MA Visual Communication: Online Journal

CONCEPT : Blog entry 15

I have also been thinking about the possibility of creating an app, instead of a traditional book.

Below are some screen shots from the app Merlin Bird ID; this app stands out as the most stylish, and is also very easy to navigate, and helps you identify the birds that you see by asking simple questions, perfect for a wider audience than standard twitchers. How ever that is it's down fall too. Once you find you bird (if you find it because, as of yet, the database is quite limited) little information is offered. you very simply get a short paragraph describing the birds appearance, favourite places to hang out and a rough description of the noise it makes, although it does also offer a short clip of its call too.

Merlin Bird ID app screen shots

The following screen shots are from bird guide apps that are less impressive; these take on the form of a standard guide translated into an app. These offer lots more information, more detailed (yet traditional) images,  these are more comprehensive, but all very similar, and not as interesting or appealing.

screen shots of other similar apps

Ideas:

- A book with QR code (kind of thing) bit, which will take you to an app where you can hear the call?(Is a book and app too much?) also..ho to make QR codes look nice, blend in with the rest of the page whilst still being functional?

- Find a way to make it to into a game, similar to ladybird books for children, almost like the Merlin ID app, but also bearing in mind apps like tinder that call themselves 'games'

- Change the app, create something more appealing and less traditional, that functions similarly to an identification game, offering more information than Merlin ID, possibly in a similar humorous style to Matt Sewell's Our Song Birds, and include information on the birds red list status.

- make it more like a social network, users can add local sightings to a map visible to other users. This may not be particularly helpful for for more common birds, but when it comes to migration, and rarer birds, even down to being excited about having a woodpecker in your garden, this might be a nice feature to try and create.

-QR codes carved in trees! I'm not sure how exactly I would use this, or even if it would work, it just popped into my head. Imagine if your walking around a nature reserve, your not sure what your looking for, you scan a tree, and the app pulls up all of the bird sightings from within the nature reserve, or within a set distance of that spot...Working on a similar concept to the Around Me app.
- Could do all my testing at Attenborough nature reserve.

for some reason this just reminded me of the stuffed toys you can buy from the RSPB; these are a little bird, all different, and when you squeeze them they play the birds song. They're very cute, and appeal to kids too - something that I should think about.

I have so many cool ideas for this! But I have no experience of making an app, and would have no idea where to begin....