iPad user-interface prompts designer vogue cult

While Steve Jobs positions the Apple iPad somewhere between the iPhone and the MacBook, there is no doubt in my mind that the seductive interface of this touch-screen entertainment platform will filter upwards into the professional production environment currently dominated by Apple Computer’s MacBook Pro.

Within a couple of years, trackpads and mouse will be confined to history and our design studios will come to resemble a cross between a tai chi dojo and Madonna’s Vogue pop-video; with designers waving, pointing, pinching-out designs in flamboyant, exotic gestures on gleaming oversized iPad tablets.

Apple has publicised the fact that existing iPhone Apps will run on the new iPad platform, thus guaranteeing a huge selection of software titles from day one of the product launch. Many titles, particularly console-style games, scale-up remarkably well using the iPad’s pixel-doubling capability. However, some titles will fail to scale so elegantly. iPhone buttons that were activated with a flick of the thumb are now positioned in the centre of a huge 1024 x 768 pixel display, so unless you are blessed with four-inch thumbs, the user interface is hardly ergonomic.

Beyond Apple’s preloaded applications, the effectiveness of the iPad interface will of course be dictated by the experience and demands of it users. Couple this with the geo-spatial, cloud and networking capabilities of the machine and you get a seductive platform which offers vast potential in terms of user interface design that could evolve in any number of directions. As designers we should close our ears to the detractors and embrace the iPad as the creative platform that it represents.