APP FOR IOS AND ANDROID BY VICTORYA PRAZDNIK overview

I chose design exercise #1 “apply a visual language to multiple surfaces”– the Time Travel app for NASA. I’ve spent about 8 hrs on this design project. I initiated the app design project with a competitive app research on both platforms with the time travel topic in mind. I found a few apps that offered users on becoming martian, to sending your name to Mars, to NASA’s captured missions. None of them felt quite right. I listened to a podcast of a “supposed” time traveler named John Titor (Time Traveler 0), which documents the journeys of a man on a mission to reach a specific year. While supposedly fictional it gave a fun & interesting account of time traveling with specific limitations. John could only travel in 60 year intervals. Anything further than that would would compromise the specific destination. I wanted the new app for NASA to feel personal and social that allowed for several ways to travel through time 60 yrs forward and back. I created a time map that offers various ways to explore time travel. User can navigate through specific years via search, to 10 yr intervals, to exploring specific months within that year. I wanted the experience to feel continuous and exploratory. Along the way I noted potential moments that would impact the users travels such as weather alerts, dangerous conflicts, along with meeting friendly faces throughout the years.

If a user grabbed the red marker and scrubbed through the time map vertically they would see specific years and info cards with reliable maps, time stamp, month/day/year, along with 10 yr intervals of explorations. If a user decided to scrub horizontally within a specific year, months would be revealed with preview cards of fun/useful facts. The initial app screen also has a “surprise” feature which allows you to jump into an unknown year/month to create a game like effect for the time traveler. When a user chose to simply get started from the intro screen, their current location would be displayed from which they can initiate explorations throughout. research

I started the Time Travel project by doing competitive research for both iOS and Android apps. I wanted to see what others have attempted on the subject of time travel and how they’ve enticed users to explore the app. I also wanted to see what unique features were provided per app experience. I looked through everything from being a martian to exploring accomplished missions from the official NASA’s research.

Apps downloaded: Time Machine NASA’s Be a Martian Exoplanet ISS Spotter Several NASA’s apps research findings

Time Machine This app offered an intro animation that was slightly hypnotic and after you were done watching it, the app announced how far you’ve traveled and the user can try it again. The app lacked originality and context of where you were going and how you can travel else where specifically.

NASA’s Be a Martian Upon starting the app you are shown a planet with a title that says “Be a Martian.” There’s no indication of what the user is supposed to do next. I’ve then explored the main menu to find things to do. Features of the app included sending a card from Mars, to exploring Mars’s images to learning about Mar’s missions. The app seems to be geared toward a much younger audience as it doesn’t go into much detail on time travel but I do like the silliness of the content. Other NASA’s apps, provided comprehensive mission coverage, footage and features astronauts profiles.

Exoplanet The app offered Milky Way visualizations and the user can rotate and zoom into the atmospheric map. It also offered a lot of information on the subject of galaxies but again doesn’t offer the user to actually experience time traveling.

ISS Spotter The name of the app and the function is one of the same. Upon starting the app, user is promoted to a world map of spotting a position of the ISS. The app provides exact distance of the International Space Station. No other features were offered. sketches

Based on the competitive time travel market I saw tremendous opportunity in creating a unique app that’s social and offers you to meet your friends in the future and past along with offering users to continuously explore locations via date/month/year, via search or via visual time travel map.

After listening to the John Titor time travel podcast I learned that based on his experiences with the time travel machine one can only travel 60 years forward or back. Anything further than that would make it difficult to return to your point of origin. I decided to incorporate that concept into my app. i also wanted to add an element of fun and designed a “surprise” button into the initial app screen. This button takes you to random locations. But when a user lands on a location, they are presented with a fact card of where they are in the universe. They can then explore their new location via google map. intro

iPhone intro screen Entire app displays NASA’s core color palette of blue and red tones with a galaxy background to bring the time travel scene together.

Value proposition of new adventures, meeting friends and completing missions is stated.

“Let’s travel” takes users to the main app interaction screen where they are able to scrub through years and months and explore various locations.

“Surprise me” button is a light hearted feature that will take users to random locations for further exploration.

I would animate the background to show dimension of planets behind the NASA’s logo.

I’ve used the San Francisco native iOS 9 font throughout all app screen designs. your location

iPhone location sample screen If a user chose the “Surprise me” button to start the app navigation a random location would be displayed in pursuit of fun exploration. If a user chose to simply get started they would land on on their current location with an opportunity to explore the map further as displayed on this screen.

Location search can be used to jump to specific location/date/month/ year.A user can also scrub through the yearly time map vertically. This time map will only display 60 years forward and back for time traveling. According to time traveling theories, 60 year intervals is the only safe distance to explore time travel within. A user can move the red navigation marker to scrub through specific years, not just 10 year intervals.

If a user decides to explore months within a specific year, they can either search for that particular date/month/year or tap on that particular year in the time line to reveal months. Each year has an information card associated with a specific location and a google map for further explorations. month detail

iPhone specific month screen January 1st, 1996 time line card is displayed here. I’ve listed possible friend encounters as indicated by the smiley face icon in the travel map. A user can see a specific location displayed along with time and date when they land on any month.

A user can then continue to explore further months in the time line by dragging the marker to the right. I wanted this exploration experience to feel continues as user drags their finger across the screen. After stopping the marker on a specific month, information of events and location would be displayed. Search can also be used for time traveling into specific months. alerts

iPhone alerts screen I’ve added an alert feature within the app to warn travelers of possible dangers, weather conditions along with the possibility of friendly encounters.

In the year 1996 I’m displaying friends that this particular user will meet if they choose to. They can also call them directly from the app. Fun facts about each friend are displayed and are relevant to their relationship.

2046 is the year of major thunder storms, which could be viewed in a photo gallery format.

2056 has a serious conflict between 04.56-08.56 months and a video can be viewed that summarizes major events. Time traveler can then decide for themselves if it’s worth the trouble of traveling to 2056 within months indicated.

I’ve used custom icons to indicate various alerts in the time travel yearly view, along with the alert icon near the search bar. android

Nexus 7 tablet designs I wanted to retain the same exact experience for the Time Travel app whether it is used on the iOS or the Android platform . NASA’s strong branding and the time traveling journey should be seamless no matter the device or platform. I’ve redesigned the app with the native Roboto font throughout the tablet experience but maintained the same look and feel from the original design approach. Font weights, design elements and colors were also treated in a similar fashion. User experience and design for this app is meant to feel agnostic. I’ve also used the native Android back button and a custom alert icon.