Rather than focusing on a single app, we’ll take a brief look into the entire selection from a developer with a solid reputation and great selection of applications.
Today’s developer is Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd, creator of the popular Muji apps line. Muji Apps comprise a applications that are also incredibly practical. Below we’ll check out the three primary Muji apps: Muji Calendar, Muji Notebook and Muji to Go.
Muji Calendar
The first app in the Muji lineup is Muji Calendar. The basic inspiration here seems to be a greatly simplified version of the default iPad calendar. You’ll see many similar controls and UI features.
The design is perfect in its simplicity and will be refreshing to anyone who isn’t a fan of the pseudo-realism seen in the default apps. The screenshots below don’t really do it justice, you need to see it in action to really appreciate the design.
Muji Calendar
There are several things that I like about Muji Calendar that you won’t see in the default calendar app. For starters, the year view shown above is quite handy. The interactivity is also stellar. To navigate the app, you pinch and spread your fingers. So for example, from the year view if you want to zoom in on the week of December 5th, you do a spread gesture on December to zoom into month view, then again to see the week view. This is a really fun and intuitive way to jump around from date to date.
Other great features include integrated Google Calendar sync, drag and drop event rescheduling, todos, searching, and the ability to add icons to events.
Best of all, Muji Calendar is completely free so you should head over to the App Store and grab it now!
Muji Notebook
Muji Notebook is an innovative take on the all-in-one notes app. You can input notes via handwriting recognition (with word prediction) or typing. You can also simply draw on the canvas with your finger.
Muji Notebook
The drawing tools are pretty basic and similar in concept to that in Adobe Ideas: You can select the width, opacity and color of your marker. As for the background to your notes, you can either import an image to work over or choose from one of four page types: ruled, gridded, quadrant, and plain.
There are a few bugs that need to be worked out but it’s definitely still an enjoyable experience and is perfect for visual thinkers.
Muji notebook is currently $3.99 in the App Store.
Muji to Go
Muji to Go is a multi-use Pad utility designed for world travelers. The interface utilizes the familiar Muji red and follows the simple and attractive trend seen in the other two apps.
Muji to Go
As you can see in the image above, Muji to Go has five primary functions: weather, world clock, a power outlet reference for various countries, a currency exchange chart and a calculator (a Google search feature is also included but is basically just plain old Google).
The weather and clock section are awesome for viewing information from several places around the world all at once. In fact, I actually like Muji to Go better than many apps that are dedicated to just one of these functions. The calculator is also quite handy as the iPad is strangely missing one by default. The calculation history section makes this feature alone worth the download.
Like Muji Calendar, Muji to Go is both beautiful and free, an awesome combination.
Conclusion
The full line of Muji apps will make a great addition to your iPad, both from an aesthetic and functional perspective. At the very least, go grab the two free apps so you can decide whether they’re good enough to make you want to purchase the third.
Leave a comment below and tell us about other developers that you think are worthy of a developer spotlight. List any company you know of with a solid line of really great apps and we’ll take a look!