The Beach View App
App Creation: The Setup
I created an app called Beach View that allows users to record and view data on animal life and water quality at their local beach. During my brainstorming period I came up with a variety of possible users, both young and old, but ultimately ended up catering my app towards adult users rather than children or young adults, who may make more mistakes. This allows for a more reliable data source if used by scientists.
My user ended up being an avid beach-goer concerned with their local beach environment and animal life. Since the user was also a citizen scientist, the app allowed the user to record and contribute data on animal types, mineral types, and pH levels at their beach. I also wanted to provide the user with locations of animal sightings, so they could interact and view new animal sightings within their beach.
Overall Thoughts
In this project I thoroughly enjoyed creating the full concept of an app. Normally, I would have only associated the idea of creating an app with a singular concept, such as “creating an app to measure daily height”. From there, I would get stuck on how to make the user revisit the app, and what other features I could add to the app. This project forced me to think about the user, rather than myself, and all the steps and tools a user would need in order to make the app work, as well as make the user come back. I also really enjoyed using the Marvel app to create my app, because it gave dimension to an otherwise technology-free script.
App Distinction: Possible future implementations of the design
I could see this technique being applied to other apps, as well as being used in other scenarios involving user engagement.
For example, in elementary and middle school science classes, where the simple layout and input format would allow students to easily input data in science experiments onto a computer or smartphone. This app or app structure could also be implemented into tourism organizations. The structure allows for audience engagement with their surroundings, as well as data about their current surroundings. Rather than water data, there can be data about the country or attraction being visited, and facts about the animals in the area. The photographing feature would allow tourists to be able to take pictures and store their memories all from their smartphone.