The guys over at Six Revisions have posted a great article on a topic I'm starting to hear more and more about: Native Apps vs. Web Apps on the iPad/iPhone. At Rockfish Interactive we have had the opportunity to work on several iPad apps and lots of iPhone apps and the one thing that gets brought is "...is this better served as a web app?" At first I didn't see why the need but after hearining feedback from users using our aps it makes perfect sense that the web app model is still alive and kicking. Native apps are cool and take full advantage of the platform and what it has to offer but the limitations of being device specific and the case with the iPad not printing and not saving causes complications the user doesn't seem to like. 

Obviously with the power of HTML 5 and CSS3 growing I think the more viable approach will be the web apps but until browsers inherently come with plugins such as Unity or Flash i think most game developers will stick to the native approach.  

The Executive Creative Director at Rockfish Interactive Bob Robinson said a great quote today that's worthy of a young aspiring artist or ad man, he said: "remember...Branding is who we are. Advertising is what we say and Marketing is who we say it to."

A collection of pictures from a recent brainstorm session at the Rockfish Interactive Frisco, TX office. http://www.flickr.com/photos/calvinly/sets/72157624387098430/

One way to think about designing a successful app regardless of the platform is to make the app almost invisible and design the experience. The experience is successful if the relationship ties the customer back to the company and therefore makes the brand useful. A useful app that gives the user a sense of enjoyment, information or a check mark on the todo list can do wonders for the longevity of the brand and its success.
 
At Rockfish Interactive I’ve had the opportunity to work on apps for great brands such as ESPN, Walmart, Listerine, Tyson, Silver Joe’s Coffee and Arvest Bank across many platforms such as iPhone, Facebook and online web apps. In all of these I always worked towards the experience the user should have while interacting with the app and defined the interface around that.
 
Applications should not be cumbersome they should use natural elements that enhance the experience instead of introducing a lot of new stuff. Don’t assume users will look for stuff because they won’t the application needs to be an extension of what I am already doing. Many great apps out there today already do just that and now we’re seeing a huge explosion in the mobile space that can provide a great extension of any brand if done correctly.
 
One piece of advice I received while designing an online banking application was to design the app the way that I would use it then get feedback and refine. This seemed to go well as the client was very pleased and the feedback was very minimal to the overall design. The client said the experience seemed spot on we just had to tweak a few colors and icons.
 
A great contributor to the success of your app is to have users provide feedback. I firmly believe unlike a website site an app design is never done and the more you listen to your users and refine the happier they will be. We hosted a user group of about 15 people the other night and the feedback was outstanding. We followed up the next day and ran through the list and discussed and itemized the crucial steps we needed to take before its launch in a few weeks.
 
Application design can be very rewarding for designers especially if it’s an app that you would get to use regularly. I’m pretty excited to debut a new app we’ve been working on at RFI in a few days to attendees at the F.O.W.A. (Future of Web Apps) conference in Miami and get more user feedback.

So each year at Rockfish Interactive we're asked to write our goals both professionally and personally for the year. Last year was my first year as Creative Director and what an amazing year it was for the company as a whole and myself. We saw tremendous growth (We added 10 new creative's), gained recognition (I got to judge the Addy Awards) and were awarded Ad Age's Small Agency of the Year. In preparation for writing my 2010 goals I wanted to look back at what I wrote down in 2009 and see how I did:

2009 Goals: 
1. To be satisfied and fulfilled in my career.
2. Better align myself with good thinkers that both challenge and sharpen my skills. Seek their wisdom.
3. Learn to see things from others perspectives so I can see the impact my decisions may have.
4. Remain teachable. Learn from my successes but most importantly learn from my failures.
5. Align myself with my companies short-term and long-term plans.
6. Seek things that bring a positive change.
7. Learn to have a forgiving spirit.
8. I won't compare myself to other people, I will compare myself to my potential.
9. Have the ability to arouse enthusiasm both through appreciation and encouragement.
10. Don't criticize people have a positive attitude.

Amazingly 2009 has turned out to be a great year at Rockfish Interactive I had the pleasure to be the Creative Director and grow an awesome creative team. We we're recognized by AdAge as Small Agency of the Year and this past week I was asked to be a judge for the Addy Awards in Atlanta. I had the opportunity to represent RFI amongst other great agencies such as WongDoody, Struck Interactive, The Martin Agency and Cramer-Krasselt. The Atlanta Ad Club and Brunner Works hosted the event. I stopped by the office of Brunner and spoke with their Creative Director Brett Compton and their Chief Strategy Officer Louis Sawyer. It was a great conversation about the two agencies and where we plan to go in the future in the industry. Our hosts the 2 Gingers and Rich made the trip a great experience.

We managed to judge over 600+ pieces from traditional to interactive from professional to student submissions and even the dreaded radio categories. All 5 of us judges seemed to have a lot in common which lead to some great conversations about our industry, work, designers and agencies. We stayed at the W hotel that included a sighting of Wyclef John in one of the hotel clubs. The judging was hosted at the Creative Circus Portfolio School that is an awesome venue for any creative person interested in pursuing a design career. Plenty of great work lined the walls of that place. DC our host on the last day was the Director of Career Services for the school and we had some great conversations around the 2010 addition of interactive programs at the school. DC I would love to come speak to your aspiring interactive designers/developers once you guys are up and running next year.

Many of our conversations were around our agencies and how we were handling these tough economic times and it seemed the Interactive agencies were better positioned than the traditional shops at this point. Some other interesting things were the requests for video when addressing RFP's and the importance of case studies as projects evolve. All in all it was a great experience and I hope I get the opportunity to do it again. Now I'm heading back to XNA writing this and I think I just heard the flight attendant say here in Dallas that this flight is headed to "WalMart". LOL enjoy some pics below of the trip:

Our Hotel

My mobile office

Some cool typography in the hotel

The view

At Brunner Works Atlanta office

Loved the green hallway, it actually changes colors and designs

Where the judging went down, The Creative Circus

The first morning

A really cool place for creatives

Great art filled the hallways

The judging station

The judging PDA, I would have prefered an iPhone app instead of windows

Some serious judging going on

More great artwork on the walls

Some of the interactive labs

The only message that matters

Another lab

Judging the print pieces

Judging the interactive pieces

Someone that resembled Tiger Woods so we had him reinact the incedent with our host Ginger Raymond

I can see Rockfish Interactive being added to this list

Heading back to the airport with Matt from WongDoody