Jaila DeRienzo
Intro To Digital Art
App Essay
With all the new technology that is ever changing, things like apps have
become more relevant in our everyday lives. Apps have many elements that go into
them in order to make them a success. Although apps share the same types of
elements there is a huge variety of their function. The apps I will be explaining are
Warped Tour, Glow Doodle, Soundhound, AccuWeather, and Typic +.
One the apps I picked was the Vans Warped Tour Official App. Warped Tour
is a concert tour that happens every year where around 100 bands before
throughout the day. Although Warped Tour has been around for 20 years, the app
has only existed since February 4th, 2010. This is probably because of the
advancement of technology that wasn’t around back then. Also, the app was created
by C.C.R.L., LLC. The purpose of the app is to inform people of the schedule the day
they attend so they know when their favorite bands are playing and where. It also
shows them information about all the bands that are performing. The app also gives
you a countdown to the day you’re going so that you can build up your excitement,
although it’s not a main purpose. The app didn’t exactly come from a need but it
makes things easier since you have the schedule in your hands and don’t have to
memorize it or keep rechecking it. The easy accessibility is what makes it a desire
because people don’t want to go through too much effort. This can also be
considered a benefit because people don’t like having to put that effort in or go out
of their way for things. The target audience for the Warped Tour app is people who
are going to be attending the event since they are the ones that find it useful. Finally,
this app contains design elements that include contrasting colors, various types of
lines, and a proportion with the app name as the emphasis point.
Another app I picked was Glow Doodle. This app is one that was creative for
pure entertainment. Yin Ki Lau created it on November 3, 2009. The purpose of the
app is to draw things. The glowing pen you use to draw makes a neon effect so that
it looks more appealing to the eye. This means that the app came from a desire. As
someone who finds the app entertaining and fun like I do it can be considered
worthy. The target audience for Glow Doodle is more towards children because of
its simplicity but it can still be fun for everyone because you can never outgrow
things like drawing. Glow Doodle doesn’t have much of a benefit to anyone, other
than serving as a form of entertainment. It contains design elements such as
contrasting colors against the black background along with lines that combine to
make shapes to create unity. Overall, Glow Doodle doesn’t have any real purpose it
can still be an app that is enjoyable to use.
Another app I choose is SoundHound which was created in on January 29th,
2009 by SoundHound, Inc. The purpose of this app is to help identify songs that you
hear and are curious about. For example, when you’re in the car and a song comes
on the radio that you can’t remember the name of. All you have to do is open the
app, hold it up to the speaker, and press a button. Then the name of the artist and
the title will come up along with available lyrics. This app can be considered a
desire because music isn’t a detrimental thing in life. Music is more of an
entertainment thing which makes it a desire. I think the app is worthy to be of
desire because most people are into music and this app can just enhance their
experience. This leads into the target audience for the app, which is mostly music
lovers who want to know more and explore further into the world of music. The
app can benefit the audience of music lovers but it really has nothing to do with
bringing the world together. The SoundHound app is different shades of orange,
which creates unity but also has the element of space around the main shape in the
middle. This shape is organic and creates a sense of rhythm throughout the app.
Overall, SoundHound is a helpful app that can be a success for music lovers.
AccuWeather was also an app that I chose. The app was created by
Accuweather, Inc. on January 15th, 2009. The purpose of the app is to inform people
of the weather forecast for that day and beyond, including things such as
temperature, chance of precipitation, and the wind speed. This app is considered a
need because it can serve as a warning for things like snowstorms so we can all plan
ahead of time to make our lives easier. This leads to the audience because everyone
is affected by the weather in some way since most people spend time outside each
day. From there the assumption can be made that throughout the world everyone is
affected by the weather and can benefit from it. Lastly, this app contains the
element of combining geometric shapes which create a symmetrical pattern when it
all comes together.
The final app that I choose was Typic+. It was created on February 16, 2013
by Hi Mom S.A.S. The purpose of the app is to edit photographs by adding text and
filters. This leads to the idea of the app being a desire because people want more
than an original photograph so that it looks better. I think it is worthy as a desire
because it can make photography more interesting and fun to do. The target
audience for this app would most likely by photographers. This app doesn’t really
have much of a benefit other than serving as a form of entertainment for
photographers around the world. Finally, the design elements of the app are black
and white contrasting colors, lines to create the text, and a circle shape in the
background to create unity and bring it all together.