In-app screenshot of your own virtual cinema foyer!

Overview

In co-operation with my247, the My Movies iPhone app caters for three distinct psychographic groups. These are: spontaneous cinema goer; pre-meditated patrons and those who are organised to already know what they want to see and where.

We focus user experiences that were simple, intuitive and quick to display concise information whilst maintaining an aspect of “suggestion” for possibilities they may have not considered.

Flick through the latest hot moves, read the synopsis, watch the trailer on youTube and then find where and when it’s on.

Process

Following user-testing we concluded our three psychographic groups and with this started to tailor specific methods of obtaining information.

My 247 had at their disposal an extensive and exhaustive database of all the cinemas and screenings throughout Australia. Leveraging this through custom-built web services, the iPhone app downloads specific information to reduce loading times, serving up useful content as quickly as possible.

The graphical treatment of the app was inspired by a cinema foyer. Posters featured on the ‘wall’ on the landing page can be swiped through – or ‘walked through’ – to peruse offerings.

The rest of the app reflects this treatment by placing all the content in poster holders to maintain this look and feel throughout.

Combined with the sheer volume of content and it’s an appealing aesthetic, really sets this app apart.

In the App Store

My Movies enjoyed a Number One ranking in the lifestyle category for at least 12 consecutive weeks – making it the most popular movies app nationally!

In-app screenshot of the interactive defibrillation demo

Overview

Second in St John Ambulance’s three part series of apps, “Resuscitate” promotes publically accessible defibrillators that are available nationally. A ‘Proximity Sensor’ uses GPS and maps functionality specific to the iPhone to raise awareness of defibrillator locations.

This app features a highly interactive demonstration of a defibrillator complete with true-to-life audio cues which are used by the actual device, walking users through.

Process

The interactive demonstration of defibrillators was my favourite part of this app.

Initially, this feature was more game-like; it got me thinking about ways to convey serious information. Using graphic and audio assets used on the device itself naturally informed design elements.

My thoughts were: If users were to encounter the device in public, these elements would already be familiar to them helping to instil confidence.

Coverage

Following launch, this app was featured in a number of places.

• New and noteworthy section in iTunes
• Top of Medical category in iTunes for 4 weeks
• Featured on the Macworld Website
• Featured in the Bundaberg newspaper

Profile detail screen

Overview

St John Ambulance came to Liquid Interactive with a concept for a series of three iPhone apps to complement their First Aid training course conducted nationally.

First in this three part series of apps was “Mediprofiles”. This free app allows users to save vital information about their friends and family members for quick and easy access in case of emergency.

Process

Profiles could be created using specific fields which St John identified as vital – such as pre-existing medical conditions, allergies, etc. These fields also acted as a guide for users to create comprehensive and organised profiles which could be quickly references.

Users could share profiles with trusted others by email – for example between mothers, sharing mediprofiles of their children before going to a playdate. Fields from the profile could be added / removed before the profile was sent.

A number of additional features were considered for this app but eventually rejected. It was important to consider external factors which could impact the app, especially when dealing with critical medical information.

Cover art was used to skin the app

Overview

The Powderfinger app is the best way for users to keep up-to-date with one of Australia’s most exciting rock bands. Get up-to-date news, information on tours, wallpapers, photos and music as well as exclusive content.

The app incorporated a unique feature specifically designed for iPhone: the Powderfinger Player. Setlists can be downloaded onto the app and live concerts could be recreated using studio versions of tracks from the user’s iPod library.

Process

After researching a number of competitor apps (I had nearly 25 band apps on my iPhone!) a few things were obvious – users expect a certain level of ‘standard’ content such as: tour information, photos, news, etc.

This tended to ‘break’ the Apple philosophy of ‘one app, one purpose’ but when you’re dealing with this much content, you have to bend sound of the rules.

I decided on five sections for the app:

1. Cover art
2. Tour info
3. Media
4. News
5. Music

Cover Art

We worked with gorgeous album artwork created by legendary artist Storm Thorgerson – who also created covers for Pink Floyd, 10cc & Led Zeppelin (to name a few).

For Powderfinger, there were a number of alternative versions of the album artwork created so, I thought a lovely way to show the progression of the art would be to have a feature users could slide through to see that.

Tour Info

Find out the when and the where of Powderfinger concerts – pinpoint the location on the map and get directions (via Maps).

Media

Get exclusive fan only content like photos, wallpapers, and videos – all free.

News

Check out the blog, website news, and Twitter all in the one place so you never miss a thing.

Music

Peruse Powderfinger’s extensive discography and buy tracks straight through app and use the Powderfinger Player to recreate concerts using tracks from your library.

Cover Art section

Tour Info

Media - photos + videos

Discography + Powderfinger Player

Total Nowhere Emotion Expansion (online verision)

Overview:

Created for Brisbane Festival 2009, Total Nowhere Emotion Expansion (TNEE) was an offline and online exhibition gallery.

For the duration of the Festival, TNEE was to be made available online via the website and offline in a mobile media art gallery – which was a converted semi-trailer filled with computers and projectors.

The exhibition gallery featured works from 9 artists which scrolled horizontally to showcase each piece. 

Process:

For this project I could build on my existing experience with physical installations from Pook.

