Hasta La Ideas

“Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.”

These words have been attributed multiple times to Pablo Piccaso, though the source itself is dubious. But as with every myth, there’s a kernel of truth: we learn best by learning from the best. That’s the theory behind the age-old practice of going to museums to sketch and draw.

Mobile designers have their own version of a museum through a large and extensive collection of apps for both iOS and Android.  But how do we sift through everything? How can we contextualize the workflow? UX Archive, which I learned about recently, is one such museum. A collection of UIs and workflows from popular mobile apps for iOS, documented by actions and tasks like “Getting directions” and “Onboarding.”

“UX Archive aims at helping designers in this process,” notes the site’s About page.” We lay out the most interesting user flows so you can compare them, build your point of view and be inspired.” Right now, it’s very iOS heavy, focusing on the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5, though they point to other popular workflow sites like pttrns (including Android Patterns) and the always popular UI Parade. Each app contains detailed imagery, and it’s easy to sift and click through. There’s even a section that compares iOS 6 and 7, so you can school yourself on the differences.

UX Archive documents and displays the differences between iOS 6 and 7 for different actions.

Not that this is a substitute for good, solid interaction design research. “Before comparing any user flow,” the site’s founders note, “start by trying them out! Once you have been through them on the actual apps, use UX Archive to compare them!” Good advice indeed.

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