Description

SOARD is an app for the Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases Journal and includes information about obesity related diseases like hernias. Subscribers to the Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases Journal can sign into their account through an in-app login feature. The app contains figures, tables, and supplementary content, in addition to the newest journal submissions. There are notes, highlighting, and social media share features. Multimedia journal submissions can be streamed through the app or downloaded to return to later.

Overview

When users first open the app they are greeted by a tutorial feature. This explains some of the app’s many features, however, there still seems to be an issue of overcrowding where too much information is crammed onto each page and section. This may not be as much of an issue if designers would have chosen a better color scheme.

Pros 

A helpful tutorial of the app’s features and controls is given after it is first opened. Articles can be found using the search feature or browsed by latest issue, most read, or all issues contained in the database. Users can set push notifications for new released content. There is a Notes section where interesting article points can be recorded. Favorite submissions to the SOARD Journal can be added to the Reading List section.

Cons

The Explore section has an About heading where very little information is listed. Users who want to know more about how and why the app was created and how articles are selected must search elsewhere. The interface is monochromatically colored different shades of blue, making the readability very poor for users scanning the app for points of interest. There are many subsections under the different pages in the app. This can cause confusion and eliminate simplicity as the purpose for having an app, instead of just reading articles on the SOARD website.