iTalk 1.0

Griffin Technology had created a handful of apps before iTalk — casino-style touch games, like slots and poker. But our software team saw an need in the App Store — there were no particularly good recording apps.

Part of the problem was related to the iPhone’s limitations on transferring data — app-created recordings can’t be emailed as attachments or transferred by docking. Our software team came up with a solution: transferring recordings over Wi-Fi to iTalk Sync, a desktop app on the user’s computer.

My job was twofold: give the iTalk software an identity, and work with the developers to craft a UI worthy of iTalk’s capability.

As of this writing, iTalk has garnered over a million downloads for the free version, and thousands more for the $4.99, ad-free iTalk Premium. Here’s why: it is designed to do one thing, and does it well.

Our software team built an app with a very lean, elegant feature set: recording capability, 3 levels of recording quality, and accompanying metadata. I designed iTalk’s recording screen to reflect that simplicity: it’s a giant red button. Once pressed, the button becomes a status indicator. Clean and intuitive.

The design rationale here is simple: first of all, I believe the desire to press a giant red button is imbued deep within every human genome. Secondly, when an app only has 4 pressable items on its main action screen, it is in the user’s best interest to make those items as clear as possible — no need to waste pixels with non-interactive space.

You can visit iTalkSync.com for more screenshots of iTalk. The app itself is in evolution, of course — Apple just announced its own built-in voice memo app, but we already are working on ideas to expand iTalk and keep it ahead of the curve.