• Read more about User-Centric Design for Federal Websites

For Federal Offices of Communication, the act—and art—of balancing websites that both cater to the public and promote the organizational structure and mission of the organization is always top of mind. Accordingly, those partnering with Federal offices must prioritize meeting both needs when designing and building agency sites. On numerous projects, our team has successfully managed to increase usability and deliver user-centric designs while simultaneously building sites that allow our Federal clients to bolster their brand. A sample of results for some clients:

-a swift 4% increase in first-time visitor overall satisfaction
-76% of all mobile users strongly agreeing that the new site made content easier to find
-88% of frequently visiting teens being satisfied with the new site

Below are some of the tools we’ve implemented to achieve success:

Navigation and Information Architecture

Treejack is a great usability testing tool that development teams can wield to test the information architecture and navigation of the site prior to even beginning a design. It is best used to test the findability of topics in a website using different navigational hierarchies. For one of our projects, both internal and external stakeholders were given 46 tasks to perform using a variety of different navigation hierarchies to find the most optimal site organization for both constituent groups.

Usability Testing

For usability testing, our team leverages both Loop11 and Usertesting.com. Using a live, interactive environment, both of these tools allow development teams to gain deep understanding of user behavior by observing users as they complete a series of tasks and questions on the site and/or mobile app in question. Interactions are captured and then analyzed in comprehensive reports. As an added bonus, Usertesting.com provides video footage of the interaction for review:

http://bit.ly/1rRvEAm

In summary, Federal websites and applications are often designed with too much emphasis on organizational hierarchy and goals, and too little focus on meeting end-users’ needs and expectations. User-Centric Design (UCD) tools can help government agencies buck this trend, however, allowing them to create websites and applications that engage users and maximize their interaction. Ultimately, this results in a sure win-win: Federal agencies’ constituents can experience an efficient, satisfying, and user-friendly design, and—with constituents’ increased engagement—organizations can ensure that their missions and information are communicated effectively. Act balanced.

• Read more about Apple Watch: A Look Inside

At the time of this writing (pre-WWDC 2015), there are a number of limitations on what Apple Watch code can do. The primary limitation is that watch apps cannot exist by themselves. It is necessary for the watch app to be a part of a corresponding phone app. Apple has said they will not accept watch apps where the phone app does not do anything itself. Also, watch-only apps (such as watch faces) are not allowed for this same reason—although it’s rumored that this may change after WWDC 2015.

Another Apple Watch limitation is that Core Graphics animations are not supported, but animated GIFs are. Complex layouts (such as overlapping elements) are not allowed. However, elements can be positioned as if they overlap—provided only one element is visible at a time. Using actions such as taps and timers, the visibility of these "overlapping" elements can be changed. This can be implemented to provide a more dynamic interface. Another major limitation (also whispered to change after WWDC 2015) is that watch apps cannot access any of the hardware on the watch including the motion sensor and heart sensor.

Most watch app processing (controller logic) is done on the phone instead of the watch, and some delays are inherent in the Bluetooth communication that transpires between the watch and the phone as the view (on the watch) talks back to the controller (on the phone). This view/controller split is not obvious in the code, but the watch/phone split is obvious in the code, as the watch cannot access anything from the phone, even though the controller logic is running on the phone side—except via a specific watch-to-phone request.

One notable feature is the watch app’s ability to explicitly call the phone app with a dictionary and obtain a dictionary response. This functionality allows the developer to then set up a number of client-server style requests, where the watch is the client, and the phone is the server. For example, the watch can request information from—or record information to—the phone. The phone (which has storage and may have Internet connectivity) can then fulfill the request and provide data in response to the watch. This can drive the phone app's UI to provide near-real-time synchronization of the watch app display, as well as the phone app display.

Custom notifications (both local notifications and push notifications) are supported on the watch. These custom notifications can have a somewhat customized layout as well as having the ability to define a set of custom actions. After performing one of these actions, the watch app is started. Apple mentions not to use notifications as a way to just launch the watch app from the phone app. Apple maintains that the notifications should provide useful information.

