These projects made a difference.
The Taylor iPhone Application
One of our favourite recent projects been working with a Melbourne-based startup on a remarkable new application for iOS devices which helps people discover cultural events and share them with their friends.
Disciplines:
Brand Development Interaction Design Project Management User Experience Web Design
Introduction
Floate developed the brand for Taylor, creating what is known internally as the Taylor ‘personality’. This personality drives everything about the Taylor experience from the distinctive approach to visual identity (instead of a single logo, Taylor has an almost infinite number of connected devices) through to the user experience and design.
Floate worked closely with the internal Taylor team, and with DiUS assembled the larger team of developers and engineers that brought the Taylor application to life.
Aim
To build an iPhone application that delivered an engaging way to find out about cultural events that might otherwise pass you by.
Background
The founders of what is now known as Taylor came to Floate with an idea for an application, outlined over about 20 powerpoint slides. Over the subsequent months, the Floate team worked together with the founders to flesh out, not only what the application would offer, but also how it would engage with people.
Floate worked with the founders to build the Taylor brand from the ground up – coming up with everything from the name through the tone and offering all the way through to the user interface strategies and eventual user interface design.
Challenges
Taylor were always very keen to ensure that they built their application (and business) in as lean a fashion as possible, while focussing on a swift launch to the market. Some superficially similar (but conceptually quite different) applications were launched between the beginning of the project and the launch of the Taylor app, and we needed to ensure that we strongly communicated the differences between Taylor and the other products in both the brand and the interface.
Method
While working with the Taylor team to establish brand values and the tone of communication, we concurrently built low-resolution wireframes of the user experience, mapping out all types of interaction and painstakingly planned how the user would interact with the information being channeled through Taylor.
On Floate’s advice, Taylor commissioned DiUS to undertake the technical architecture and development. Once DiUS assembled a team to build the application and undertake the back-end development, we worked seamlessly with their team to provide all UI elements as required in order to meet their aggressive launch schedule.
Results
The Taylor app was a success on launch, and it was quickly picked up as an Apple Staff pick in the Australian iTunes store. The founders have been able to use version 1.0 of the application to demonstrate the concept to investors, and also to showcase the application in other markets.
