iOS User Interface Design: Notifications as App Concept

Apple’s iOS platform is famed for its usability, user interface design, and overall user experience. One area that could do with an improvement is the Notifications system. Not only does it drain the battery it can get cumbersome. An example of this is when you unlock an iPhone and have to go through all notifications just to get to the home screen. The user interface design of the notifications system is such that only one is overlay-ed at a time. Furthermore notifications on the lock screen do not offer much added functionality save for launching the app from where the notification came from. After-all double-clicking the home button when the screen is locked allows users to play/ pause and to skip songs.

One of the ways of improving the system is by re-imagining it as an app.  Andreas Hellqvist, a concerned netizen, took it upon himself to conceptualize an app from the ground up that centralizes all notifications. The user interface design of the concept app was built using existing iOS visual elements so it fits snugly. Since it is an app, users can decide how important notifications are and can place the app in the quick start bar or any other part of the user interface design. Open the app and all your mails, missed calls, Facebook posts, and software updates can be seen at a glance. The lock screen also displays numerous notifications and uses the same slide to unlock paradigm to access and act on notifications (such as kick starting the Mail app to reply) from the lock screen itself. The concept and user interface design is so completely formed it almost makes the current notification system appear outdated!