One developer test limitation relates to custom watch notifications (for local notifications).  Since watch notifications are only displayed if the phone is asleep, there is no direct way to test custom watch notifications.  Because of this, XCode does provide a mechanism to test push notifications in the simulator (using a JSON file), but there is no similar mechanism to test local notifications. Still, one can certainly test local notifications with the physical device.

• Read more about Federal Mobile Computing Summit 2014: Government in the Future

We were particularly proud to see one of our favorite clients, Peter Dewar, Chief Technology Officer at the District of Columbia Retirement Board (DCRB), participate in a thought-provoking panel on Wearables and the Internet of Things. The session's description as a “visionary panel” proved to be true, as all of the participants outlined the groundbreaking mobile capabilities they foresaw as feasible within the next five years.

Mr. Dewar described his vision for implementing Google Glass in the office, at conferences—even for pension fund participants, staff, and Board members. Taking the idea of “smart rooms” even further, he also described a futuristic conference room, which would be able to set up a meeting’s required media (think dial-ins, projectors, etc.) upon the meeting organizer’s entrance or (biometric) authentication.

We from Mobomo were on the edge of our seats thinking about the possibilities, and excited about building them—especially for our government clients. Congrats to Peter Dewar for a great panel session, and thanks to Tom Suder for hosting yet another fantastic summit. We’re looking forward to next year’s—and to the future of mobile (in the government!).

• Read more about Mobomo Talks Next Gen Federal Sites in April’s Tech Bisnow Newsletter

• Read more about Improving Apple's App Store in 2010

Ken Yarmosh, our Director of Product Strategy, posted some thoughts on his blog about what Apple can do to improve the App Store in 2010. He focused on app wish lists, sharing, recommendations, tracking bargains and sales, and better app organization:

Now, if the prediction of 300,000 iPhone apps by the end of 2010 is true, the problem of discovery and app management is only going to be exacerbated. That’s going to make users and developers frustrated, with Apple working around the clock to try to please both parties. Thus, I believe the best way for Apple to begin improving the App Store in 2010 is by learning from these different categories of iPhone apps about iPhone apps. While it may seem like I’m selling these developers out to Apple, what I actually would recommend to Apple is to buy the apps, assets, and the developers themselves because these issues are big problems to solve

Near the end of the posts, he also touches on some ways to improve the iPhone itself. It's an interesting read, so check it out --

How Apple Can Improve the App Store (and iPhone) in 2010

• Read more about Is It Time to Add “Apps” to Marketing’s Venerable “4 Ps”?

It’s been more than four decades since Michigan State University Professor E. Jerome McCarthy theorized that marketing contained four basic elements: product, price, place (distribution) and promotion, also known as the “Four Ps of Marketing.”

Amazingly, despite the unprecedented upheaval and transformation in marketing strategies, techniques, channels and tactics during the last forty years—not to mention marketers’ penchant for postulating all manner of new philosophies, methodologies, rules and acronyms--the Four Ps of Marketing have remained unchanged.

But perhaps now there is good reason to revisit and refresh marketing’s Four Ps: the emergence of “applications” or “apps” as a new means for organizations to acquire, retain or otherwise engage customers and prospects.

What are “Apps”?

An app is a small, self-contained computer program that provides value or engagement to a mass or targeted audience in a community, marketplace or platform. Think of Scrabulous for Facebook; WeatherBug for the iPhone; NBC’s Saturday Night Live widgets; or the Wall Street Journal’s reader for the Blackberry. Apps are commonly grouped via their method of distribution and/or platform:

* Mobile apps: Designed to leverage the unique characteristics of mobile audiences and smartphones, such as the need for location-based information or lightweight, portable versions of larger, more complex services such as Salesforce.com

* Community- or platform-based apps: Those that are developed exclusively for and can only be used on a particular site such as Facebook; and

* Widgets: Portable apps that can reside on multiple third party sites and blogs.

