Mobile Developers: Inspiration, Development & Design
Mark Byrne | Digital Marketing Specialist | Ward Technology Talent | Twitter | LinkedIn
We’ve compiled our favourite resources for mobile developers to make your life easier, from inspiration to development to design. Enjoy!
Inspiration
Android
Android App Patterns – This site features well over 1000 screenshots of beautifully designed apps that will get your creative juices flowing,
androidUX – This website is very similar to Android App Patterns. There are categories that range from loading screens, search bars, sign up/in designs and keyboards.
iOS
UX Archive – From the dropdown menu you can select the function that you want to get inspiration for, for example, Recording. The site pulls up apps that have this function and then compare them side by side. There is also the option to select an app and then scroll through the design for each function that the app, getting an overall feel for the design.
Mix
Inspired UI – The same idea as the above websites but with screenshots for iPhone and Android. The site is very easy to navigate, with well over 1000 images of real mobile apps.
Development
Toastmo – This blog is run by mobile app development company ‘Two Toasters’, designers of apps for the likes of AirBnb and Zumba. Topics focus on lessons learned by the company in their development process making it an excellent source of real world examples.
Mobile tuts+ – Mobile tuts+ is an excellent resource, comprised of tutorials, video content and a dedicated community. The website covers a wide variety of topics, from native development with the iOS, Android, and Windows SDKs, cross-platform development using tools like Titanium Mobile and PhoneGap, as well as techniques for building mobile accessible web sites and web apps with HTML 5, CSS, and JavaScript. There is the option to pay for their Premium service which gives you even more – including access to instructors.
How to Make iPhone Apps – As the name would suggest, this blog focuses specifically on developing for iOS. It’s an excellent resource for beginners and doesn’t get overly advanced. It’s updated on a regular basis and has an ebook that you can download while you’re at it.
Design
Mobile Awesomeness – Mobile Awesomeness is designed to allow you to share your mobile projects with the world. As well as being a hub for mobile developers the site hosts a blog that shares ‘awesomeness in mobile design’. While still in beta, and relatively new, the blog is regularly updated with great content.
The Mobile Web Design Blog – Topics covered include mobile UI, responsive design, mobile apps, testing and more.
