I love technology, and technology loves me.
I’ve been working on some new ideas for iTunes 8. The text at the bottom will be replaced by icons & text in future versions.
This work is an extention of my previous iTunes 8 mockups.
At the bottom of the page you will see a horizontal playlist and below that a horizontal library list. Both would be replaced by icons and would scroll left and right.
These are my first efforts at designing the Next Generation of GUI (NGGUI). This GUI is based of the 9 rules from Part I of the NGGUI. The mockups above are structural design guides, and in no way display the final polished look of the GUI, part of the reason is that the GUI is going to have themes, therefore their isn’t much point in spending time making it look pretty at this stage.
Menu
The round circles/icons at the bottom of the screen are 2D in design. When not using them, they turn left or right in unison disapearing. Some of the icons will be mandatory, but others will be optional, allowing you to choose what the icon is used for. TheTool Bar icon is mandatory, requiring all applications to use this area for any functions performed external to the active window.
The Multiview icon allows you to see your data represented in five different ways, 1) Coverflow (seen in the mockup above), 2) Tree (also seen in the mockup above), 3) Tag Cloud (No mockup, but google to get an idea), 4) Date/Calendar ( Similar to Sony Picture Motion Browser), and 5) Database (This pro level view allows you to manipulate the data, and can be thought of as an advanced version of Windows Explorer).
Tabs
Tabs are active for each application, allowing multiple windows. The Tabs convert to Categories when using Multiview.
Navigation
As discussed in a previous post, we are supplying multiple ways of searching and viewing data, which can be tailored to an individual based on their understanding of data relationships. Below is an example Ribbon Navigation, which can be tailored to individuals.
Three ribbons run across the top of the screen. Ribbon 1 (top) is an infinity Ribbon displaying all your installed applications. Your favourites are displayed first, then alphabetically. Ribbon 2 (middle) is the Category, for example by Genre, playlist, date, type, usage etc. Ribbon 3 (bottom) is the multiview, as dicussed above. All ribbons are theoretically infinite.
Leading on from a previous post of mine (http://www.mollerade.com/2007/01/22/itunes-8/) i’m going to be spending some more time with iTunes 8 mock up development.Music Management is data management, so what ever user interface we come up with for iTunes 8, i would like us to make sure it is capable of handling any type of data, not just music, and audio. I believe we are past the point of needing seperate applications to manage and sort through various categories of data. Yes i want to be able to choose a cateogry of data i’m looking for, but i don’t want to jump from one application to do so. If i can make a playlist of my favourite songs, why can’t i do the same for my pictures, spreadsheet or any other document? I’m searching for an imersive environment that categorizes data in a multitude of ways, whilst displaying it to us in the most simple and visually appealing way possible. I want advanced features, but i don’t want to see them clutter the interface unless i need them. With that view perhaps this new iTunes 8 mock up shouldn’t be called iTunes at all, but a Next Gen Graphical User Interface (NGGUI) mock up.Over the next few weeks, i will attempt to design the building blocks of the NGGUI. Your feedback will be appreciated, so please come back and comment on the developments.Initial thoughts are as follows;
1) All open applications must be visible at the touch of a button.
2) Entertainment applications like Music and Video must by preference be able to sync with each other, eg, music stops playing when you start video, visa versa.
3) Pausing Audio, Video, presentations, slideshows, turning on and off screen should be possible by a single key, further functionality like skip, fast forward, stop should be possible by movement commands. (Intergrate Wii functionality).
4) Clutter free. Only see what you need enviroment, advanced functionality is possible, but not by default.
5) Enhanced functionality by installing function widgets. A function widget is capable of giving you additional functionality that would normally be a laborious manual task. (actually a good way of making money - give the application away for free and sell function widgets, allows everyone to benefit as the basic platform would concentrate on being secure and stable rather than adding functionality tools which would be driven by demand).
6) Easy Themes. What ever the design, a widget should be capable of changing any aspect of it.
7) Access to the database. I’m talking about creating a NGGUI that is being fed by a database. Give the user access to the database, so they can manipulate their data at source if they wish too.
Available online. Easy VPN access through a central online portal to your desktop.
9) multi views of data. Give users the ability to see their data represented graphically by various categories, which display the connections between the data, alla 7 degrees of seperation.
Right now its off to the drawing board to do some mock ups. *Update - The First Mockups have been completed and are available here.
Part IV of iTunes 8 mock ups is now available. Its development has evolved into a full blown next generation graphical user interface so it includes music management but extends for reasons explained in the new post to all forms of data management. Check out the next level in this evolution here.
Part III
My aim is to bring existing functionality and new functionality into iTunes without adding additional complexity to its aesthetic design. This is a problem, because with each incarnation of iTunes Apple has added complexity (presumably at the users request). My answer to keeping the design clean and simple, whilst adding complexity to the product, involves using a 3D cube as part of the programs main window. I’m aware it still need to be intuitive, so I’m keeping that in mind whilst building the mock ups.
Also I don’t expect to get this right straight away. I’ve very little time to devote to this as an ongoing project, so i will publish small updates often, rather than wait for the final version before publishing. That way any feedback I get along the way, can be absorbed into the next mockup.
As of Today 8th February 2007 i still need to do the following;
1) clear up the volume control (not great).
2) Add to the iTunes dock additional icons.
Part II
I went back to work and created a second draft of my proposal for the GUI of iTunes 8. The above image hasn’t changed much from the original. I’ve intergrated the previous, play/pause, next song buttons in the dock at the bottom. I realise the icons aren’t much to look at but i’ve no time to create decent ones. If i find the time i will change all the dock icons.
This image gives you an idea of how i’d like iTunes 8 to behave when switching between the album view and the text view. The center area of the screen would rotate back like a 3D rectangle. Pottentially you could have images, and movies on two spare sides of the rectangle. If you need more than four sides, you’d move to a 3D hexagon etc. The button to switch views, would also be in the dock. I did create one, but i was awful, so i took it out. As before if i get the time, i will change the icons on the dock.
Part I
I think the new view in iTunes 7 is fantastic, although memory hungry, my PC is not new AMD Athlon 1800 1GB RAM GFX 5200, and seems to cope well with it. The one thing i do want is to be able to view the album covers full screen, which unless i’m missing something i can’t. Therefore i thought i come up with this mock up of what i would like in iTunes 8. The File, edit, controls, view options are at the top, giving you access to all the options iTunes 7 does now, but i’ve got rid of all those annoying frames and buttons, and simply used the idea of a Mac Dock at the bottom. Any menu or submenu can be added to the dock. Most of your screen can then be devoted to showing your album art, as seen on the top mock up image. The bottom mockup is a view of your albums in text view. You can right click and save the image for a larger view. I did not create the icons, but found them on google images. I do not know whom they belong to.
Recent Comments