TURTOPIA
Motion Design • iPad App Design • Art Direction • UI/UX
Turtopia is an encyclopedia app that is chock-full of information about everything related to turtles. Search various species of turtles by classification or region, learn about various characteristics, and watch videos from experts about conservaion. This app is given a look that makes it like an old encyclopedia with a modern twist.
Process
Before sketching for this ambitious, semester-long assignment, I had to do some research akin to that of UI/UX, although this app has room to be more fun and creative. First, I had to get familiar with how information was organized, so I used some turtle encyclopedias in the library for reference for my sitemap. I also directly applied text from these sources to the highest tiers of information.
After painstakingly typing every word I needed to for the demo, I got to work on finding appropriate images and turning them into printing plate-style illustrations in Photoshop using textures, brushes and blending modes. I sketched screen layouts on paper and refined them in Photoshop using a precise grid system, then I animated the illustrations using Puppet Warp in After Effects. Finally, I integrated videos for loading zones and meticulously animated the walkthrough in After Effects to make movements as natural and close to reality as possible. The result was an old-style encyclopedia brought to life with animated imagery and videos.
When I showed the finished demo to my professor and classmates, they were delighted, especially with how cute the turtles were. Who wouldn’t smile even a little bit when seeing the logo’s turtle slowly walking as the app loads, or seeing a tortoise chomp on a watermelon when transitioning from the main menu?
