Dan Mall

Dan Mall is an award-winning interactive art director, designer, and developer. He is an enthralled husband, Senior Designer at Big Spaceship, technical editor for A List Apart, and former singer/keyboard player for contemporary-Christian band Four24. Dan writes about design and other issues on Twitter and his industry-recognized site, danielmall.com.

In general, my home screen is set up with the apps I use most. The next screens’ app usage drops significantly. Here are the ones I use regularly:

iPod - can’t be away from my music
Clock - gets me up in the morning; otherwise, there would be no hope
Tweetie - for the times I need to share my thoughts with the world or let the world share its thoughts with me
Camera - because you’ll never know what image you’ll need to record for later
Maps - especially moving to a new city (Brooklyn), the Maps app is a lifesaver for getting around
The Weather Channel - a 45 minute commute to and from work is a terrible time to get caught in an unexpected thunderstorm
Notes - to record my millions of random thoughts during the day
Settings - when wi-fi needs toggling
App Store - because I need to be reminded how out of date I really am
RolandoLite - every aspect of this game is wonderfully made, from the graphics to the UX to the sound design.
Amazon - for remembering how to quickly deplete my bank account
Harvest - prevents me from chronically forgetting to submit my time
CityTransit & HopStop - a killer combo for learning the NYC subway
UrbanDaddy - a classy app for finding happening nightlife, Mad-Lib style; created by Big Spaceship
Pianist - for remembering those crazy arrangements I devise in my head