Mobile Prototyping Pt. 1

Over the past few months I’ve been experimenting with mobile prototyping. There are a few noteworthy contenders in the space, but I wasn’t quite happy with any one of them as my all-in-one. I’d like the interface and ease of one, while the documentation and support of another. Or perhaps it was the ability to share, or maybe even the level of control another has while manipulating animation curves. Well, I believe Pixate has a great deal of what I need, wrapped in one elegant package. Granted, it’s fresh out of beta, but what it offers provides a powerful yet intuitive tool for designing opinionated animations and micro-transitions.

Here are a few prototypes that I’ve created using Pixate in an attempt to recreate popular apps. It all begins with taking screenshots of these apps, and slicing the segments I anticipate to animate or move. Using its event-based editor, I was able to craft these interactions in a relatively short time period.

Google Now

Google Now II

foursquare

Twitter

Spotify

Now that I’ve challenged myself to recreate the interactions of well designed mobile apps, I can apply these techniques to my own designs. Stay tuned!