The Information Age has morphed into the Innovation Age. This is particularly evident in web app creation.
And examining the great ideas of others can often rejuvenate creative thinking -- like these five web app concepts:
1. Modest Mouse Is Not Just a Band Anymore; Now They're Into Web App Design
We'll start with the weirdest one. Yes, that's right, Modest Mouse is no longer just a band. They're designing web apps too. (Well, they're hiring people like us to design them.)
Their Strangers Linguistic Remix Generator takes words that you enter in a text box, and uses the rhythmic flow and length of the phrase to craft a custom-made, instrumental Modern Mouse song just for you, right there, on the spot -- complete with art house imagery flashing the lyrics you've written across the screen.
John Brownlee at FastCodesign.com, observed this about the new web app from Modest Mouse:
Modest Mouse calls its app the 'Strangers Linguistic Remix Generator.' Upon loading up the website, the generator asks you to input a phrase of up to 96 characters, then dynamically converts it into a remix based on samples from Modest Mouse's new record, complete with a seemingly random music video broken up into kaleidoscopic patterns.
'The algorithm compares common letter frequency data, and generates stems and patterns to match'...
Now that is music of the 21st century.
2. Flying Emojis
Remember the ancient screen saver from the '90s and early 2000s that made it look like you were flying through space with stars zooming at you (and by you)? Well, someone created a web app that make emojis fly at you. The flow of the emojis respond to your mouse movements.
Useful? No, not really.
Addicting, weird, and a classic example of the Internet's undying novelty?
Absolutely.
3. Create Your Own Fonts
Now on to something a little more practical. Ever wanted to create your own fonts? Now you can in a very user-friendly environment that's fun and easy, thanks to Metaflop, as explained in this article, quoted here:
Created by Swiss designers...Metaflop isn't just an easy online tool for creating simple typefaces, it's also a great tutorial on a lot of the terminology of type design. If you've ever read about typeface terms like ascenders, cap heights, overshoot, descenders, and contrasts, there's no better way to figure out what these terms mean than by using a slider to change their variables and see how it changes a typeface in real time.
Now when someone accuses you for not having a unique font for your brand, well, unfortunately now you have no excuse. Now we can all create our own fonts with a user-friendly, enriching web app experience.
4. YouNow: Broadcast Your Life Live
The YouTube generation -- pre-recorded and edited user-generated content -- has now arrived at its logical conclusion: user-generated live broadcasting.
Of course, live broadcasting online is nothing particularly new. But YouNow facilitates the process, hosts the live streaming data, and makes the experience user-friendly -- just how YouTube did for posting videos on the Internet.
And, wow, is it catching on.
For example, in a March 2015 article, TheVerge.com described the sudden international popularity of a cashier who signed up to YouNow and just began streaming his life working in a gas station. The experience went from just filming mundane moments to genuine interaction between the cashier and his fans. His daily, ordinary life became a hit online:
Abuhamdeh’s routine was subtle. People would walk up and pay, he would ring them up, and then as they left, nail them with a zinger spoken to the camera. If a customer was in on the joke, Abuhamdeh would banter with them a bit. He shared stories from his home life, and slowly began to invite fans into it, broadcasting from his apartment, from a cousin’s wedding, while driving in his car or getting a haircut.
15 years ago society was still getting used to the idea of email. Now we're video broadcasting our lives online to the world 24/7. We live in a fascinating world.
5. An Oldie But a Goodie: Still Love the Coast
This is an oldie but a goodie, but to those who have grown to love this app since its 2013 launch, they will appreciate seeing it included here.
A couple of years ago, Opera created a browsing app called Coast -- exclusively for iPhone and iPad -- and finally did something about the web browsing concepts born from the '90s that still dominated the mobile web surfing.
It was a simple fix, really. Opera modeled the web browsing experience after the menus of our smart phones -- i.e. how the apps are represented by squares that can be moved at will to different areas of the phone.
Coast took this concept and added smoothness to all of the motions. It is notably less clunky than the effort it takes to move apps around an iPhone screen, for example. And it has a sparse, clean design to make surfing the Internet more enjoyable. Coast arranges your favorite websites like a buffet of easily organized apps with gorgeous, clean graphics.
What will be the next brilliant web app? Will it be yours?
Contensive loves designing web apps. Contact us to learn more about how our talented, hard-working team of engineers can help you with your next web app creation.
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