Blue plaques app
English heritage Blue Plaques can be found all around the country, they mark significant British history of people or places.
Problem
As a big admirer of Blue plaques I was thrilled to find an app specifically for them. Wasn’t long before I become frustrated and found myself gravitating towards English heritage website or Wikipedia to find information about any particular plaque I found along the way. This lead me to start thinking about what it could be and as a design I wanted to visualise it, so here is that concept and how I got there.
Constraints of the project
I am a designer so the build process for this at the moment seems impossible, I would however love to figure out a way of building this app for other people to use.
I have tried to contact English heritage with no response of the time of upload of this case study.
Since this is a concept project that I am having a bit of fun one this case study only shows the end result and how or why I decided to do things in that way. I am always looking for new ideas and ways to do something to expand my knowledge of tech with this project so it could be different tomorrow.
If you would be interested in building this project please do reach out.
First off, designing the app icon, using an abstract, simple approach to symbolise a plaque, using the brand blue and the white rim that is mostly seen on any given plaque.
I found an opportunity outside of the app on the home screen using a widget with GPS linked to your location so that the widget could pick up which plaque was closest to your location.
This solved many issues. Firstly enabled a quick way into the information of the person behind the plaque. But most importantly an instant way to see the face behind the plaque thats in front of you.
First off, took the opportunity to re design the app icon, I thought about it a slightly abstract, maybe slightly obvious yet simple way in that all plaques are blue in the centre with a white ring.
The big reason for this was to use a home screen widget with GPS linked to your location so that the icon would changed based on your location and your nearest plaque.
This for me solved many issues. Firstly a quick way into the information of the person behind the plaque. But most importantly an instant way to see the face behind the plaque that was in front of you.
As you open the app, you are met with a directory list of plaques with a search and filter for quick filtering between categories or plaques you may have seen or not.
within the list component there is the profile image rather than the plaque as faces are way more recognisable than the actual plaque, their name and category to help with discovery and lastly the ability to quickly check off if you had seen the plaque
As you open the app, you are met with a directory list of plaques with a search and filter for quick filtering between categories or plaques you may have seen or not.
within the list component there is the profile image rather than the plaque as faces are way more recognisable than the actual plaque, their name and category to help with discovery and lastly the ability to quickly check off if you had seen the plaque
Whilst trying not to add in every feature possible a map feels important to the context of the position of plaques, peoples discovery, understanding of placement and self placement. The map then incorporated into the home screen, behind the directory and visible when pulled down.
Whilst trying not to add in every feature possible a map feels important to the context of the position of plaques, peoples discovery, understanding of placement and self placement. The map then incorporated into the home screen, behind the directory and visible when pulled down.
I looked at the hierarchy of the profile page organising the content in a linear way, showing snap shots of important information to more detailed as you scroll, ending on showing relevant plaques to add another point of discovery. All of this information is taken from the profile pages on the English heritage page, seen here.
In the past I have looked at many features for this app using new features that would help further with discovery or using content from the website to aid interest and insight into the rich history of England.
The reason for keeping this project lean for now is that I would like to find the time to figure out how I can build this either myself or with the help of others and there are many questions for me to figure out to start with.
• How to pull in profile content and how do I get the rights to use it
• The integration of GPS with an home screen widget
• Submitting to the app store
• Is there a no code app I could use to build this
• If not is there anyone that would be interested in building it
