We were given the brief of creating an app that encourages people to go outside. I decided to design an app that not only does this, but also boosts the users mental health. I began by brainstorming ideas for my app. I decided to make the target audience people aged 16+, as I felt that younger users may not enjoy the app as much. Firstly, the app focuses on bird watching, but with a twist. It encourages users with no experience of bird watching to explore the outdoors. The concept involves the user going outside, scanning the birds they see, collect points and earn medals.
First of all, the app is for smartphones and tablets/iPad. It would require access to the camera in order to scan the different birds. It does not require WIFI to scan and recognise the birds, however WIFI would be needed to provide information on the specific type of bird. The app would feature a “my birds” section, which shows the users collection of birds. Each bird has a number of points associated with it. For example, a robin = 10 points, crow= 5 points, bluetit = 15 points. Once the user reaches a number of points as shown in the brainstorm below, they get a medal of encouragement.
The user would be able to view their medals and points and also share their success to social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. This idea is to motivate and reward the user. Since I wanted to focus on mental health as well, there would also be a “journal” section where the user can write about their day and how they found each bird. I wanted to add the journal section so that users have a place to talk about their day and know its a safe space and confidential.
Every time the user scans a bird, they can access information on it, in hope to engage with the user. I added this feature to encourage the user and to get them more interested. The more they learn about what they’re trying to find, the more they’ll enjoy it. There will be interesting, and even shocking facts about the bird that may surprise the user, hence wanting them to become more involved.
The app would be free to download, however there would be an in-app purchase of £0.99 to unlock a weather feature so that the user can plan when and where they will look for birds.
I brainstormed different ideas for the name of the app, and decided to go with ‘My Wings’ as the concept of wings is linked to birds, and yet it also resonates with security and mental health through the possession ‘my’. It also conveys a sense of success as it shows the user that it is their own accomplishments.
Below you can see my brainstorm for the app, and then I designed the idea of the widgets in the app.
