Steve Neiderhauser

iRise for iPhone

iRise has added the ability to prototype iPhone applications by using a template. (Here's a YouTube demo of iPhone Simulation using iRise.)

The template can simulate all of the iPhone's standard menu icons and user actions, such as using sliders and zooming in and out of screens by "pinching" and "unpinching." Application designers can use it to create custom buttons, manipulate the menu icons and define the effects of actions such as double-tapping a button, Bishop said.

The iPhone simulations will run on a desktop rather than an actual iPhone, with users interacting with the virtual phone using a mouse. There is a downloadable tool for using simulations based on iRise, so companies developing iPhone applications will be able to send simulations to average consumers and get feedback.

The downloadable tool referred to in the above paragraph is the iRise reader. After you build a simulation, you can distribute it to customers; customers use the reader to run the simulation and provide feedback. Combine this simulation with a wiki for tight feedback loops and you are on the verge of creating a product tuning fork.

Perhaps the way Apple designed its iPhone SDK helped iRise bring this feature to market. Although, Apple, rich in prototype history, provides its own simulator:

Apple also introduced a new development tool called iPhone Simulator. This tool runs on a Mac and simulates the entire API stack of the iPhone OS. Apple said that you can run your iPhone application in the simulator, which gives developers an incredible turnaround time on development.

Even though the iRise tool may be a little pricey for some developers, you can expect that the benefits of prototyping will accrue to Apple, developers, and customers. What might those benefits be? New iPhone apps will zoom to market. And expect more satisfying and creative applications for the iPhone, because collaborating around a visual design produces inspiration and insights that others are unable to see through the scratched cornea of paper mache requirements.

Running business like an artist

Jane Rae-Dupree's article for The New York Times (registration required), Let Computers Compute. It's the Age of the Right Brain describes the power of the right brain and how thinking like an artist can change your business.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a class that teaches people how to think like an artist and has become a popular workshop for business people. Dr. Betty Edwards, the author of the book by the same name as the workshop, said she wrote the book to help others see like an artist, "My main task in writing the drawing book was to dig down underneath everything I knew about art and drawing to try to find the most fundamental level of thinking that goes on in drawing."

I believe that practicing some form of art (painting, music, screenwriting) helps you think like an artist and provides a unique business perspective. A perspective that can help elevate your business game.

Your work + design = Brand Promotion

During a Tom Peters BrandYou seminar I was reminded that most people don't like to brag about themselves at work, even if it were part of the promotion equation. As people talked about their careers, many stated that they took pride in their work, but felt uncomfortable talking up their work -- instead, their work would speak for them.

Their work may speak, but not speak well. What most people failed to realize is that you have to design your work in a way that creates remarkable experiences for your coworkers and customers -- and then your customers will brag about you to your boss and other customers.

When you watch this Youtube customer service video from Shep Hyken you'll see that even a commodity service like a cab ride can be branded by design.