some current (ongoing) future design changes will remove this issue completely with a full screen screen dialogue for deciding new/resume. One click on a home view activity displays a gallery/journal like display of past work or a new blank template
Users ended up launching new activities most of the time bringing the machine to it's knees, filling the Journal with junk entries, and then not being able to find what they want when they do look in the Journal to resume something.
What this design change will do is deliberately introduce a 'pause' into the process of launching an Activity -- to force the user to evaluate "why am I launching?" What I am wondering is whether "force decision before launching" is more user-friendly than simply "launch".
If the problem is "users filling up the machine", will making it more difficult to launch a new instance be an adequate solution ? Will the kid who wants to make a new drawing on Tuesday be content with resuming the activity he used Monday -- thereby wiping his drawing from Monday ?
Forcing a decision on every launch may work -- but there still needs to be a user-helpful way to address "I've filled up the machine" when that happens -- for those who nevertheless persist in overusing "new launch".
[Would an "ultimate" design propose to make the machine be the master over the user -- and employ this full screen launch dialogue to refuse launch whenever the machine approaches "being brought to its knees" ??]
mikus
p.s. The Journal user-interface was invented, with a "filter" capability. Now a full screen dialogue user-interface would be duplicating what the Journal can show. I myself am not comfortable with duplication.