result
a few mockups
- solar system -
- The sun -
- saturn -
I love space and everything to do with it. In particular, it seems that innovation is both the cause and effect of space exploration, which feels oddly inspirational to me? Recently, I've been thinking about how it must feel to explore space and live in this world of constant innovation. Considering I'm not an astronaut or aerospace engineer, I'm going to need some other window into the world of these space explorers. Luckily, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a R&D lab funded by NASA, produced a web app series that allows users to do just that. These apps (Eyes on Earth, Eyes on The Solar System, and Eyes on Exoplanets) provide a consolidated, live, interactive learning experience for curious citizens of Earth, eager to feel like one of the space explorers (i.e. myself). Most impressively, in my humble opinion, they managed to do this in a way that reflects the aforementioned innovative world of NASA & JPL via ~design.~
After experiencing these usability hurdles, I decided to try my hand at a Mobile App adaptation of the program. I chose just a small piece of the "Eyes on The Solar System" web app to play around with. While I certainly enjoyed putting my spin on the visual design, I tried not to stray too much from the great look the design team has already developed. Instead, I primarily focused on how a mobile app could allow the platform to embrace animations and transitions that address these missed opportunities.
While the web app is technically mobile-optimized, I noticed that constraining themselves to a browser-based experience created missed opportunities for successful scalability.
- The desktop-oriented interactive nature of the platform doesn't translate well to mobile, making the program difficult to navigate and appreciate.
- With the lack of the the kind of animations users have come to expect from mobile experiences, the system feels disjointed and unimpressive.