Bas | Individual presentation final interface

My final concept is meant to get my usergroup (International WDKA students) to use the existing collection of staats bosbeheer.

While doing so i would like to aid the struggles of the user groups that i’ve encoutered during research.

Main challanges where things such as: langues barriers, beign alowne, not knowing people and wealth gabs.

The purpose for my interface is to be something that facilitates, getting outside more, getting inspired, getting to know dutch nature and perhaps even getting to know new people.

To execute this I've conceptualized an application that features Art routes (based upon the existing collection of staats bos beheer) where you can collect and comment on different open art installations, with the end location of these art routes being a place where people can work/get inspired and even show their own art to others.

For this I've created physical interaction stations that you can control with the same application that you use to find and walk the art routes themselves.

The interaction stations are called Pillars of Creation. These pillars are meant to exhibit work that the students have created, so that every time when you reach the end of a route you will find something new and interesting. These pillars will also house powerslots and
a wifi router as to create a place where students can work in a inspiring and
''covid safe'' location.

Display options Pillar

Anything that has been created that fits the
confinement of the pillar can be put in.

Av productions, Showreals, Posters, Music videos, Photagraphy

Display big installation in a smaller way, Can also be used for 3D video's.

functionality of the application

After researching different route apps and looking at the need of my usergroup i came up with the following features.

- I wanted the application to be a place without prejudice of any kind. Therefore you cannot see pictures of artworks or users until you've met either of them. Pictures not ''unlocked'' in this way will be shown blacked out. This way there's always a reason to keep exploring and meeting new people.

- Following up on the prior feature, this means there are no ''profile'' pictures that can be uploaded by users. Users can create their own avatar and change any aspect they want on that avatar.

- I also wanted to give the freedom to the users to change the UI in colour, so they can truly make it their own variant of the application.

- I've added a way to find and meet new people with a group finder option. For any route you choose to take you can choose to find people to walk with or even join existing groups.

- To add more to the idea of interacting with others and creating a community surrounding the app i found it important to be able to comment, and critueque eachothers and the existing artworks by staatsbosbeheer. I did this in the form of a comment section that can be found under each art work.

- Since english is the main langues at the WDKA the whole app is developed in english aswell so that anyone who is a student at the WDKA can use the app with ease.

- To make it even more accacable by students of the WDKA you can log into the application with your school ID and password, this way the app can also connect to the schools mailing structure giving you app updates by mail.

- One of the bigger features of the app is the controll page of the Pillers of Creation. Here you can choose to exhibit your work, check activity statuses of the pillars themselves, and see whats beign displayed at current time.

- A profile page that features your exhibited works, aswell as the works you've collected from staats bos beheer while exploring on the art routes.

Application visual style

Through visual research based upon websites and apps such as the ones from BKOR and even the Piet Zwart Institute I made the conclusions that websites and apps surrounding art are often either very minimalistic or very extravagant.

A minimalist option seemed the way to go for me. This way i could avoid the unnecessary aspects, keep it simple, utility focussed but have it remain elegance.

This also aids the concept of the app starting out very ''blank'' with most of the artworks and such beign blacked out and not unlocked. And the more u use the app the more it gets ''completed'' in a sence that you can gain a feeling of acomplishment from it.

- A friend list with chat function that makes it easier to find new people or even friends that already use the application. And be able to talk to them about things within the application.

- A route list featuring all art routes that are based in the collection of staats bos beheer.

- A navigational system that uses google maps integration with a UI overlay to actually walk the routes. This navigational system has the extra's of it including a scanner that detects if you're close enough to an artwork in order to unlock it for your collection.

- A point system that grants points on interaction score and collecting artworks along the routes.

- 3 different types of routes to choose from for any existing art route. A fast option, that takes you to the end straight away. A normal option that takes you past a couple artworks along your way to the P.O.C.. And a complete route that walk you past all the artworks within the park before reaching the P.O.C..

For the avatars of the application i created a simple system out of a simple idea. Everyone's a different size, shape and colour. And for this reason i wanted people to create an avatar to their likeness in a minimalistic but very recoqnizable way.

After many iterations of fonts i settled on a combination of: Times New Roman & Intro.

Times New Roman to me is a classic headline font. And I intended to use it as such. All the main titles within the app + important information is featured in this font. As a person with dyslexia the fonts legibility gets lost a bit when used in broad text. That's where the second font Intro comes in. Intro is a huge font family with 72 different variations. I would call this font a sans serif, for it's pretty sans serif but not entirely. And I think it compliments Times New Roman very well in this way. It also solves the problem i had with the legibility of the broad text.

Without further ado,

let's take a look at the app.

Having to login to the application with your student ID seemed to be the logical option since the app is made to be for WDKA students.

The langues of the app is set to the default of the schools main langues which is english.

The tutorial is used to Greet, Inform and engage the users of the app.

I also found the need to implement this in early stages of the testing to test if the application could function in a real world senario where i would not be sitting beside the desk. And it helped me see if my concept could be understood without me.

Short intro on the p.o.c.'s

Functionality of the p.o.c.'s

Where to find the p.o.c.'s

How to reach the p.o.c.'s

What you find on routes towards p.o.c.'s

encouragement for finishing tutorial

The homepage of the application is a funtion that will most commenly be used by ''new'' users.

It's designed to anwser questions of the users. The main questions beign here: what kind of route you would like to walk and where you would like to walk it.

It also grants and explaination of different route types.

I found that this functionality was needed for my usergroup since they are Expat WDKA students, who will most likely not know lots about geographical locations in the netherlands yet.

Selecting route type

Route
information tap

If you choose to close the homescreen window it will directly bring you to the MAP funtion of the application.

Here you can directly see where all the routes are located and you can choose from here.

Top left of the UI Features a compas rose always directing you to the North.

On the top right you can check the weather status of that day gatherered by phone data.

You will see a:
whenever you can move to the next page or previous page.

For buttons i choose checkboxes over highlighted buttons, to keep it minimalistic and give it more of a paperlike feel.

You can see on what page you're located at the bottom on the menu bar. Your current page will be highlighted with a bold variant of the font.

The map function serves as a faster way to move within the app. You get the information that was given prior in a more compact format, and directly get to decide in what state and in what park you would like to take a route.

This functionality is for the person who would like to get the maximum amound
of information before walking a route.

Here we can find:
- See the total amound of parks
- Get a foto preview of the park
- Activity status of the p.o.c. in the park
- See the total amound of objectives
- See where the park is suitable for
- Get an introduction about the park
- Direct referal to open the park route

As all ways lead to Rome, so do the home,map and routes functionality all lead to the the start of a route. There just different means of getting to the same place faster, more informed or fully informed.

On the page to start a route you can one last time find all the information you would like to know before embarking on a route.

Here we find:
- Route lengt
- Route rating
- Route introduction
- Route objectives
- P.O.C. status
- Collectibles & points
- Looking for group
- Downloading the route
- Starting a route

As i stated prior, i like to keep prejudice out of the picture. Therefore you only get to see one picture of the park itself, and none of the art installation you've havent seen before.

This keeps it exciting to keep exploring routes, because you never completely know what you're going to find.

After clicking:
head out now!

After clicking head out now you find yourself to have the option to return to the previous page.

Other than that, you can click any point of interest on the map to get a sneak previeuw of what you will be encountering along your way.

You can also click the final destination to get information about that particulair P.O.C.

When starting a route, you find yourself to have the option to return to the previous page.

Other than that, you can click any point of interest on the map to get a sneak previeuw of what you will be encountering along your way.

You can also click the final destination to get information about that particulair P.O.C.

The UI used for the routes, is a slimmed down version of Google-Maps. In addition to this, i've added pins that show the points of interest you will be encountering.

If you would like a preview of the artwork you're about to encounter you just click the pin and get to see a sneakpreview.

When you get in a close range of the point of interest you can use the scan button on the right hand side to unlock the point of interest.

In the lower half of the screen you can also find your compas rose and weather status again.

After completing a route you get a status report showing you:

- Route you walked
- Distance traveled
- Objectives collected
- Points collected
- Option to use the P.O.C.

Everthing collected on routes will be found under your profile page, and if you where to walk to the route again, you would see what would be laying ahead.

I wanted to interface not to just be a place to become inspired and learn about dutch nature and art.

I wanted that people who where out of their comfort zone, or just wanted to meet new people had the chance to do so.

If you've chosen a route, you therefore get the option to look for a group. Once clicked you're moved to the find a group page.

Here you can start your own new group where people can apply for, or you can apply for an already existing group.

Chose between joining or starting
a new group

Accepting members
and group chat

The P.O.C.'s are meant to keep the routes interesting and repeatable.

Because the end of the routes is now ever changing and useable as an open air workspace it gives you the reason to repeat a route. If you diden't nessesarily like the art-route but you enojoyed the workplace, you've got a reason to return.

Because the users are the WDKA students, this also grants them a place to exhibit their work in a public space.

Repeat of the introduction, more
centered about the P.O.C.'s

Status of P.O.C. & ability to activate functions

Status of P.O.C. & activated function

Renting P.O.C. for exhibition

The profile page features the following:

- Unique avatar
- App stats
- Your personal collection of art
(It's blacked out, and you can only
see their collected artwork if you've
visited those location aswell)
- Your current and past exhibitions
- Your settings
- Your friends and chat list

The collection and exhibition tab serves as a sort of journal that documents what the user has done. So that if the user ever is to return to their country of origin they have something to look back on for their time in the netherlands.

Clicking on an exhibition past
or present.

Clicking on
change look

The app is made for WDKA students. Since Art students often tend to have a strong defined concept of what they like, i wanted to give them the freedom to express themselves with UI changes.

The UI changes that the user can do within the app are only in colour.

I think this still gives the creative freedom to personalize the application to ones own content,
but it preserves the design chooses I've made and researched.

Undiscovered
Art installation

Discovered
Art installation

The start of this Major project might have been slow for me to understand. But once i got trough the research and found out what the wants and needs of my user group where if became easier to conceptualize.

Wants my user group had where for instance to explore dutch nature. I combined this need with the interest my user group has in art and focused on the creation of the art-route app.

My user group also had need for a place to relax, unwind and even work. Lot's of students had been locked up in their apartments since they arrived in the Netherlands due to covid-19 regulations. This not only restricted them from working at the academy but restricted them from meeting new people. I wanted to combat this aspect and that's how I came up with the concept of an open air work space, since this was allowed under covid-19 regulations. To aid the users want to meet new people i also conceptualized the looking for group function to give them a way to still be able to interact with other students with similar interest.

So I found a way to inspire my user group with art-routes, these art-routes also have the second function as it got to fill the second need of exploring dutch nature. I conceptualized the looking for group function to give them the ability to make new friends and meet new people. But the open air work space was not perfected yet. This is when I came up with the concept of the P.O.C.'s.

If I were to create a physical interaction station that would be located at the end of the art routes, that would provide utility like wifi and electricity I would have filled this last need. But to just have a glorified wifi router with some sockets on the side seemed uninspiring. That's why I came up with the exhibition aspect.

Rather than a glorified wifi router, this would become an exhibition display that would still grant the same utilities while also being able to display art the user group had made.

This would give exposure for the art of the user group, while also creating the open work spaces I conceptualized.

This also in turn would give you a reason to return to the parks either to work, exhibit or look what's new!

I'm positive about the outcome of my project. I think that I've answered and catered to the wants and needs of my user group.

The only reason I was able to find these wants and needs of the user group where trough research. And this project has shown me how important that aspect of the process is to get to a product that actually serves the wants and needs of your user group.

I also had the chance to learn ADOBE XD to create the interface and I think this is a skill that applicable in later stages of my study as well.