browsing, such as reading, catching up
on social media, or shopping. One of our top tablet apps, Houzz,
truly maximizes real estate and encourages browsing by tucking
away navigational elements to the left so that the focus remains
on the interactive images. The consistently high quality of the
photography and large image size the app delivers is a crucial
part of what makes it stimulating and inviting, and would be hard
to achieve on a much smaller smartphone. Encourage great
browseability on your app by following these tips:
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Gilt features a browsable gallery of large,
high-quality images to engage their users
• Use high-quality images
• Allow users to enlarge images through tapping or stretching
with their fingers
• Show visual cues to suggest there is more content available
• Display more content using swipe gestures
6
Make meaningful
use of “real world”
gestures
Visual elements that invite real world-like interactions are highly
intuitive and enable quick learning. For example, one of the
top tablet apps we identified, Evernote, does this with tab
interactions. Pulling a tab down allows the user to preview what
is behind it and pulling the tab up opens that tab. Flipboard also
mirrors page turning with their intuitive swipe gestures. Though
there has been some debate in the design world about the
degree to which UI elements should mirror physical objects in the
real world, we have observed in the lab that these metaphors can
be highly intuitive and engaging.
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7
Take advantage of
immersive calls-toaction
Tablets open the door for more immersive experiences with large,
high-quality images and touchscreen capability. Your calls-toaction should be clearly recognizable and seamlessly integrated
to avoid pulling the user out of the experience. Houzz seamlessly
merges immersive experience and quality calls-to-action by
incorporating animated links throughout their images, indicating
to users that they can click on certain objects to learn more or
to purchase.
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Houzz does a great job of using green price
tags to highlight clickable products within
images
Touching on the basics
While the best practices above can help you create truly outstanding
tablet experiences, it’s important not to forget your UX basics.
Our research uncovered that many apps overlook some of these
key UX elements.
1
Reduce the amount
of typing required
Even though it’s easier to type on a tablet than a smartphone,
it’s still not preferred to a computer’s keyboard. If possible, use
multiple choice options or auto-fill information based on their
device information. If the information requested is not required,
don’t add it to your app.
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2
Surface the relevant
on-screen keyboard
Whether participants are logging in, searching for an item, or
purchasing a product, make entering data as easy as you can
by showing the relevant on-screen keyboard. Below are some
common form fields and the relevant keyboard types:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
*
0
#
Alpha Form Field
On-Screen Keyboard Type
Phone Number Show Numbers
Login / Email Field
Show “@” And “.Com” Buttons
Mint’s on-screen keyboard varies
depending on the data the user needs
to enter. The keyboard for the email
field features the “@” sign.
The keyboard for the zipcode field
prominently features numbers.
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3
Increase field size
With the inability to click on a field with your mouse cursor, form-field
sizes need to be large enough for fingers to tap. They also need to be
large enough so that users can read what they are typing into the field.
This is another case for knowing your customers, as they may have
additional needs, such as dexterity issues or larger limbs that could
make or break their tablet experience.
4
Right-size the
buttons
Buttons represent a call-to-action, usually the most important
action that a user can take on that screen. Therefore, all buttons
need to be large enough for users to notice and tap with their
fingers without fat-fingering the wrong action. Again, make sure
you know your users and accommodate for any characteristics
that could impact their interactions with your app’s buttons.
The Zappos App Features large buttons
that are easy to tap
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Experience Research
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About AnswerLab:
AnswerLab delivers trusted customer insights that help the world’s leading brands build outstanding digital products and services. The
company focuses exclusively on user experience research to understand what people see, do, think and feel when using web sites, mobile
applications, and other digital products. AnswerLab’s clients depend on their recommendations about product concepts, features, design and
messaging to create more engaging customer experiences that drive results. Global market leaders select AnswerLab as their user experience
research partner, including Amazon.com, PayPal, Walmart, Honda, ING DIRECT, ESPN, FedEx, Genentech, eBay, Salesforce.com, Amgen,
Intuit and Harley Davidson. For more information about AnswerLab, please visit www.answerlab.com
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