Molto began as an iPad email app called Incredimail focused on a primary target audience of second wave adopters. It was well-received and got good feedback from users.
One of the many things we learned was that the app is very popular among a much younger audience. We gathered all our findings along with costumer requests, rebranded the app as “Molto” (meaning much in Italian),and began developing the concept for the iPhone app.
###Research
It was clear right from the start we’ll need an app that will stand out in the competitive iPhone market. Email is still one of the most used activities on the iPhone, and a closer look at our competition, reveled how counter productive & unaesthetically pleasing this activity is.
Clutter and countless number of text rows produces readability issues, that requires an extra effort from the end user to get the right info he needs, in addition to a far less delightful overall experience.
Email can be much better than this.
###Layout
The clear and functional approach we took on the iPad worked great, and even though other layouts were tested, we always came back to the card layout.
It provides great readability, easy on the eyes (with the right visual space), simple to understand & manipulate on touch surfaces, and can be dynamically adjusted to fit content and handle better context functionality.
We optimized the app for single hand usage (two hands work great also). The app’s most used actions were centered in the middle canvas: Browsing, deleting, editing and mail quick actions were all within a thumb reach.
###Prototyping
Features were broken down to the tiniest details in order to provide maximum usability. Detailed UI documents and user flows showed engineers and PM’s the clearest goal we are aiming for. Using Axure allowed us to test a lot of things before they were developed, tweaking and optimizing as we iterate.
Transitions and amination was a big part of the work. We used sublte yet delightful animations not only to engage users but also to serve as functional cues to their actions.
###Features
Using the pinch gesture, users get a condence view of messages to quickly scan their inbox.
Scrolling between messages emphasizes the messages layers & depth. (sweet easter egg if you reach the last message).
A quick swipe to the left enters the edit mode, ready for multiple selection.
QuickActions (respond, star, forward..) are available right from the main mailbox feed.
The most frequent contacts, just a swipe away. Backgrounds on the side menu change according to time and location.
Pull to refresh was a great opportunity to do some magic with the brand.
###Closing
Molto was warmly welcomed and has earned excellent critical and technical reviews, and was very popular.
Sadly, Perion decided to put Molto into maintenance mode, meaning stop supporting the app or working on new features. These sort of strategic decision making happens in big companies all time, you have to learn to accept it and adapt.
Molto was a great project to work on and I enjoyed every minute of it, a lot because of a great design team Shai Pal, Michal Orenburg, Ziv Marmur, Amit Wurgaft.
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