So we've put the new Design Gallery online and I really hope you like it. 

A few of the things that we've added to the showcase are the ability to sort applications via platform, alphabetically, region or time period, so if you're looking for good design examples along specific parameters it should be a lot easier to navigate.  I'm also trying to update it with fresh new apps more often, so you always go there to see what's currently hot.  

Let me know what you think either as a comment here, or on the discussion boards!  Likewise, if you've seen an app that you think has really good design/user experience, do ping!

Arabella

Today I have a bit of an excuse for not updating in a little while - I've been in cahoots with Quim Gil and a lot of the other folks in maemo and we're planning a really productive time for those of you that are making applications for the N900!

If you're even remotely in the area and/or are interested, we're cooking up what we're calling a User Experience Meets Code long weekend, where we'll have a bunch of UX specialists on hand to make your application work as well as possible on the N900.  Because we think Helsinki in winter probably isn't the most appealing place for people to fly out to, we're doing this in the warmer climes of Barcelona.

The general idea is to have one day for each of the bigger topics of user experience, like Concepting, Usability and Graphics, and then devote a day to each of them, where we give you a quick crash course on what it means for mobile.  Then we dive into specific applications, whether it be yours, or helping to fix someone else's, and hopefully learning something in the process.    

I hope it sounds interesting - if this is a hit, I really want to do this with more platforms, devices and cities in the future! 

I'll be the first to admit I've been absolutely terrible at updating this blog, and only marginally better at updating my twitter stream (feel free to add me, but if my history is any indication, there won't be a torrent of tweets arriving into your stream from me!). 

However, after meeting some of the great folks last week in London during Over the Air, I'm feeling really motivated to try to post more in the future about what's happening and what I've got in store for you all regarding User Experience and Design resources.  

First off, if you missed my talk in London last Friday, you can find my slides over on Slideshare. Thanks again to all of you that showed up and participated in discussion - it was extremely interesting and enlightening!

The gist of my talk was this.  I advocate a User Experience driven method of service creation. User experience as applied to mobile service development can be simultaneously a very vague, diffuse "feeling"  ("make sure the user is emotionally engaged with the service"), and incredibly nitpicky ("the startup screen must load within 30 ms").  When one is coming from a development background and has little to no formal user experience or design background, it can be a little overwhelming.  But it's all much clearer when you just put the end user's needs and wises first; once you do this, your scope and planning become so much more clearer, and the risk of having a service that doesn't deliver becomes that much smaller.  

With this kind of UX-driven process in mind, I'm trying to pull together the right resources to help you get started with your development concepting, planning and testing - looking at how a usual UX driven development cycle might go, and then supplying the right tools and resources at the right points when you need them.

I'm really open to suggestions if you have any - feel free to send me a tweet at @darabella or reply to this post if you know of something that might be helpful to you.  For example, a couple of developers mentioned they use Firebug extensively in web work, and having a stronger link between working with Firebug and Nokia browsers would be really helpful.  Or what they really needed for good application planning was a really good visual prototyping tool.  In regards to these and whatever else you've got, I will definitely see what I can do!

Thanks again to Dan, Margaret and the rest of the Over the Air organizers for putting together such an awesome event.  I'm still feeling sad I couldn't take home a giant beanbag!  

Finally, a big thanks to Tina, Sumppi and the rest of the Eat.fi gang for letting me use their journey from desktop to mobile as a case study.  Good luck in the SIME awards you guys!  

So in case you haven't noticed, there's some fresh content we just added to the Design & User Experience Library regarding Web Runtime.  I think it's chock-full of some really useful information from a design standpoint - such as issues including styling and differing interaction models - that when incorporated into the development process, helps to create a great widget.

There's even a quick checklist at the end you can run through if you want to make sure you've doing the most you can to ensure a great user experience

It's really fantastic to find people passionate about creating aesthetically pleasing yet functional mobile design; it's even more wonderful when a bunch of them get together under one roof to talk about how to make things even better!

If you're anywhere near London on the evening of the 23rd of February and interested in what others are doing in regards to mobile design, then check out the Mobile Design UK event that's happening at the RSA. Don't forget to sign up first - there's only room for 50 people and it already seems to be getting filled up!

Also, if you hear about any other things like this happening in the world, I'd love it if you could send me a note with the info - I'm actively on the lookout for more events like these and I'm sure they're out there somewhere waiting to be discovered.

When it comes to mobile and website design, there is no one guide to rule them all; every region has its own distinct approach and personality.  

An online article regarding design in China was recently published here on Forum Nokia, and in the future we'll be rolling out future articles focused on different regions and the local flavour of design and how it impacts on content and applications.   

What I'd like to know is, what do you think of it?  Do you find it helpful, or is there additional information that you wish you could have found there?  It would be great to get some feedback to incorporate into the next regionally focused article that comes out.   

Perhaps a blog here on Forum Nokia is a good way to introduce myself.  My name's Arabella, and I'm here to do what I can to help provide resources and information intended for designers (visual and interaction) regarding mobile applications and content.  I'll be posting information relating to these activities here on this blog, and also doing what I can to contribute to the creation of well-crafted applications and content for mobile devices. 

Right now there's a few things here on Forum Nokia available that relate to design for mobile devices, such as a the Mobile Design Showcase and some really great introductory information regarding Visual Design for Mobile Devices, and there's a lot more to come in the future.  I hope you like it and gain something from these resources you haven't learned before.  If not, do you have any requests or a wish list in regards to mobile design?  Feel free to let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Arabella