

In Evernote’s case they cannot completely focus on note capture at the expense of cutting out the other actions. But by limiting the scope of the application, it actually maximizes the experience for the user.

It seems counterintuitive to restrict features to simply not port them directly from the desktop or web offering. Having the app launch into the note acquisition screen implicitly signals to the user that this is the type of activity that you should be doing on the device. The constraints of the device and the unpredictable nature of the network, I believe, led to a focus on what a mobile device is good for (note capturing) and make that the key action in the mobile versions of its application. Given the detached nature of the mobile device and the sluggishness still experienced with cellular networks, the note browsing and searching experience is not ideal. The mobile apps immediately present 4 distinct actions for note acquisition.Įvernote breaks down into two key activities: note acquisition and note retrieval. Here are six things that stood out most about the Evernote iPhone app and the take-away ideas I got from looking closer at the app. Lately I have been thinking about user design and experience as I prep my app for the App Store. By taking a closer look at the clients, it became clear that the user experience, and the design decisions behind them, wasn’t a happy accident. The ubiquity of the service via all the devices in my life (laptop, desktop, iPhone, Nexus One, web, and iPad) and the ease in which I can capture and recall notes made adopting it into my daily workflow extremely easy. Evernote is one of my favorite and most frequently used applications.
