House Gardn
Brief: Design a new social media app brand, focussing on the app idea and function, the content and the icon.
Today near enough everybody benefits from the functions of an app, the end of everyones figure tip can open up virtual world’s from games, social media, blogs , news, utilities, music, arts and film to name a few, connecting socially via a digital device these worlds are accessible through an app. The release of the original apple iPhone reinvented the function of a phone, for the first time the hand held device supplied more than just taking calls, it opened an opportunity for endless entertainment, social and cultural possibilities, and the functions of an app provided that.
I began with questioning the form, function and social aspect of an app; how does an app work? what are its social benefits? what makes a good app? Initially I spent some time exploring the endless supply of apps available through the Apple’s iTunes market place; scrolling through the continual pages I established an initial understanding of the look and feel of a stylish and functional app. Flat and simplistic graphics accompanied by a slick typeface and soft colours appeared to be the appealing aesthetics for a contemporary app icon and interface; very few apps challenged this and avoided a more traditional illustrative or artistic visual style, this was a facet I wanted to take forward to challenge and experiment with. To gain a sense of the structure to a successful app I researched into existing popular apps, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger. The main component that featured at the centre of the three apps was the opportunity to connect with an online audience, through sharing, discussing and publishing via a digital format. Form and function over styling and design is implied through Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger; a slick and highly graphic design flows between the three major social, enabling an ease for use but supplies minimal visual excitement and interest. Initial research allowed myself to gain introductory ideas and questions to take forward; my forefront intention was to focus on challenging the normal overused graphical visual output with experimenting a highly illustrative approach whilst still establishing a functional app with user friendly mechanics.
Taking forward the research and intentions I gained, I started to brainstorm an objective for my social media app. With iTunes market place already overcrowded with apps, I focused on coming up with an idea based on my personal hobbies and interest’s, instead of sighting a gap in the market to plug with an original idea that hasn't been done before. Preliminary thoughts circulated around basing the subject matter of the app on socialising graffiti, playing with art and collage, and illustrating news for children. However I decided to advance with an idea to create a social platform for houseplant lovers; after recently gaining an interest in houseplants I found myself in need of more knowledge, an app that granted a basis for users to learn from and share context surrounding houseplants would be beneficial, useful and enjoyable. In addition the subject matter of houseplants offers a diverse and stimulating visual imagery that can be explored in a varied artistic outlook, that in turn compliments my first motive to produce a profoundly illustrative app.
With my social media app concept bounded, I turned my attention to forming the mechanics and context of the app. Basing its audience on houseplant lovers both female and male of all ages, I had intentions to produce the functions of the app through a simplistic and flowing template that enabled user ease ability. Having social interaction and connectivity at its core, I generated and invented five features that branch out to reveal different levels of social communication and form the essence of the app. The Profile tab houses the account that each user will have, and can be made personal for each user. Contained within each Profile is a template for users to customise with their personal plants, and a data page where individual statistics are determined for each of the users plants, such as watering alerts, plant growth and sunlight intake. The Journal is in essence an encyclopaedia for houseplants, its function to supply users with information, facts and tips about every houseplant. The Questions tab enables individuals to post and answer questions concerning any outstanding quarrels or wonders they might have, this is formatted through a discussion and chat format, inspired by Facebook Messenger and in turn permits social interaction within the app. The Shop function allows users to buy and sell houseplants, tools and accessories, while the World tab encompass’s the user into a feed of posts, photos and articles that are featured from accounts followed by the user; in turn both reinforce the social value to the app.
Following completing rough sketches of the layout of the app, and establishing what its mechanics, forms and functions would be, I turned my attention to developing an illustrative and stand out style and design. I looked at a series of creatives that use plants and vegetation as a visual medium within their work to aid with initial ideas, notably Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau and Liam Buckley. The energetic and engaging colours of Matisse and Buckley was a point that attracted my eye to begin with, as well as their their approaches to line and shape in turn creating integrated patterns within their works; additional Rousseau’s means of capturing and exploring expressive painterly textures was another aspect of inspiration.
I experimented with different mediums and processes to achieve the ambience I wanted, preliminary practices focused on playing with oil pastels and pencils but I wasn't satisfied with the roughness that were generated; so I turned and settled with gouache paint used as a colouring and to build texture alongside using black water based ink to draw on detail, the more smoother, bolder and illustrative look spawned a more finalised and simple look that in turn I thought would work well on a digital screen, but ultimately fulfil and attract the users eye and senses. Going back to my layout plans and drafts, I created final assets and imagery, based on the established illustrative style, for each form, function and page to my app.
With all the pictorial elements to the app completed, I experimented with imagery to create the icon. Sticking with the bold, colourful and graphic style I had previously established I played with different texts and imagery, until I settled with a design that highlighted a swiss cheese plant’s leaf on a subtle red background. I chose to not include the title of the app in the icon because I felt it would be to cluttered, instead the sole illustration stands out and says enough that draws the users attention whilst still remain clean, professional and simplistic. With all the assets to the app completed and finalised I scanned them all into Photoshop and began mocking up the multiple pages and features. Using a sourced template of an iPhone and my layout blueprints as a basis, I simply built up each different section of the app by combining all my illustrated imagery onto a blank iPhone screen sized canvas and then dragging it into the template. Saving each finalised screen out as a .jpeg I transferred them all into InDesign to produce my app presentation. The concluding stage to the project was to come up with a name for my app, after deliberating over quirky but complicated names, I eventually decided on House Gardn.
Overall I am very happy with my final social media app design outcome. On reading the brief for the first time I feared I would struggle to inject an element of illustration in an expressive way, however through exploration, development and experimentation I was able to achieve this. From viewing the existing apps available on iTunes market place I was adamant to put design over function and create a purely illustrative design to the app, based on my personal interests. Through inspiration from Matisse, Rousseau and Buckley among others, I generated a styling that entices the eye, is aesthetically pleasing and supports the functions of the app. At its core House Gardn connects its user socially through a virtual houseplant world. I believe its five standout features create a broad and diverse experience for the user, that informs, entertains, educates and socially interacts. Going forward, I am excited to develop my ideas behind House Gardn and potentially if possible expand it into an existing app that challenges current social media apps. However as it stands House Gardn features an expressive illustrated outcome that challenges the boundaries of digital design but ultimately encompasses a fresh, original and exciting social media app