"Love of beauty is taste. Creation of beauty is art." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
As mobilephiles, we certainly saw our share of beautiful apps in 2011. Designing for the mobile device is quickly becoming a mainstream art; so we decided to show off our taste by highlighting our favorite app designs of 2011.
1. Path
What we love most about Path: The revolutionary unobtrusive navigation. It's there when you need it. When you don't need it, it's out of the way giving valuable screen space to pictures and comments. We expect to see the Path navigation replicated a lot in 2012.
2. Instagram
What we love most about Instagram: The can't-miss call to action Share button in the center of the navigation is key to getting more users to take more pictures with Instagram. We've already seen the centered call-to-action button copied in apps like Want, foursquare and Forecast.
3. Uber
What we like most about Uber: The simplicity. Open the app and press one button and a driver will be on his way to pick you up. Yes, it's actually that simple.
4. NFL Mobile
What we like most about NFL Mobile: It packs a ton of features into a single app without clutter. It's a clean and easy all-in-one NFL news/fantasy/scores/highlights/social experience. It launched on Android (through Verizon only) in 2010, but has since come to the iPhone.
5. Localmind
What we like most about Localmind: It uses the iPad screen space extremely well to give you a different, and arguably better experience than the iPhone app.
6. RoadNinja
What we like most about RoadNinja: The UI mimics the same green-on-dark color scheme that gives us comfort when driving down the highway at night scouring for food, rest or gas. It's designed for the tech-savvy driver.
7. Fab
What we like most about Fab: It takes the lifestream beauty of Instagram and Pinterest and makes it actionable.
8. Pinterest
What we like most about Pinterest: It cares that your mobile device screen isn't as big as your desktop screen and accounts for that difference in the design to deliver a consistent experience across technologies.
9. Epicurious
What we like most about Epicurious: It's designed with the kitchen in mind. It's easy to use and reference not just when you're looking for a recipe, but for when you're in the middle of cooking as well.
10. Alfred
What we like most about Alfred: The little butler character that guides you through the app and gives you reasoning for recommendations brings a personification element few other recommendation apps have. He's a throwback to Clippy from the Microsoft Word 97 days except...a few thousand times smarter.
There you have it. Those are our favorite app designs of 2011. Did we miss any? Be sure to let us know in the comments which apps you thought deserve to make the list.