Talking Apps and business: ‘Design Is My Thing’
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Creator Jason Stevens asks Matthew White of Dirk+Weiss a series of questions about what and how we do, what we do. Here is our response to our questions.
Read all the responses from other designers.
“Small Talk: 3 or 4 questions to 150 designers”
[DW] I am from Medford, MA and I design and author iPhone Apps and Websites for a living.
[DIMT] What does an iphone app look like during development, what’s the file type and what are the major components?
[DW] In a nutshell, during the development stage, Apps are code. But, thanks to Apple’s XCode environment, iPhone Apps have two overall parts: XCode (Under The Hood) and Interface Builder (The Look). The file extension is .xcodeproj until the building stage when they are packaged into .app files.
[DIMT] How is it there are 120,000+ iphone apps, plus those for other mobile devices, are apps easy to make?
[DW] First and foremost, Apps are lucrative if you know how to make them, and sell companies on having them. At this point in the game, to make apps, you need to know the CocoaTouch (Objective C) programming language. Could be a hurdle for some, but in the reality of things, that is no excuse. I am a designer, and I continue to learn code. Its not difficult, it’s actually quite logical. There are websites and forums out there that have thousands of developers sharing code and project files for learning. If you have time, you can learn to make apps. PLEASE do not go buy a $40+ book at Barnes and Noble. Just last week I watched a YouTube tutorial on how to incorporate horizontal finger gestures into my app. We all know Apple is known for there easy to use applications like iMovie and iPhoto. I would put money on the next iLife series having an iApp program so anyone can make Apps (ugh…Apple tablet…ugh). Speculation only of course.
[DIMT] Apps are just a portion of your business under your technology focus, what else is keeping you busy these days?
[DW] Designers that need programmers, and business that need results. Like I said, I am a designer that does development. There is ample value in being able to drive on both sides of the street, and clients know it. I would also say that clients (a.k.a the people and business of the world) expect graphic designers to be able to at least talk about current web solutions right off the bat. If this is not the case, you can appear a bit antiquated. In our case, we find clients almost never request print design. Apparently this is a trend for not just us but lots of designers. In addition to clients, we also work on new initiatives for Dirk+Weiss that include our weekly Podcast, workshops, and of course iPhone Apps. I also am an Adjunct Faculty member at the Art Institute of Boston (AIB) @ Lesley University, teaching design and marketing related courses.
