Exclusive Interview With PadFolios iOS App Developer, Juan Pablo Mazuera
PadFolios is one of the best portfolio managers available on the App Store and also the only one that works for your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, all in one universal app.
PadFolios allows you to create amazing portfolios of your work with an elegant, minimal and easy-to-use interface. You can add customized backgrounds with your logo or any info you want, so you keep your brand in your customer’s mind while you show the best of your work.
We’re really impressed with this great photographic tool and our review of this app will be published shortly. We wanted to find out more about how this app came to be developed originally. Read our exclusive interview with the developer here…
The Beginning
1 Please explain how your app was originally thought of and what were your thoughts behind the marketplace, specifically?
As soon as the original iPad came out on April 2010, as a faithful Apple fan, I ran to order it. I live pretty far from the USA, but I made it possible to be one of the firsts, if not the first one, to have it in my country, Colombia – South America.
I was really amazed with that device, but there was something missing. I am a Photographer and a Graphic Designer, I saw in the iPad the perfect tool for showing all my professional work, but the Photo app included originally did not fulfill my original idea of a digital portfolio on my new iPad. I needed to show my work, but also keep track of my name and my brand. Here is when I came up with PadFolios, a simple tool to create a simple but elegant gallery of my work allowing me to add also a background with my brand. Started as simple as that and became what it is now, one of the best portfolio applications for your iOS devices.
This was my first app and I was not certain about how the market was, but what I really knew is that was a huge market but with still a lot of space to grow and the final user wants great level apps.
Design
2 Explain the design, how you came up with the colors and themes.
I wanted to keep it very simple, but very elegant and easy to use, and always wanted to avoid having some preset style app (ex. Split view like in Mail app) everything with visual enhancements, and very intuitive.
Target Market
3 Who do you see as the main target market for this app in terms of age, genre and expenditure?
I think it’s not a limited target, PadFolios can be used by any artist like photographers, graphic designers and also for any person who wants to create an album about some event or family reunion.
Production Process
4 How long did it take from the original planning to the production process of this app?
It took me about 3 months from scratch to PadFolios’s first version (working only at night and weekends, while still working as photographer), but it is still in work, It is still not perfect, and far from it, but every day with the users suggestions and comments I’m working on make PadFolios the tool that everybody wants and needs. It is not easy to fulfill everybody’s needs but I’m trying to give the user as much options as I can and the user decide to use them or not.
Sales
5 How do you predict sales to be, is there a good solid market for this style of app?
The sales are good, but with time starts to decrease, it is up to us developers to don’t let die our apps keeping them fresh. The best market is obviously the USA market, including that a lot of people over the world that doesn’t live at the USA have their account there (like me). But every artist and photography fan can use PadFolios.
Obstacles
6 What has been the hardest obstacle you have had to overcome regarding this app development?
I live pretty far from the USA, buying this devices as soon as they come out, and keeping me updated with everything related to applications development, has been the difficult part, because here where I am there is no easy way of learning this kind of development, but actually I solved this with one of my best buddies all over this development process: Google.
Third Parties
7 Would you consider developing apps for third parties?
I have already considered it and I think this is not the best option, especially in the market I live, but depending of what can happen, maybe a nice proposal, I can change my mind.
App Store
8 What have you learnt from the App Store?
Actually I have learnt a lot of things, it is a great place, with huge competition and amazing apps, the users are always wanting better and better apps, and we developers need to make them, the big companies are doing it great building great apps and the most important thing is the App Store is the future of application market, the future that we are already living.
Apple
9 Have Apple supported you well with your App development?
Yes, I have had some minor problems and they helped me, the way I needed.
The Future
10 What next, are you developing another app, would you go for the same genre again, if not which?
First of all, continue making better every day PadFolios and I’m starting to work on a couple of apps, nothing still created but all in the paper, one of them is still a photography and image manipulation app, and the other maybe a painting app.
TheAppWhisperer.com
11 What do you think about TheAppWhisperer.com? Have we helped you? Would you recommend us? Have we been supportive?
I think it’s a great webpage I use to check it out, with a great presence on Twitter, and amazing apps to show to all of us, and I would definitely recommend you.
This app is available for $9.99 in the App Store and you can download it here.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
