Travel
verb
- go from one place to another, typically over a distance of some length
- move, typically in a constant or predictable way
noun
- the action of travelling
For this project, I will be designing a digital travel app. I began by researching the basic definition of what travel is as a starting point. My next step was to begin brainstorming wha my focus could be. I wanted to try and create an app which didn’t follow the typical subjects you thought of when thinking of travel, like holidays. I also wanted to create an app which I would have an interest in using and one I feel could be used in the real world.
After my initial brainstorming, I narrowed down my ideas down to three; TV/films, sports and history. These are all topics which I could keep local to NI which I wanted the main location for my app to be, as it is a place I know and could draw from that when designing. Following the same process, I brainstormed further into these ideas to help me make my final decision. I was very close to choosing a sporting app, but I felt it would be a bit to broad of a subject to try and design for and also there is a large amount of sporting apps already available, so I felt I would be influenced by them too much.
After this, I have decided for my app to focus on history. It will allow the user to travel back in time to learn about the history of the location and all the landmarks of significant historical relevance. While I was out and about, one thing I noticed was the increasing use of QR codes being used around the place, and this gave me the idea of including a QR code scanning system to go along with the app, which would give the user something to interact with.
Research…
To begin with I create a collage of travel apps that already exist and I liked the look of and not history specific. My aim of this was to see the common features all of them had so I could begin to think what I should include in my own app in terms of navigation, icons and layout.
After this, I focused solely on historical apps to see how I could combine the essential parts of both types of apps to create my own historical travel app. As well as this, I began to look at how QR code scanning systems are included in apps to see how I could plan it into my own design. I found that a lot of the history apps weren’t as visually pleasing as the travel ones, which is an area I want to improve and focus on with my app.
My next step was to begin to look at how the user would navigate the app. To do so, I downloaded and worked my way through existing travel, QR code and history apps, including well known ones like Skyscanner and BBC History. I particularly liked the design of ‘The History of Everything’ app and ‘Lucky’.
Location Specific…
Moving away from the app design, the next step was for me to look into what historical locations I could include in the app. I am focusing on Northern Ireland for my mockups as I am aware of the location and feel it would be the best option for me to begin with. As there will be multiple locations, I created a document including this part of my research below.
After starting to work on the locations, I struggled to visualise where I saw my app going so I decided to rethink my idea. It was while I was out and about around Belfast and saw the Beer Bikes that I came up with the idea of creating an app that acts as a ‘sat-nav’ for a pub crawl around Ireland. I then focused in more on the idea of an app that showed where you could get a Guinness at, as it is something that a lot of people compare from place to place. And I felt the imagery of the stout would create an effective app design.
Next I looked at if there was any apps that focused on something similar to my design. There was a few, but I feel like they really lack any exciting design aspects and look quite boring so this is something I am planning on including in my own app.