The App Explosion

The proliferation in the use of apps by large and small businesses, as well as non-profit and government organizations is well-documented. Apps have been developed by brands of all stripes as standalone marketing tools or to target fast-growing, communities such as Facebook (350,000 apps used by more than 70% of Facebook’s 250 million users) or the iPhone (65,000 apps available; 1 billion downloads in first 9 months).

And due to their ability to achieve low-cost global or geographically-targeted distribution; their relatively inexpensive development; and rapid time to market—as well as their virtually unlimited potential for creating unique and valuable user experiences—apps have only begin to reach their potential as a new category of marketing tool.

Let’s examine the explosion of one type of app: mobile. The transformation of the mobile web landscape is reminiscent of the original trajectory of the World Wide Web. Very quickly, the consensus shifted from “Why does my company need a Web site?” to “Why don’t we have a Web site yet?” That shift was caused by the reduced cost of developing sites, their practical and proven use in engaging customers, the increase in available bandwidth; and technological advances that helped organizations deliver more useful and relevant user experiences.

The same phenomenon is occurring today with mobile apps: A recent New York Times article reports that nearly half (48 percent) of phone users shop for apps more than once a week and about the same number (49 percent) report using apps on their phone for more than 30 minutes a day; the cost of developing mobile apps has dropped dramatically; and technological improvements are enabling more speed and a better user experience.

How do “apps” relate to Marketing’s Four Ps?

Apps can deliver some portion of the product experience; promote the brand; place themselves wherever customers are; and/or be priced to stimulate trial or engagement. But while “apps” combine elements of each of the Four Ps, they’re neither fish nor fowl--they don’t neatly fit into any one category.

In other words, apps are not products, promotions, channels or pricing strategies. But an app can have some or all of these elements. Apps are…well, they’re apps. Simply put, apps have become a box you check in your marketing plan, right next to the other Four Ps. It’s hard to imagine a new brand launch, Hollywood film, ad campaign or even a fundraising push occurring without the question being asked, “Should we develop a mobile or Facebook app for this?”

Let us know what you think: Do apps deserve their own slot in the marketing mix pantheon, right alongside the traditional Four Ps? Please join the discussion by adding your comments below.

This article was co-written with our friend Bob London, president of London, Ink, a marketing and communications consulting firm headquartered in the Washington, DC metro area.

• Read more about Apple Improves Search in the iPhone App Store

When I created the App Store content for our TrafficTweet application, I created a nice list of tags. I was disappointed to see that the App Store didn't have an area to insert these tags in the submission forms. The iPhone analytics vendors like PinchMedia and Medialets already supported tags.

I was pleased that Apple finally added keywords field to the application submission form to improve the poor search feature. So I pasted my carefully crafted keywords (283 characters) into the field. It immediately rejected the entry for exceeding the 100 characters limit. So, I painstakingly prioritized and trimmed the keywords to 97 (an interesting exercise). Ok, this time, it took the values. I went back to change one of the keywords, but it wouldn't let me edit. Lesson learned: you have only one shot at adding keywords. Also, I noticed you can't change the app's title anymore. One step forward, one step back!

• Read more about Welcome to Mobomo!

The iPhone platform and the Apple App Store radically changed the way we work, live, and play. The massive iPhone success has resulted in other mobile vendors launching similar stores for their devices. In addition, the new generation of Software Development Kits (SDK) is making it much easier for developers to build and deploy applications and services for the mobile workforce. These mobile applications provide rich user experience by leveraging advanced device features such as multi-touch screens, GPS, compass, accelerometers, cameras, and other sensors.

At Mobomo, we are committed to building smart applications (simple, useful, interactive and beautiful) on these emerging platforms. Our applications will help the consumers to obtain real-time data, save money on shopping, and entertain you when you have some down time. So stay tuned for more details.

We would love to hear your thoughts; feel free to send us a note at: hello@mobomo.com