More Museum Art/Game apps...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/china-heart/id415232061?mt=8

I like this idea as a starting point for my app. It draws you into the museum app through a story. My thought is what else are art museums about apart from telling the story of where the painting originated from, who the artist is and what their story is. Although I didn't like using the app as I found the story disappointing as it just led onto some static information I think i could create an app that leads on to a game of piecing a story together. Through the game you would gain artist tools to piece together the story.

I have also looked into experimental art apps as they link to the area I am exploring, however because I am introducing point scoring to keep the user engages and giving them an goal alterior it is classed as game. http://todayinart.com/2010/03/18/experimental-art-apps-on-the-iphone/

I like the idea of Record maker. It let you create images using one finger. It has a humour factor with the images created.

I also like this app because it lets you manipulate work in the style of Joshua Davis, a digital and vector artist. I think it gives you an insight into how the artist works. This is what I want my app to do.

http://kids.tate.org.uk/games/art-detective/

Tate Britain has created a kids section that includes a game section. I have looked at the detective game that gets children actively thinking about why the artwork has been created, by who and why.

I think this is a successful art/game app because it

• uses bright graphics
• multiple tools-zooming in etc
• gives the children a challenge and a goal

Colour Colour: This web based game app teaches children about colour theory andd how it has developed since teh 50's. It lets you paint famous art works in the process.

Art Lab: The aim of the game is to restore an art piece of your choice. Along the way it describes for the process behind art restoration in real life.

Game possibility= a game that mimics a real life art process so that the children can learn and engage in a fun, educational game.

http://kids.tate.org.uk/games/discovering-turner/

This game reminds me of my angry birds art app in terms of how it propels objects onto a canvas. You choose objects that make up a painting by Turner. Although it works I think it needs some more to keep the user engaged, something to aim for. Maybe a question and answer game after you've chosen the elements to be propelled onto the canvas.

http://www.ismashphone.com/2009/08/14-best-iphone-apps-for-graphic-artists-and-web-designers.html

This link (going slightly astray from my game app) has some useful links for website/ graphic designers. It has apps that send you jobs, portfolio apps, colour palette apps and even project management apps.

Creating a News Ticker Through Modx

To get to grips with Modz and how it works in a website design agency I have had a series of meetings with Chris Fickling (one of the partners at ibrow media). He is the website design/developer of the previous website. he has been showing me the ropes of how to use Modx so that the client can use the update able content to its ultimate level.

To create a news ticker I had to set the layout of it in dreamweaver first so that I could assign Template Variables to it (tv's).

In this screen shot I had to add a Template variable to a template so that the document could access it and implement it on the web page. I called this Template variable 'newsoptions' so that the client will know what it is and be able to change the settings for the news that she wants to be shown.

This screen shot shows me defining the options that the client will be able to choose from (yes or no). The code for that is yes==yes||no==no

|| is telling the code to show the next radio option on the next line. A radio option just means that a few options are chosen and only one can be chosen.

The next step was to set the options for what images will be set up in the news ticker and where the images will be brought from.

The next step was to set the chunks, which is raw HMTL code that tells that template variables what to do and what div to access whilst carrying out its function.

Augmented reality with art/museum apps

http://artisticallyconnected.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/augmented-reality-smart-phone-apps-revolutionize-museum-audio-tours/

“We want to make an A.R. project with strong emphasis on user-generated content,” Mr. Wils said, referring to augmented reality. He also emphasized the importance of getting artists involved in the process. “We want to see that artists are using the technology to come up with new user experiences,” he said.

“I myself would call it an interactive participatory work of art, but it’s up for interpretation,” said Amy Heibel, the museum’s director of Web and digital media, referring to the application that lets people rearrange 38 elements of a 17th-century Dutch still life. This is referring to the museum app called 'In still life'. In my opinion it gets people involved in the work, getting them actively involved in the museums content and the work artists are producing. For example John Baldessari is an artists work who is becoming brought into the world of app and therefore exploring the art works boundaries. His work was initially about bringing text and photography into his painting but this app allows you to merge real life images into still life juxtapositions that are personal to you but done in the style of that artist.

http://www.in-still-life.com/index.php

This has given me the idea to develop my app design to incorporate an aspect allowing people to interact and recreate the artwork so that they can learn about it on a new level.

Background magic

The background of wish upon a star's website is going to be a vital part of the websites success. It is going to tell the story of the charity and help to persuade people to donate. Below are the stages I have gone through to put the composition (through photoshop and CSS) together so that the background compliments the content.

The illustration is too big...

Characters aren't in the right position...

Now to layer the faded white background on top through CSS. I've got to make sure that it makes the content clear whilst blending the background and content together...

More art/game apps (in museums)

I aim to explore art/game apps within the museum field to see what the competition is and how I can create a game that children will enjoy whilst teaching them about art. Below are a range of games that I think express the different areas of art/game apps. Both of the art/game apps below are web based apps that aim to teach children art techniques or information about artists.

http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/van_gogh/menu.html

This is one of 4 games that allows you to experiment with different sketching techniques as Van Gogh did.

http://www.getty.edu/gettygames/

Getty games has a range of slide shows, puzzles, detective games and spot the difference to attract children to art information. This is is the metropolitan museum.

http://apps.su/program/11146/art-museum-matchem-up-history-geography.html

Simple matching pictures game to the title game.

