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Good planning and well executed design equals great apps.
Recent resources
News
- Nokia Developer webinar: User-centric design of Series 40 apps
- Putting the user at the heart of your app designs is the key to creating winning apps. Our upcoming webinar walks you through a design example focusing on helping a user determine where they are, to facilitate the use of a location based application for Series 40 Touch and Type phones.
- Avoiding common mistakes when creating app prototypes
- Creating a prototype of your new app is a vital part of the development process, and we recently created two new videos to help you avoid common prototyping mistakes. The first video shows you the basics of creating a simple prototype, outlining some easy methods for drawing your app idea, and taking it from pen-and-paper to software solutions including Adobe Illustrator, Balsamiq and Inkscape.
- Focus your creativity at Photo Hack Day 2 in New York
- If you have a great idea for an app that plays with images in fun and useful ways, there's a hackathon coming up that is built for you. Our good friends at Aviary are hosting the Photo Hack Day 2 in New York City 25-26 February, and we’re excited to be the headline sponsor.
Great apps begin with great design
Nokia provides developers with a variety of resources to help design beautiful mobile apps, ranging from instructional information to templates and design elements to actual hands-on support:
Design process: Learn how to efficiently design great apps. More ›
Design gallery: A collection of some of the nicest looking apps out there. More ›
User experience: Get familiar with the basis of user experience design. More ›
User experience services: Need UI help? Get it here ›
Themes: Learn how to create a stunning theme. More ›
Highlights
Designing apps for the Windows Phone Platform on Nokia Devices
Metro UI for Windows Phone offers a rich infographic approach, with clean, fresh new typography styles. The UI uses live tiles, panoramic hubs, and intuitive motions for navigation and hierarchy of apps that makes apps alive and engaging. Learn more about the Metro UI, and if you are already accustomed to designing for Symbian on Qt, you may also find this information helpful.
SVG Converter
Creating optimised images for apps and content has often required the manual creation of SVG Tiny images. Now you can use
your favourite SVG editor and let SVG Converter do the hard work. SVG Converter efficiently creates SVGT files from any SVG
file and can even batch convert many files at once — on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux computers. With the convenience
of a GUI application and command line version you can work the way that suits you best. In addition, SVG Converter will create
PNG files from your SVG content, a useful feature for creating icons for web pages or inclusion as part of your Nokia Store
submission.
Download SVG Converter ›
Provide feedback and bug reports ›
Qt Quick components and templates for beautiful UIs
To help you create beautiful UIs for Symbian touch-screen phones and the Nokia N9 smartphone as quickly and easily as
possible, we offer you Qt Quick components as part of the Qt SDK toolkit. These components provide the basic building blocks
for app UIs, enabling you to concentrate on your UI design without having to code components from scratch.
Find out more about Qt SDK ›
Read about designing UIs for Symbian phones ›
Read the N9 UI guidelines ›
In addition, for Symbian apps the QML UI Templates provide predefined code for common application interfaces. You can
use the templates in any application and customise the elements within the templates for colours, styles, and graphics. Several
examples using the templates are provided in the QML UI Templates Library.
Discover the benefits of the QML UI Templates Library ›
Download the templates ›
User Experience Services
Are you creating a killer mobile app, but just need a little UI or usability help? Our User Experience (UX) specialists
are able to consult with you about your application - no matter how big or small - and give you the pointers and ideas
you need to create that compelling experience that will make users truly addicted.
If you want to check that your application is truly delivering the quality experience that you intend, it’s also a good
idea to run your service by thousands of users ready to give you honest feedback about your application before you take
it to the Nokia Store. We can help.
Discover more about our evaluation and testing services ›
Read a few case studies ›
Mobile multimedia
Do you want to use audio or video in your app? Find specifications and platform specific guidance that will help make
your
applications truly distinctive to use.
Read more ›
Multimedia in the Design Library ›
RSS Support in Nokia Video Center ›
Themes
Whether you're making themes just for yourself and your friends, or as a way to make money, you'll find what you're
looking
for here. Learn how to get started, and create your first theme in a day!
Latest news: A new version of Carbide.ui Series 40 Theme Edition is available offering many improvements, such as the ability to create
themes based on a phone model, enhanced packaging tool, and automatic notification of tool and plug-in updates.
Read more
Power management – experiences that last longer
Advanced device possibilities, such as multimedia and location services, take their toll on battery capacity. Effective
power
management allows users to enjoy their experience longer.
Controlling the power consumption of individual applications serves the bigger picture. Respect the user's desire to
use
the device to its full potential. Power-efficient applications typically excel in overall performance because optimised
code
runs faster.
Read more on Power management
Spotlights for design View all
Create a simple prototype for your next Nokia app
Avoid pitfalls when designing apps for Symbian devices
London Tube
Yell.com
Amazon Kindle
AccuWeather.com
PhotoFunia
Engadget
Linkedin
Create a simple prototype for your next Nokia app
This video will show you simple methods for taking the idea for your next app and put it on paper. From there, you can use various software to make your prototype a reality. Adobe Illustrator is one solution for this. Other tools used in the video are Balsamiq and Inkscape. Be sure to check out the Nokia Icon Toolkit for some template icons you can use in your app. With the visual design stencils you can easily sketch how your app will look.
Avoid pitfalls when designing apps for Symbian devices
This 'how to' video shows you some common pitfalls you may stumble across when designing apps for Symbian, and using the Qt Quick Components. The pitfalls are also discussed in the Symbian Design Guidelines library found here. Be sure to check the Remote Device Access service for testing your applications.
London Tube
This colourful Windows Phone application enables users to find London Underground stations, plan routes and view information about current and planned network delays. Users can review route maps in an easy to read list format, or choose to visually review the route superimposed onto the system map.
Yell.com
Developed for Windows Phone, this easy to use application enables users to locate contact information for local and regional businesses. Users can use location services to discover businesses nearby, or search for a specific type of business using a keyword.
Amazon Kindle
Developed for Windows Phone, this application enables users to read Kindle eBooks and make book purchases from the Amazon Kindle store. The application includes a full-featured eBook reader that automatically synchs with a user's other Kindle apps or devices.
AccuWeather.com
Developed for Windows Phone, this colourful application provides users with weather forecasts for hundreds of worldwide destinations. Users can view hourly, daily and weekly forecasts, or watch a series of short regional video clips.
PhotoFunia
This whimsical application enables users to apply artistic effects to the photos they've captured on their Windows Phone device. Users can then share their creations to their favourite social network.
Engadget
Developed for Windows Phone, this application enables users to browse Engadget's extensive collection of technology news and articles. Users can also listen to podcasts using the application's built-in audio player.
Developed using Qt, this simple yet versatile application enables users to easily keep track of their connections, send and receive messages, or reconnect with people within their extended network.
