iPad Design Lab by Mario Garcia has valuable information on designing apps for tablets. I like the idea of creating something that allows the reader to interact. There's sort of a playful tone about app-designing that you don't really get with other types of design. Perhaps it's because you are thinking in terms of touch and interactivity, opening up all sorts of design possibilities. On the other side, there's something that just feels nice and satisfying when you're clicking on an app and more information pops up. As Garcia says, "The tablet user wants to be surprised." The user also wants a "lean-forward" experience instead of a "lean-backward" experience. To me, this means that design and content have to be catchy and to-the-point.
The "lean-forward" experience is subject to debate among journalists. Some aren't happy that long form journalism seems to be dying out, while "lean-forward" journalism is getting more and more popular. The average length of a news story is shortening to at least half of what it used to be. Is there a place in journalism for both "lean-forward" and "lean-back"? Maybe iPad apps are a sort of solution to this question. The iPad is clearly best suited for "lean-forward," so maybe it will be the home of short and pithy content. In any case, I think long-form journalism will always have an audience.
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