Analyzing Existing Apps

Pocket Zoo

Pocket Zoo is an app that allows kids to watch animals via live webcams from zoos across the world. With photos, animal facts, and animal sounds, Pocket Zoo provides a wealth of information in a portable way that's appropriate for any age. The app also offers the option of sending email photos of animals or Twitter messages through the app.

 

Pocket Zoo is a great educational app that allows children wherever they may be in the world to get a close look at animals in zoos around the world via live webcams. Though the primary target audience appears to be children, people of any age group can enjoy learning about the various animals and watch them wherever the user may be. It may even encourage people to visit the zoos if they view something exciting or want a closer encounter with any of the animals they've viewed on the app.

In terms of interface, this app is successful in the way the map interface resembles one of an actual zoo, allowing the users to fully engage and feel as if they're visiting a real zoo themselves. The live streamed webcams also help enhance this element of experience design, and allow users to share these experiences via social networking. The interface design uses alot of visual representations of the animals (ie the icons, photos, etc) to universally communicate and widen their target audience, so any child or adult of any language can recognize them.

DoggyDatez

Tagg is essentially a GPS attachment for your dog's collar, and because of its many features, it can give allow peace of mind. The app will track your dog's activity and send you a text message if he goes beyond the boundaries you set. Not only that, Tagg allows you to make sure your dog is getting enough exercise by measuring movement.

Tagg is a great way to give peace of mind to all dog owners, as it allows you to track them via GPS. In terms of usability, have a mobile application to track the dog that users can carry anywhere is ideal as majority of people will not be with their dog 24/7. It has allowed ease of use with the information of your dogs whereabouts being sent via SMS if they step out of the boundaries the user sets. This helps create a successful experience for the dog owners or pet sitters using the app and allows them to continue with their daily lives without worrying of the whereabouts of their furry friend.

Nike Fuelband

The Nike Fuelband is a universal way to measure all kinds of activites - from your morning workout to your big night out. Uniquely designed to measure whole-body movement no matter your age, weight or gender, Nike Fuel tracks your active life.

The Nike Fuelband is predominantly a combination of informational design and sensorial. Informative in the way that it keeps track and check your activity progress in the form of calories burned, steps taken etc. Sensorial through the process of physically wearing the band and it measuring your movements and heart rate.

The band is successful as it creates an experience appropriate for a wide audience, from professional athletes to people who just want to stay active and healthy. The interface works well and predominantly uses colour and images such as graphs to communicate and compare your activity. This helps to universally communicate and ease the understanding of information to whomever, wherever is using the product.

Suwappu

Suwappu is a range of toys, animal characters that live in little digital worlds. The physical toys are canvasses on which new worlds are created. Through a phone or tablet lens we can see into the narratives, games and media in which they live.   

These Suwappu toys are brought to life through the users mobile device using AR. The toys act as miniature televisions for users to engage in and interact with, and are connected to social media websites such as Twitter and Youtube. The 3D environments surrounding them are determined by the pants of the Suwappu you have created. This is a successful piece of experience design, as the users interact physically and create an experience unique to them (dependent on their Twitter feeds, etc). Whilst enticing and engaging the them to explore a new digital Suwappu world.    

Sesame Street Augmented Reality Play set

The creator of Sesame Street decided to explore AR experiences for children that encourage learning and imagination. The toy play set includes traditional elements such as common household objects as well as classic Sesame Street characters. But when viewed through the application, the pieces and the play environment come to life through the mobile devices camera.

Sesame Street has a long history of using cutting-edge technology to address children's developmental needs. Having the characters virtually come to life through the camera of a mobile device turns the play set into an interactive experience. The usability is ideal for their target audience of children, as nothing more is needed than to face your mobile phone or tablet towards the play set. It is informative through the learning the characters provide, and sensorial as it engages the user in a multi-level, dynamic encounter with the Sesame Street world.     

Nintendo 3DS AR Cards

With the release of the 3DS, Nintendo also published 6 paper cards that interact with certain games. By scanning the cards with the 3DS, real time graphics are augmented onto live footage, and it is possible to take 3D photos of these Nintendo characters.