Users experienced the installation through a keyboard and mouse connected directly to a laptop and projector creating a one-to-one relationship between the user and the artwork.

Interaction with the installation was predominately conducted with intuitive mouse gestures such as hovering on the left and right edges of the screen to reveal more content.

I needed to do some additional research into the design of kiosks to gain an understanding of conventions and standards – such as preventing unauthorised access e.g. to hard disks, other applications.

As the installation was mobile and a network would be difficult to establish at the on-site. We threw around ideas of obtaining cellular Internet connections but it was too costly.

One works relied on the use of Internet browser functionality, we created a ‘faux-browser’ which simulated a real browser.

Looks just like a browser in Windows XP doesn't it?

Bump in occurred one day prior to the launch and it was great to set the project up and running installed in the truck and in-situ at it’s first location!

TNEE offline and in-situ in the converted semi-trailer!

Users using the keyboard + mouse in front of the projection screens.

]]> http://katyandrews.com/2009/09/installation-tnee/feed/ 0 http://katyandrews.com/2009/07/widget-easy-meal-solutions/ http://katyandrews.com/2009/07/widget-easy-meal-solutions/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:20:15 +0000 Katy http://katyandrews.com/?p=268 Project type: Adobe Air desktop widget
Role: User experience designer, technical lead
Tasks: Research widget conventions, lead project, and write functional / technical specification.

Recipe planner desktop widget developed using Adobe Air.

Overview

Australian Avocados commissioned Liquid Interactive to develop an ‘Easy Meal Solutions’ Widget as part of their digital strategy and complement the Avocados website.

As a useful ‘recipe planner’ desktop-based widget, the Avocados brand would be front-of-mind for users.

Through the highly interactive user interface, users could:

• Get randomised meal ideas,
• Read inspirational quotes,
• Search the website’s extensive recipe database,
• Set meal reminders,
• Set favourite recipes,
• Create, save, edit and rate their own recipes, and
• Submit recipes to the website.

The target demographic for this application was the householder, so the user experience needed to be clear, direct and straightforward.

Process

Our primary development capability was Adobe Flash – so a widget engine / platform that could compile using Actionscript 3 and Flash assets would be the most effective route for development.

I worked with an experienced Flash / Flex developer to research the feasibilities of various platforms and settled on Adobe Air. Air is a platform that can run on both Windows and Mac making the widget available to the maximum number of users without sacrificing aesthetics or functionality.

The widgets pickup was immediate and was supported with a targeted marketing campaign which not only encouraged the existing user base to download the widget, but also brought new click throughs to the site.

fig 1. "Virtual" component of installation. Displayed within the "book".

“SCOOT is a LBG for families to play together… but essentially it is aimed at the kids. The game is called SCOOT and we have designed it for public places and museums… as a way to introduce everyday places as both a muse for storytelling and a stage for adventure… as well as to demonstrate to kids that basic mobile phone services can be used creatively.”

Created as part of Scoot Melbourne, this ‘node’ was to be 2-5 minutes worth of interaction time and to leverage historical facts and figures. I acted as ux/ui designer, graphic designer and programmer.

Pook embodies a personal journal of a historical figure interconnected with the library’s history. In this iteration the ‘character’ provides vital information to defeating the villains of the narrative while facilitating the participant’s progression.

fig 2. Physical installation on location at State Library of Victoria.

Kids interacted with a ‘physical’ book-like artefact to obtain information and narrative from this node to be able to answer simple questions to progress forward through the game to the next node.

Everyone suitably dressed in black for the evening.

44 guests attended and loved it.

Similar to a ‘Fun House‘ at a Fair, this concept was borne from a love of the intensely detailed aesthetic of (Showtime’s) Dexter and (HBO’s) Six Feet Under.

Stemming from the style prescribed by the aforementioned, Katy contributed all: thematic concept, set-pieces, refreshments, set dressing, and print design.

Each invitee received a toe-tag which listed the details of the party. This was accompanied by a letter of condolence and instructions on how to prepare the body for intake.

Upon arrival, guests entered through crime scene tape into a room cocooned in plastic. Following check in,  toe-tags were affixed (for easy identification by fellow cadavers) and disposable gloves issued – so as to not contaminate the scene.

All food and drink was coloured red (like blood) and topped off with a bleeding cake.

Each invitation was merged through Microsoft Word and painstakingly (but lovingly) printed, cut, perforated, threaded, sealed and delivered.

Letter, toe-tag and envelope. * Names have been altered to protect the innocent.

Start of the Night

250-300 guests attended the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) end of year exhibition.

Co-curator with Jen Sevnick (smArtnoise.net).

The exhibition was one night in duration encompassing 14 installations; all of which implemented alternative input devices. Special consideration was taken when positioning the installations as this would affect performance and audience perception (e.g. using video as input required a solid, unwavering background).

Certain eye-catching pieces were situated towards the rear of the space to draw the audience through the body of the exhibition.

Installations not functioning correctly were removed from the exhibition to maintain a sense of completeness. This was difficult but necessary.

Team co-ordination and communication played a large part – most importantly, ensuring tasks were completed properly and in good time. A number of Gantt charts and Google documents (bump-in/run sheets) were shared online to ensure timetable awareness.

Potential risks were identified and managed – from small power board failures to grid failure to audience accidents.