Introducing Short Menu 4.0

Short Menu started out as a very simple idea: you copy a long URL, open Short Menu, which reads the URL from your clipboard, shortens it and finally copies the short URL. Even with all the design changes, new features and additional integrations which formed the app Short Menu is today, it still holds true to this basic concept.

The first version of Short Menu for iOS was published in 2013, one year after its Mac companion. It underwent 3 major redesigns, the last one after the introduction of iOS 7. With iOS 10 Apple started changing their flat design language to a more matured version. Now is the perfect time for another design change.

Up to now Short Menu has always been designed by me, but for the development of Short Menu 4.0 I started cooperating with Dino, a small German design studio. We set out to keep the basic idea and concept, making sure existing users could keep using the app without having to reorient themselves, while redesigning every part of the app.

Big & Bold

Short Menu’s main screen is packed with features and yet easy to use. You’re able to see the two most important elements at a glance: the long URL which is going to be shortened and the button which is going to do it.

Different, but familiar & intuitive

New users will be able to navigate through the settings just as well as existing users.

Although the vast majority of Short Menu’s UI is custom-made, you don’t notice it while using it. Standard system gestures work, the UI behaves just like you expect it to and system buttons replaced with custom counterparts only differ slightly to better fit the app’s design language.

Final Words

It took us just over a month from drafting initial sketches to releasing the redesign of Short Menu on the App Store. We’re very proud of the final product and would appreciate it if you check it out on the App Store!