It's increasingly difficult to build buzz around new mobile application studios, especially when the first app on deck is something thousands of others have attempted, like a "To Do" app. Yet that's exactly what Phill Ryu and David Lanham, the two masterminds behind Impending, Inc. have managed to do.
Ryu and Lanham are longtime members of the Mac and iOS development communities. Ryu's past projects include MacHeist, The Heist and his work at tap tap tap. Lanham is a visual designer and artist, creator of the famed Twitterrific icon and is well-known for his work at the Iconfactory.
Last week, the pair formally launched Impending, their new app venture, alongside a teaser for their first app, Clear. Clear is a new to-do list app for iPhone and iPod touch that they're developing in conjunction with the team at Realmac Software.
So why is Clear getting so much buzz? Check out the teaser video that has already racked up 312,000 plays in just four days:
Clear features a unique new UI and interaction scheme that raises the bar for mobile apps. I've been beta testing it and can attest that the video is an accurate reflection of the overall experience.
We had a chance to talk to Phill Ryu about Impending, his plans for the future and the design inspirations for Clear.
On His Future at Tap Tap Tap
"Well you know, John and Scott and I are still good friends and I am still a partner at tap tap tap. But there's no question Impending is my focus right now. I think you will see some really cool stuff out of tap tap tap and maybe even some neat things in collaboration, but Impending is definitely the place for me and David to work on some more personal projects.
Tap Tap Tap is its own steam engine right now and David and I want to take a break in a slightly different direction, and you are going to see some really cool things come out of it."
Design Inspiration
What separates Clear from the crowded space of to-do list apps is its design and overall user interface. According to Ryu, the Impending team was influenced by Push Pop Press's work on the Our Choice app, Loren Brichter's work with Tweetie and Microsoft's Metro UI.
On the subject of Push Pop Press, a company Facebook acquired in August, Ryu tells us:
"They did some amazing things there, and you can see a lot of its influence in Clear's lack of UI chrome and reliance on intuitive 1:1 touch and dragging interactions. And of course you can see an even more literal inspiration in iBooks textbooks."
One of Push Pop's engineers was Austin Sarner, who Ryu describes as becoming "completely obsessed with springs" thanks to his work on a proprietary physics engine while at Push Pop.
It just so happens that Sarner is also one of Ryu's roommates and was able to provide his own feedback on the app.
Another developer who inspired Clear was Loren Brichter. Brichter created the iPhone app Tweetie. In 2010, he sold Tweetie to Twitter and the app became the official iPhone client. Brichter was also responsible for Twitter for iPad and Twitter for Mac.
Although Brichter left Twitter in late 2011, his influence is still visible in many parts of the site and in the new version of the iPhone app. Brichter's greatest impact on the wider iOS developer ecosystem was the invention of "pull-to-refresh." Ryu calls Brichter "a creative thunder ball" and pays homage to the developer in his app.
"In Clear," Ryu explains "we have a color heatmap that shows your item priorities. Well, sometimes you need to put in an item in the middle of the list, and to do that in our app you just pinch the list apart, and in pops a new item. That's our homage to pull-to-refresh. We call it pinch-to-insert."
Perhaps the most surprising influence is Microsoft and its Metro UI.
According to Ryu, Clear co-creator Dan Counsell's first UI mockup of Clear was "a more directly Metro inspired visual style." "Over time," says Ryu "we pushed away from it to settle in our own sweet spot of fit and form and function, but you can see parts of it there, and we're proud of it. Metro is great. Clear is just better."
Ryu has an open invitation to anyone on the Metro team to the Clear beta.
Ultimately, Ryu says that the goal with Clear was to "build on the shoulders of some of the best parts of our favorite cutting edge interface designs" and to "add our own stuff where it made perfect elegant sense." The net result, according to Ryu, is "something truly from the future."
From my time with the app, Clear has a great look and more importantly, a great user interface. We look forward to seeing what Clear and the Impending team have planned for the future.
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