I have read scores of pundits talk about the iPad being a “consumption device,” that it’s for enjoying content and not creating it. To all these talking heads, I say “phooey!” The iPad is a great device to be creative and productive, especially if you are in the user experience design field. Here’s my list of the great (and quickly becoming indispensable) apps that I use to create next-gen online experiences.
iThoughts HD
This mind mapping tool was originally created for the iPhone, and has now been updated for the iPad. With intuitive controls and the ability to export the results into multiple formats, it’s a must-have for visual thinkers and designers.
Newsrack
How do you keep up with what’s going on in the technology and design community? Why, by following RSS feeds and readers like Google reader, that’s how. Newsrack is my favorite reader, for many reasons, primarily because of it’s integration with Google reader and the ability to share links via Twitter and send content to off-line readers such as Instapaper (see below).
IMockups
Want to do some quick design sketches? Well, iMockups is the app for you. Very similar to Balsamiq Mockups, this app let’s you drag and drop UI elements on the screen and then export the designs to your photo library. It’s quite useful and I look forward to future updates, where they plan on adding photo import and more stencil shapes.
Pages
Want to write design documentation on the go? Well, Pages isn’t a perfect word processor, but it is optimized and designed for the iPad, and the latest version fixes some of the usability issues (no access to the menu bar when in landscape mode, for example) that the first version had.
Omnigraffle
I’m a huge fan of the desktop app, which I consider “Visio on steroids.” My initial reaction to the ipad version was frustration and anger – the UI was hard to “get” initially, and had a learning curve steeper than I would have liked. But after taking the time to get to understand the app, it’s now one I use on a daily or weekly basis to create user flow diagrams and quick visualizations. Hopefully the next version will provide better stencil and document management capabilities.
Good Reader
The ability to have all my documents with me is a godsend. I copy dozens of design articles, saved as PDFs, to the app via iTunes and the controls are intuitive and easy to use. It even supports syncing and downloading documents from box.net, Dropbox or iDisk.
Instapaper
If I don’t have the time to save web pages as PDFs to read with Good Reader, I can quickly click the Read Later bookmark that saves the content of the page to Instapaper, and I can save an offline version of the article the next time I open the app on the iPad. An incredibly useful app, especially when I’m traveling and have no Internet access.
Penultimate
This is the ultimate sketching app for the iPad, which allows me to quickly draw up ideas with my fingers or with…
Pogo sketch pencil
Not an app, really, but a stencil that has a tip that the iPad or the iphone “reads” as biological. It gives me greater control than just my fingertip, and is a great deal at only $15.