Meet the future of iOS interaction design - before its time. To-do apps are one a penny but Clear could well be a game changer. No buttons, no syncing, just touch.
At first I thought this was just a gimmicky product to get a software company some press. Although it probably is a bit of that, actually it could well be a glimpse into the future. At first I thought nobody is ever going to remember all the different gestures to perform each function. However when you think about actions we all do everyday, for instance the mouse. We all know you double click to open, single click to select, right click to open options, slow double click to rename. I presume when the mouse was first introduced it received the same criticism I’ve seen written about Clear.
The majority of iOS apps have been designed so they can be used with a mouse. Who says that is the best way for a human to interact with a touch screen mobile device? I genuinely can foresee this style of navigation and interactivity used with Clear widely adopted in years to come.
Personally I will be very interested to see how they cope with the education of users. I’m presuming a tutorial. If it were down to me I’d have an interactive tutorial. I’d walk the user through the gestures they will need. I’d have them create a list, add a task, mark the task as done and go back to list view. Let’s see how they opt to do it.
Clearly is expected to launch in the App Store early February so keep your eyes peeled for a release in the next few days. I’ll certainly be downloading and giving it a try.
