App’s Personality
Hi frens,
I’ve used many apps since I was a child. DOS programs, Windows applications, Linux software, Mac and mobile apps, etc. This has cultivated my sense of an app’s personality and, furthermore, how the team works.
At first glance, we as users often look at what features are provided in the app, then install and start using it. Throughout the user journey, we could feel what features are emphasized, how details are implemented, where would the app development go, and how errors are handled when occurring.
It could be collaborative efforts of project manager, UI or UX designers, quality assurance, and software engineers. Or it could be an indie app developer taking care of everything.
An app has its personality and who it aims to serve, whether it has been explicitly set internally. So we can always feel whether the app was made for us.
Those app behaviors are also formed with every technical decision made. Say, there might be an app developer behind the scene, dedicated to cover all the details without being noticed, just like controlling a puppet dancing on the stage. Or there might be no specific app or web front-end developer at all, using cross-platform tech stacks or building the web that works, with or without further improvements along the way.
As time goes on, we could feel what really drives the app development. Keeping an app that feels alive and healthy requires a ton of work, like routine clean-up. The technical challenges may change, the market status may change, and the investor or even passion for the app may change. An app may be like a companion in our daily lives, or only serve for a specific time period in our lives. Times are complicated and things don’t always getting better, sometimes it just changes. So some people are always nostalgic.
Because people behind the scenes may move on. For the past decades in my life, what I’ve learned is to cherish every moment I’ve enjoyed with either an app, a meal, a soul mate, or a lover. Things may last or break eventually. That’s life.
And we’re heading for the next big thing.
Your friend,
Denken