ArtStart: Was developed by an art teacher in Seattle. It is an ideas generator that gives students a tool, project and colour to work in. It has proven very successful to simulate idea with students. A simple ideas ticker taken to the next level.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/animalia/id388859403?mt=8

Animalia is a story telling game for the young artist. You have to find over a 100 items scattered throughout the artwork. A hide a seek game that can get the audience to explore the depths of the artwork. So far I like this concept the most as a story can make the artwork more intriguing rather than just straight up information.

What do think about whilst creating an art/game app for a museum:

• In reality (if this wasn't for a uni based project) cost of development would be a factor
• How much content to include
• What the 'forward' thinking theme would be to attract/inform more visitors
• The content of the app should enhance the experience of looking at it in person
• Should raise the museums appeal to attract tech savvy people.

What have iphone apps been used for in the past?

• Launch an app for a special exhibition.
• Create an app for selected works rather than focus on thousands of artworks throughout the whole museum. Offer detailed information on the 'best' of the current exhibition. This is usually designed for the pieces that people are naturally attracted to any way, giving them a deeper insight (possibly before they even go to the museum).
• A app that covers an extensive range of all the art work throughout the museum.
• For donations/sponsorship

Final Client Design Choices

The client has decided she wants the most hand drawn style that is closet to the mock-up I originally showed her. Her final choices are below:

Likes the design but doesn't want the extra people (on the far right side). She doesn't think they are required to keep the page 'interesting' in larger browsers.
She likes this design as it is closet to the original concept.

Art/game apps in museums

http://www.suite101.com/content/teaching-and-learning-digital-storytelling-a98595 This museum in Texas uses multimedia technology to tell historical stories. It uses a mixture of sounds, music, pictures etc as more traditional forms of story telling would through audio.

http://travelandcultureapps.com/2010/08/08/acoustiguide-smartour-asian-art-museum/ this art app is designed to take people through 6,000 years of Asian art history. The Acoustiguide smart tour has a well designed User Interface that navigates the content well. However I think that this is only a basis and need something to spark the users interest and get them involved in the app. It needs a story that makes the user interact with the UI. One of the key features to the apps accessibility and functionality success is that the app offers multiple choices of how to access the information therefore the user can choose which menu suits their needs/way of navigating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/arts/design/02apps.html: This article discusses the use of museum apps being purely for guidance and as a reference point to support the audiences museum tour. My thought is that don't children need something a bit more guiding/ attractive than a purely information based app. They need to feel like it isn't a task. They should feel like they are engaging in an entertaining game. Maybe a game that they can play before and after the visit to test their knowledge in an attractive way. It will also give the children additional reason to pay attention at a visit to a museum.

After downloading the MOMA art app I can see that although it is highly functional it doesn't engage the children in any way that would be different from a audio tour. Yes, it does supply the audience with extensive knowledge but I don't think any child would pay attention to it long enough to reap the benefits. If the information could be presented in a game format then the child could interact with the content and learn whilst participating. The would also have the option of learning it through a structured part of the app so that they can choose which option suits them best.

Gap In the market: There are 181 iphone art museam based apps vs only 31 in android...

Why: The iphone is available in 90 counties whilst teh android is available in just 32. There have been reports that there are bugs within the android system and it is hard to get apps to work on back-dated versions of android devices.

http://www.museums2go.com/2011/03/03/androids-museum-app-gap/

Modx: A content management system

Throughout my client project I am going to be working with Modx to create an up-dateable website for Wish upon a star. They a lot of photos, information and events that constantly need up dating so that people know what they are currently doing. it will also attract new companies and individuals to contribute to the charity if they know what is presently going on.

I will be using evolution. The classic version of Modx as the newest version is currently being developed therefore has a lot of bugs in it.

"there comes a point where doing things without a CMS just doesn’t make sense. Imagine trying to do what we do onwww.foxycart.com without a CMS. We have a blog with comments, a site gallery, dozens of “static” pages, forms, changelog updates, and etc. Trying to do that without a solid CMS is a waste of time, energy, and money. We love MODX."

Brettt Florio, FOXY Cart

Interactive map illustration

This map is created for the 'Events' page. The idea is to scroll of each area (in a red tone) and on the side a events calender will come up for each area. However there is one problem I have to account for the possibility that, for example some one from Scotland wants to find out about an event in London (which isn't on the map). It will be listed in all areas as it may be a popular event.

I hand drew this in photoshop CS5 with my graphics tablet so that it will fit in with the hand-drawn style of the rest of the website.

Illustrative backgrounds

Today I have produced two slightly different backgrounds. Both of them are originally hand drawn but digitally altered in different ways.

This illustration is just my hand drawing but 'cleaned' up with the clone tool etc for a sharper appearance that will stand out in the browser. The centre is where the content will be but the client wants to be able to see some of the background through it so it unites the content with the background therefore taking away the 'boxy' appearance.

At the moment this is my preference as it seems more unique but I am going to play about with more techniques. Also I don't want to alter the illustration too much as the client wanted me to stick as closely as possible to the original drawings.

For the second illustration I have applied a filter (cutout) but I think it looks too manufactured and it doesn't look like my style.

Also I designed it in photoshop to incorporate different browser views. The audience with bigger browser wont get bored of looking at white space. As you can see from the diagram I have incorporated different illustrations at the points where a new browser size would fit to ensure that everyone enjoys the website and the design makes the best use out of the space.