Idea for app

To make an app we first had to think of an idea for the app.

We went through things that we needed to think about before we start creating our apps. For instance: What is the app?, What is the name?, What is it for?, Is it useful? , Does it have competition? if so is the idea better?, Is there a business case (how will the app make money)?...

We also presented to the rest of the class an app that we like the design of, I chose this game called "colorscope". In this game, you use given shapes to replicate a pattern. This app has an interesting use of colours and a very simplistic interface. It also seems quite accessible for people with colour blindness, since there are options to adjust the colours for those types of needs. The app also uses haptics and creates a really nice pattern when you complete the stage. The only negatives with this app are that it sometimes doesn't save what stage you are on if you do not click to go to the next stage before closing and also there is no option for some sort of "freeplay" where you could try to make your own patterns.

Screenshots from "Colorscope"

We also looked at some examples of brand guidelines and concepts to keep in mind when designing the app.

My idea is to create an app for mainly smart watches which allows you to share a status with your friends. I chose this because there seems to be a very limited amount of apps for smartwatches which are not for fitness and I feel like it would be an easy way for people to share with their friends what they are doing. When thinking of names I thought of the phrase "Peas in a pod" to describe people that are close, the word pod could also be a good descriptor for the app since it would be like having little pods for your friends on your watch. However, on the other hand, this name is not very descriptive on its own so perhaps It could be called something like "Peapod/s-share your status" if I was to go with a name like this I could perhaps have a peapod-like motif as the logo. There also seem to be no other apps (within the same genre) with this sort of name so I think it is a reasonable option. 

My idea of how the app would work is that you would see avatars of your friends on the homepage and then on the avatars there would be an emoji which represents the friend's status. You could then click on the friend and then it would show you a written status, there could also maybe be a status for if they are playing a game or listening to music or perhaps an option to share your location with them/see their location. You would also be able to set your own status, most likely picking from a preset list of options which could be customised on a mobile version of the app. There would perhaps be the option to set a time period for the status and also maybe optional location-based updates. 

Similar apps to this would be other social media like Facebook, Instagram, Discord and Twitter. I don't really use Facebook, but I feel like the Facebook status system would be a bit overwhelming to use on a smartwatch since there is limited space and it is hard to type, therefore I think my idea might be better since it is much simpler. For Instagram there are options for stories which could maybe be like your status, however, it is more for videos and images. You can view images on a smartwatch, but they take up most of the screen.

Discord custom status interface.

 

Custom Status – Discord Example of how you see Discord Custom Statuses

Discord, allows you to set an emoji and a written status as well as a game/activity status, however more often than not the written status is used for quotes they are also not really the main focus of the app and similar to Twitter they can be a bit long (Up to 33 characters for Tweets and around 130 for Discord) so if you have lots of friends updating there status frequently it might be hard to read them all if you are busy, therefore I think by using just emojis on the homepage it should give a nice overview of how your friends are doing and you will still have the options. BeReal is another similar app, where you share a photo with your friends at the same time. 

BeReal. Your friends for real. on the App Store (apple.com)

However, a problem with this is that some people might be busy and not everyone has a picturesque life. Therefore, my idea of a short status and emoji wouldn't take up too much time and you would still get the concept of what your friends are doing. This idea of accessibility is the reason why a smartwatch would be a great place for this concept since if you don't have your phone with you, it is much easier to check a watch. Overall, I think my idea would be much more minimalistic but less distracting than the mainstream social media/status-sharing apps that are available and I think the format of the idea would work well with a smartwatch. For the business case, I feel like one of the companies that make these social media apps would be interested in branching out to smartwatch apps since as I mentioned before there are not many that I could find, so perhaps a company might consider commissioning an app like this another option might be if there were adverts recommending local places/shops where you could meet up with your friends.

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Further research:

-This article: https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/twitter/162961-twitter-could-be-about-to-ruin-the-best-thing-about-hashtags explains twitter status updates/online indictors that look like this. 

This is very similar to my idea; however, I would like to have my app to show everyone's status updates in one place, in comparison to the image above where the status is only shown on the profile. I don't use twitter, so I don't know if this was implemented but it's very similar to the concept I am going for, however the status updates will be the main focus of my app rather than a side feature.

-This article: What Is Share Focus Status on Apple iPhone iMessage? (twinfinite.net) explains apples focus status, which (if enabled) tells your iMessage contacts if you have a focus mode enabled, for example a sleep focus. If this app was made for apple this feature could potentially be integrated, however I don't think that is likely.

-This article: How to create the best smartwatch apps (cleveroad.com) Gives some good tips for making a smartwatch app, most of the concepts mentioned are quite intuitive like making use of voice control, notifications and creating a focus on what the user wants to do.

-This article: How to Build a Brand for Your Mobile App: Strategies, Tips and Examples | by tubik | UX Planet talks about branding.

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