Know Your Client
For any client-driven project, its very important to know your client and to be aware of their likes, dislikes, needs and wants. From the weekend task given to us for this project, the following are a few things that I found out about my client, Freya Buckley :
-Lives in Manchester.
-She's for German. Loves the country and German food.
- Loves to eat pasta. Doesn't matter what kind. Just LOVES PASTA.
-She's into Indie music
-She doesn't like people who are rude or think are too good for others.
- Loves to travel. Has been to countries like Germany, France, USA.
- Loves going to galleries.
- She more of an introvert
- She finds it's easy to judge the personality of a person.
- Doesn't eat red meat.
- Shes very organised, especially when it comes to her laptop.
- She finds it easy to remember roads and ways.
- she is confident when it comes to sharing her work. She curated an exhibition with a few other people called "made of plastic"
- She knows how to ski and rollerskate
- She wants to learn more languages and wants to be able to read and write Japanese and Mandarin.
- She always keeps a t-shirt with her. this t-shirt belonged to her grandfather.
-She is good at listening to other people and wants others to listen to her as well.
(The highlighted points are the points which helped me develop the final app for my client)
Wanderlust
For my own app, I researched a few travel apps, especially ones that work offline as that was one feature I wanted to add to my app.
After speaking to my client and researching a few apps, I added the following features to my App:
Explore, Offline and Local.
The main aim of the app is to let the user explore a particular area in the city that they're in. If someone likes to explore a new city, they should do it without the internet, without relying on various reviews. Explorers should find and try places on their own and form their own opinion. Also, in this process, they might end up finding places that are really amazing but never heard of. This is what my app encourages the user to do. It gives you the map of an area and cuts you off from the internet and then also suggests certain names of places that are run by locals which the user could maybe give a try. This not only allows the user to cut off from the world off the internet and truly indulged in exploration but also gives a boost to the local places around the area.
Spotted by Locals
Spotted by locals is an app that has guides for about 67 different cities. Each city has suggestions only by the locals (no tourists) about the best places they recommend others to visit along with offline maps. The user can also add their own favourite places and hotels in their account and to navigate to a place, the internet can be used. Although this app is unique and the users seem to love it as it suggests places that many frequently used travel websites don't, this can be done not for free but for a price. The user has to pay $3.99 PER city guide that they download which is a major con of using this app.
SOURCE: iTunes Store
Trip Advisor - Offline Mode
Everyone knows trip advisor. It one of the most used app and website for travel. The app also has an offline mode. By using the "Downloaded Cities" feature, you can actually download all the top restaurants, museums, hotels, and other things to do for the city you're visiting. You'll be able to browse reviews, photos, and even locate everything on the map. The app will also tell you how much memory each download will take up in your phone, so you'll know how to budget space.
SOURCE: iTunes Store
Musement
Musement wants to be your perfect pocket guide no matter where in the world you happen to be. It covers neighbourhoods, attractions, restaurants, bars and concerts, and covers 350 destinations worldwide, with “tailored local content” in 25 of the biggest cities.
There is a commercial element to the app in the form of event and reservation bookings, but it’s not pushy, and the app itself is clean and tidy one that’s simple to navigate around. Perfect for exploring, but as usual be wary of booking anything through a third party.
SOURCE: iTune Store
Here WeGo
Here WeGo is a navigation app that allow you to download the map of a specific city after which you'll be able to access it and look up directions without an Internet connection. However, the handiest feature of this app is the "Go Home" shortcut, which lets you set your home address and pulls up directions based on your location in one touch. The app also includes valuable information about your route including distance times, ticket prices, and even 3D maps of indoor locations like shopping malls and sports arenas.
SOURCE: iTunes Store