It has been a busy start to the year for us at Public Zone. Having designed and launched the Diabetes UK iPhone app last September we realised that other charities would benefit from hearing what we’ve learned. And we like to share our knowledge to help make the world a better place. So Public Zone designer Jacob Payne and strategist James Brown put their heads together to write an article for the Guardian Voluntary network. It lists the five most common mistakes that charities considering a mobile app should avoid when thinking about engaging their supporters.

The Diabetes UK iPhone app was a brilliant project to have led – for both our staff and as an organisation, because we learned an awful lot in the creative process. When building the app our approach was first to understand the challenges of managing the condition in order to ensure it would really get used. We keep usefulness and effectiveness front of mind when making digital tools for charities (obviously visual impact is important too but meeting the needs of users is the most important factor in such projects).

Part of the user research strategy was to consult the Diabetes UK supporter Facebook community on our ideas and then on three potential designs we developed. They have a hugely active Facebook community so asking them was easy and cost effective too.

Evidently there was a hunger for the Guardian article as it has been shared scores of times on Twitter, has had numerous Facebook recommendations and the odd comment too.

It’d be good to know if there are any other aspects of the work we do that would make a good follow up article, so drop a line to james@publiczone.co.uk if there are any other topics you think we could advise on. We’re always happy to share if it’s going to be useful to others.

Tags: charity, Design, Diabetes UK, engagement, Guardian, mistakes to avoid, Mobile apps, Not for Profit, online communities, strategy, tips, top 5, User Experience, user research