Storytelling is a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation.  And although how the stories are told has changed, the intrinsic quality of sharing a story has remained the same.  Storytelling can be used to communicate history, impart wisdom, and provide entertainment.  From a business perspective storytelling is a way to convey a message with your audience that makes your listeners feel included.  How you choose to tell your story impacts the audience you attract and the overall perception of your brand.

As interactive storytellers, naturally we are excited Facebook Timeline has officially launched for all brands!  According to Jamie Tedford of Forbes “the entire Facebook platform is organized around the generation and amplification of stories.”  The Timeline presents the opportunity to document the history of your brand and really share your story from the very beginning.  Don’t think of it as simply an update on Facebook but rather as a short story within the larger framework of your brand’s novel.

You can approach storytelling multiple ways. For example, we designed and developed a 3D city for Faro as an interactive map with products placed in situations throughout the environment, inviting audience exploration.  As user moves through the city, they gain an understanding of overall story of how Faro products are used in large variety of situations, and they also discover how specific products benefit targeted applications.  Through this layered approach, Faro is telling the story of their product within an interactive 3D city.

Another method to tell a story is through interactive presenting, ideally you as the presenter will take the foreground of the presentation.  The goal is to create opportunities for dialogue through interacting with the presentation, rather than just a monologue. The iPad is one of the best tools to achieve this style of presenting.  Our clients have found the level of interactivity astounding.  There’s just something about physically sliding an object along the screen that gives you a sense of involvement and participation.  One of our designers compared the interactivity of the iPad to the first time he had electric car windows. “Even though the motion is simple, the fact that you can interact with it is thrilling.”

Now back to the Facebook Timeline, its interactivity comes from apps that create “custom actions.”  These custom actions are crucial because they enable customers to interact with your brand by telling good stories. This in turn helps build brand loyalty because the brand becomes more than just a product.  And creating interactive stories “is the key to both acquiring new customers while engaging and retaining your existing ones,” says Tedford.  Facebook Timeline is by no means the end all be all of storytelling but it is a great place to start collecting the chapters that complete your brand’s story.

A recent review by Matthew Panzarino of the iOS app Clear has brought to light the value of User Interface standards. Panzario makes the case for the UI of Clear:

“Clear takes a different tack, as its interface lacks any standard buttons and operates completely through gestures, taps or direct manipulation of the list items on the screen…Frankly it’s so different from how apps normally work and offers so little assistance to those unfamiliar with gestures that the guys at Realmac and Impending, the two studios responsible for Clear, had a tough time deciding how to introduce new users to using the app. But once a user is familiar with just the basic operation of the app, they take off like a rocket using them with ease.”

While Panzario acknowledges the learning curve, the hurdle is dismissed once familiarity has set in. Yet, this type of app-centric thinking would prove daunting if applied to your entire app ecosystem. Imagine if every app you downloaded you had to figure-out how to interact and operate it. Clear has departed from the norms of app User Interface expectations at the expense of clarity. This is done under the guise of being intuitive to a gesture-based device. Unfortunately, all it has done is turned gestures into ‘guess-tures’.

I am not advocating for slavish boring design or lack of innovation. Great design is actually very challenging. It requires presenting only the most relevant of information and task options at the right moment. As well, it should be visually engaging. But most of all, it has to be self-explanatory. If you need accompanying instructions with how to use your app – especially a mobile app – you have missed the mark. I should be able to download an app and immediately begin to use it without having to try and figure out how to make it go. This doesn’t mean there aren’t options or complexities in the app. But an app shouldn’t have the added challenge of figuring out basic operation.

Here is where Clear became unclear – while leveraging gestures is native to the device it is only one component of the UI.  Text is an essential part of the User Interface. Eliminate it and you just removed an entire dimension of the application experience. The real challenge with Clear’s approach is that they are actually handicapping themselves by eliminating one of the components. Swiping to the left in one app may mean one thing and something completely different in another. But an OK button means OK in all apps because the action of pressing it is combined with my ability to comprehend the meaning of OK. The text that is part of the User Interface is essentially a nicely self-contained user manual.

User interface standards are a slowly evolving bunch. There is practical value in having them. Not having them would mean a learning curve with each app we encounter. That is neither efficient nor productive. There is a time and a place for innovation and the introduction of new standards. The pinch/zoom of the iPhone is a perfect example. But, its introduction worked because it was, and is uniform across the entire platform and not app specific. Pinching in one app does the same thing as pinching in another.

Great app UIs leave no guesswork for users. Great apps don’t require any training. Great app UIs are self-explanatory. Most importantly, a great User Interface instinctively relies on the coupling of both our physical manipulation (gestures) with our cognizant (thinking/reading) abilities. It is enough of a challenge to design a great User Interface – don’t add to the challenge by attempting to reinvent the wheel. Now go create brilliance!

Benjamin Robbins is one of the founders of AdminBridge – providing IT Administration from mobile devices. For more information visit http://adminbridge.com. He blogs regularly at http://remotelymobileblog.com

With over 93% of the Fortune 500 companies using tablets, it is inevitable that the next big thing in Mobile will be presenting. CGI’s CEO, David Kelleher, recently used the iPad as a presentation tool when giving a presentation at the Boston Entrepreneurs Network Event. David brought the iPad along to guide him through the slides that were shown on the screen behind him. CGI is always looking for innovative and creative ideas for presenting. A few of our favorite mobile presentation ideas are to use the iPad to project your presentation or create a product demo or “elevator pitch” for presentations on the go. The following apps will help you achieve your mobile presentation goals as well as engage your audience.

1. iThoughtsHD: The first step to giving a killer mobile presentation is organizing your thoughts. The iThoughtsHD app allows you to write down ideas and create a map, essentially a “mind-mapping app.” The app then helps you make sense of your thoughts and allows the user to edit and manipulate right from the touch screen.

2. IdeaFlight: IdeaFlight allows a presenter to share their presentation via WiFi. The app allows the presenter to remotely control the audiences device from their iPad as well as locking and unlocking the presentation, and the ability to let the audience download the presentation to their device.

3. Evernote: Similar to iThoughtsHD, Evernote is a great brainstorming tool for presenters. The big difference between the two apps is the ability to separate projects in Evernote.  The Evernote app acts as a digital folder where you can store notes, links, and more.

4. 2Screens: The 2Screens app is great for an executive that presents often. The app allows you to use the iPhone as a remote, connect to a projector, switch screens, and manage documents.

5. Dropbox: The Dropbox app allows presenters to share files they create on their desktop with their iPad and even their iPhone. Having presentation files accessible through Dropbox allows a presenter instant access to a presentation. Great for presenting at the drop of a hat!