Problem
Designed to poke fun at people who practice awkward behavior, and humorously guide a user in correctly recognizing and handling potentially awkward social situations, the Creep-O-Meter tablet app, is an interactive tool that can be used to educate, correct, or repel distasteful behavior.
Solution
The final solution was an app and a booklet. Both reveal awkward social behaviors, point out the funny aspects in them, and guide the user in a humorous way of dealing with them, and both solutions provide a user with useful tips and tools for dealing with creepy people. You can read more about this project by clicking HERE.
Project Details
Illustrator, Flash, Photoshop
Advisors; Marla Schweppe, Chris Jackson, Shaun Foster
Psychologist: Dr. Kerry Gordon, Ph.D.
The design
The layout of the app was designed to include familiar objects like a book, folder and iPad. Instead of the user tapping through a very visually digital format with buttons and tabs, they tap and flip through several objects that are familiar to them as 2D objects (a book or folder). When done, a user can “set it down” (click off the object) to move onto the next thing on the floor, as they would with actual objects. In the “How to Use This App” section, the user enters a book. To navigate through the pages of the book, the user taps tabs that flip to the correct side of the book as the user “flips” through chapters/pages. In this way, the interface mimics how a user traditionally navigates through a 2D book, with the familiarity a modern user has with a digital surface.
Similar to the app, the book is intended to appear as a used textbook. The inclusion of textures, scribbles, and small written notes were added to add a dimension of wear and tear, as well as a feeling that at some point in time, these materials were used by another person. These elements add to the overall “creepy” metaphor by giving the user a feeling of a connection to the previous “owner,” but not knowing who that person was.
Similar to the app, the book is intended to appear as a used textbook. The inclusion of textures, scribbles, and small written notes were added to add a dimension of wear and tear, as well as a feeling that at some point in time, these materials were used by another person. These elements add to the overall “creepy” metaphor by giving the user a feeling of a connection to the previous “owner,” but not knowing who that person was.
What about the tech?
The app was constructed in Adobe Flash (Photoshop and Illustrator for the assets) and published from Flash using AIR 3.9 and deployed for the iOS iPad and Android tablets. Unlike many Flash apps, the Creep-O-Meter was constructed spanning over 18 SWF (and .fla) files, which are combined into one for iOS and Andriod deployment.
Illustrations / Animations
Throughout the app there are animated gifs of men and women that animate to demonstrate characteristics of creepy individuals. The purpose was to add life to imagery while also providing visual clarification. Each was illustrated in Adobe Illustrator and runs frame-by-frame, looped in a nested motion clip in Flash. There are animations of men, women, and both combined to show the broadest range of creepy characteristics.
The final section of animations comes at the end where the user is given a toolkit of things they can "do" to the person they think is being creepy. These tools include; a taser, phone a friend ring tone, a message board, and an alarm.
The final section of animations comes at the end where the user is given a toolkit of things they can "do" to the person they think is being creepy. These tools include; a taser, phone a friend ring tone, a message board, and an alarm.
Curious and want to see a walkthrough? Grab a snack and watch the video below:
