These Guys Kick APPS: Q&A (Part 1)

The creative forces behind PROJECT, TRVL, Above & Beyond: George Steinmetz, The Final Hours of Portal 2 and more come together for one night in NYC to the SPD SpeakEasy--to inspire and inform, and give you the inspiration to kick some apps, too.

Leading up to our Tuesday, July 26, 2011 SpeakEasy at the Helen Mills Theatre, we've asked our four presenters a few questions on the State of Apps.

To kick things off, we want to know:

What has been your biggest challenge (or surprise) in developing your apps?

Mike Burgess
Head of Digital at Seven, a multimedia publisher in London that translates Sir Richard Branson's vision into Project, an interactive magazine developed exclusively for iPad. (Top: Pages from Issue 7, Above: The gyroscopic Summer Movie cover.)

For magazine apps the biggest problem is workflow. At what point do subs look at it? Do you work with hi-res images straight away? What if you want to change layout? When do the developers get their hands on it? The project plan is complicated, fluid and as with print magazines a mad rush in the final week. Also don't get me started on the portrait and landscape versions.

Michel Elings
(left) and Jochem Wijnands
Founders of TRVL, an a la carte travel magazine for iPad based in Bussum, The Netherlands. Working out of a spare bedroom, they have published 25 issues of TRVL. Each issue contains one article about one subject, and is loaded with gorgeous photography and multimedia.

For us it's making stuff as easy as possible. If I give my iPad to someone else and if I let them tap etc. You will see some surprises. People just tap everywhere and feel stupid if it doesn't work. I don't like to give people the feeling that they are stupid while using our app. I want technology to fade away and only pops up when people need it. This is and will be one of our biggest challenge in the future.

Joe Zeff
President of Joe Zeff Design, a multidisciplinary studio in Montclair, NJ, that helps companies fuse content, technology and business opportunities on the iPad. Joe and his team have created storytelling apps such as "The Final Hours of Portal 2" and "Above & Beyond: George Steinmetz."

The biggest challenge, by far, is keeping pace with change. We are constantly confronted with new operating systems, platform changes, hardware specifications, consumer expectations, market rules and restrictions, and more. We spend as much time on research and development as we do on actual production, perhaps more. Experimentation is a requisite, and technical difficulties are an integral part of the workflow. If we're not hitting those roadblocks, then we're simply not pushing ourselves hard enough to stay ahead of the curve.

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THESE GUYS KICK APPS: An indie-apps appreciation night.
You know their apps. Now meet their creators, and learn how it's done.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Helen Mills Theatre
139 West 26th Street (between 6th & 7th Aves), NYC

Doors open for seating at 6:30 PM
Presentation begins at 7:00 PM
Cocktails after begin about 8:30 PM

TICKETS
SPD Members, $20 in advance for panel + cocktails ($25 CASH ONLY at the door, if tickets remain)
Non-Members, $30 in advance for panel + cocktails ($35 CASH ONLY at the door, if tickets remain)
Full-time Students & faculty with valid ID, $15 in advance for panel + cocktails ($10 CASH ONLY at the door, if tickets remain)

RSVP early! All tickets, seating, and cocktails are first come, first served. When tickets sell out, they're gone.

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See related stories:

Mag App: Project magazine

10 Essential iPad Apps for Publication Designers (2nd Edition)

Letter to Jane iPad App

SPD 45: The Design Annual for iPad

Cover of the Day: Popular Mechanics for iPad, Samsung Galaxy, and print

The Story of O, Part 4: iPad Pages