Conceivable concept tidies up the Notification Center mess

Notification Center, a feature Apple borrowed from the jailbreak community, continues to be artists’ favorite playground, if numerous concepts are anything to go by. I’m especially liking a new concept by Alex Saretzky, a designer who is proposing a better use of the screen real estate in Apple’s implementation of the Notification Center.

The redesigned feature helps convey more information compared to Apple’s version of the Notification Center. Specifically, Alex says Apple should drop the linen background (we’re looking at you, Jony Ive) and re-think some of the design decision that clash with its own Human Interface Guidelines…

Specifically, Alex writes, because the close buttons next to notifications are too small, people often tap a notification instead of closing it, an annoying “feature” that has been ticking yours trully off for some time.

The iOS Human Interface Guidelines specify a tap area of 44 pixels2, these are clearly in violation. Tap above or below the x and you’ll hit a notification banner. This needs to be painless and really should be a delightful experience.

The problem can be solved with clever use of gestures.

“To dismiss a block of notifications, just swipe to the right and drag them off screen”, he writes. Note that this is currently possible, but only with banner notifications that can be swiped to the left to dismiss quickly.

I also like how Alex groups notifications by app, organized chronologically.

This makes more sense than having to go to Settings > Notification Center in order to group notifications either manually or chronologically, creating a mess when a bunch of alerts arrive.

What I’d absolutely love to see implemented are actionable notifications, something Android has done nicely with the Jelly Bean update.

Do hop over to Saretzky’s blog and check out the embedded QuickTime video which depicts the main idea along with some nicely conceived Notification Center animations (PullOver, CubeFlip and PushDown).

Then, come back here to join fellow readers down in the comments.

if you can’t get enough of these concepts, check out this nice looking Lockscreen idea and explore our concepts archive.