My Proposal

Working title: Find Your Way

What is the intended idea / concept behind the proposed project?

I intend to make a app to help people navigate around specific locations, however I have decided not to use geo location. The reason I have chose to do this is because Google Maps use geo location and their maps can’t be efficiently used in buildings, your whereabouts in a building can be quite ambiguous and can confuse the user, which is why I don’t plan on using geo location in my app. My app ‘Find Your Way‘ aims to help user’s to navigate their way through buildings not to the building, for example finding your way through a large shopping centre such as Westfield can be quite difficult and time consuming. ‘Find Your Way‘ can help people get around in a specific place, saving time and not having to constantly go to the information desk to find out where a particular shop is. The concept behind this app is to be able to use technology wherever you are and find your way around a building/area, this app is designed to work for all types of people and could be further used to educate tourists. This app can also be modified to fit other buildings such as museums, public buildings, libraries and other tourist based areas.       

Describe the intended audience: 

The intended audience for my app would be between the age range of 17-40. This is a significant age range as younger audiences are more likely to connect with new technologies and apps. This would also be an adequate age range as more and more people are looking for ways to make their life easier no matter which age they are. ‘Find Your Way’ will enable a wide range of people to navigate themselves easily using their smartphones wherever they are. My intended audience would have a desire to find their own way around various buildings and use technology to do this, having this app available on all smartphones will enable a wider audience to have use of it, such as international users. 

How will this project extend your or your team’s creative and technical skills?

As I am working on my own I will have to learn how to create the interface for the programme and apply it to all phone brands such as Apple, Samsung and Android. However I will base my initial designs on the Apple smartphones and show how the interface works and how we would interact with it. Creating the interface won’t be too hard as I will be using Photoshop which I am very familiar with already, however I am not familiar with using a skin of an iPhone to display my App therefore I will be expanding my Photoshop skills further by doing this. I have been researching into how my App could work from the technical side, and I found that many android phones can use NFC, which is contactless card payment, but manipulating it to work when using a phone. Some Android phones already use NFC, which trigger’s your phone when you get into a certain area. However NFC is not supported by Apple products, therefore creating an App which is only accessible through the use of NFC may not be ideal. However we are able to use QR codes on Apple products and allow users to access the App through a website or direct them to the app. 

Outline how the practical work will be carried out by you /the group (division of labour) and the time-scales involved for each task:

As I will be working alone I will have to schedule what I will be working on step by step to complete the interface of the app. Firstly I will have to brand the app and create an App logo, then I will begin to design the interface for the smartphone. Designing the interface will be one of the main aspects of my project, I want the users to be able to see how they can interact with the app itself and what will appear on their phone when using it. After designing the interface I will be able to learn how to apply it to various buildings rather than limit it to my example, the SouthBank Centre. Once i have learnt how it works I could be able to create a semi-functioning app, however the concept itself is more important than creating a functioning App at this point. I believe that the branding will be the quickest part of the project as I have already been brainstorming ideas for the logo and colour scheme. However creating the interface will take a bit more time than the branding as i will have to make it fit into Apple’s operating software. The longest part of the project will be making and designing the interface and understanding how the mapping will work in relation to the App. 

What other work (by animators, designers, film-makers, writers, digital media producers, etc.) is relevant to your project? This work may either be relevant for its conceptual or technical similarity:

Google Maps - This is a similar product to what I want to create, although Google maps uses geo tagging, which is not what I want to use, it still has a similar concept to mine. Helping people navigate from A to B with multiple routes. So technically this product is not similar to mine but conceptually it is as both products aim to help in navigating people.

Nextr - This app was created by a German man who aimed to help people get around using public transport such as buses. The App allows you to to see nearby stops, you can also search for any stop you want with Autosuggest, which helps you find the one you want. There is a date picker button which allows you to specifically chose what day and time you want to take public transport, and a button to take you to a route home. 

Sat Nav - Satellite navigation provides geo-spatial positioning with global coverage. These systems allow people to determine their own location and how to get to the next location. They also allow the system to calculate how long the journey will take, thus giving an estimated time or arrival.