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Pyeniny Audio Guide by Mateusz Slowakiewicz |
Home > Winners > Design #66702 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
MS: Pieniny are a fascinating mountain ranges of Carpathian Mountains. They owe their popularity to their amazing landscapes, quite easy accessibility and nearby location of mineral springs with therapeutic waters. But it is much more than meets the eye – Pieniny have remarkable history and culture. Unfortunately, the information is hidden in archives and often outdated guidebooks.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
MS: The purpose of Pyeniny is to spread not so well accessible information about mountain routes. The goal, however, is not a yet another comprehensive compilation of data. It is the way in which it is presented. The information is shared in a user-friendly way that appeals to the senses and yet not distracts the travellers from the natural wonders around them. The guide’s texts are the results of solid research. Only the most fascinating and interesting facts and stories were chosen to be a part of the guide. Paweł Ratajczyk enclosed the stories into 25 tales. Thanks to the GPS technology which allows to lead the tourist along from chapter to chapter, the traveller not only sees the place but can also experience the spirit of the story. This way the tales become more tangible and free one’s imagination. Each text focuses on a different location and is written in the form of a tale spun by a mysterious storyteller, who reminds of an eternal spirit of the mountains. Pyeniny changes the experience of mountain hiking by allowing the tourists to encounter the past: Slavic mythology, Highlanders’ legends, old believes as well as impressive historical facts.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
MS: Besides promoting the app so that more people would use it we would love to add new areas and chapters so that the guide would cover all Pieniny region. Because the app is free we are looking for sponsors such as local towns and businesses, Pieniny National Park and media partners to help the project to grow. Currently, we are in touch with the local town Krościenko nad Dunajcem which is interested in cooperation. We would love to have physical signs in the Pieniny National Park which would additionally mark the recordings. We are planning to offer the development of similar audio guide applications for other regions.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
MS: The initial design took about a year and was my Master of Fine Arts diploma thesis project in 2013 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. In 2016, three years after the graduation with the help of my friends – Paweł Ratajczyk, Rept NGO and AI-MAPS programmers Jakub Straka and Michal Hornák we received a grant from Visegrad Fund. The app had its premiere in June 2017.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
MS: Pieniny mountains are my favourite place in Poland. Once I want on a trip and met there some ethnology students. During the hike, they told me many stories about Pieniny. The walk was unforgettable. The experience came back to me when I was looking for the topic for my MFA diploma project. I wanted to make this experience and knowledge easily accessible to other tourists.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
MS: Pyeniny is my brainchild so I will develop the product myself. I do not, however, exclude such a possibility of making similar apps for other regions in cooperation with local institutions.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
MS: The love of digital storytelling and the love of Pieniny mountains resulted in designing the Pyeniny app.
FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
MS: Agaty Stebnicka's mystery audio guide Lost In Katowice was one of the inspiration for Pyeniny. The guide was distributed as mp3 files together with the map of Katowice. The idea behind Pyeniny is the same, yet Pyeniny takes advantage of GPS technology and is enclosed in single product – a mobile app. Another examples of inspiring audioguides are: "Miejska Ścieżka" – Warsaw Audio Guide, "Żydowska Praga" – a guide to Warsaw Jewish Quarter and Szczecin The City of The Future. The design of the Pyeniny map was inspired by the oldest map of Pieniny which mingles a bird's eye perspective with panoramic view.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
MS: The target customer is mountain tourist using a smartphone with Android or iOS. There is no age limit.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
MS: There are many audio guides for cities, but seldom they are made for the mountains. Pyeniny is a unique app because it allows to navigate the tourist through the National Park and tell the stories of the past. In the recordings, the facts mingle with legends resulting in a unique experience. Everything you need is already in the app: the map, the recordings and texts. What set this apart from other similar concepts is that you can't listen or read the stories at home, or before the journey. You have to be in the place where the described events happened to listen to the recordings. The design of the map is also extraordinary; it was drawn on the iPad by hand – line by line and it took over 160 hours to draw.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
MS: The name Pyeniny is taken from the oldest known written description where the name Pieniny appears. It regards the castle from XIII century "Castrum Pyeniny" known today as The Castle of Pieniny. The name was back then written with a "y". In the Polish language, "Pieniny" and "Pyeniny" are pronounced almost the same way. Keeping the old spelling refers that the project has something to do with the history. It also looks neat.
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
MS: The visual identity of the project, as well as UX and UI, were designed with Adobe Illustrator. The map was drawn first by hand with pencil, but the digitalisation was challenging to deal with, so I decided to do it digitally. I used Apple Pencil and an iPad. The map was created in Procreate app and then exported to Adobe Illustrator.
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
MS: To fulfil their role the audio guide does not need a lot of design. In fact, the app should be almost invisible – so that the tourist could enjoy the nature around him and not stare at the screen. The application shows the user where the recordings are located by putting the pins on the map. Thus, the plan is the most important visual aspect of the project; and that is where we put all the effort to make it look stunning. It is inspired by one of the oldest, hand-drawn Pieniny map.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
MS: The app Mateusz Słowakiewicz and Paweł Ratajczyk’s brainchild. Mateusz design the logo, visual style, UX and map. Paweł focused on UX and UI and being a creative writer he wrote all the chapters. Małgorzata Mraz edited the texts, and Karolina Nowachowicz proofread them. The writing was translated from Polish to English by Roman Picheta who also lent his voice to the narrator. In Polish version, the voice belongs to actor Krzysztof Radkowski. The audio was recorded in Stereotyp Studio in Warsaw, with sound engineer Grzegorz Gutkowski. The music was written and recorded by Slovak multi-instrumentalist compositor Peter Adamov; James Evans played the violin. The application was developed by Michal Hornák and Jakub Straka from AI-MAPS. Visegrad Fund granted the financial support, thanks to help from Czech NGO Rept.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
MS: The GPS technology in smartphone allows to lead the tourist along the way and offer them the recordings concerning the past precisely in the places that the described events took place.
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
MS: The research regarded the history, legends and beliefs of Pieniny’s Highlanders. The most important sources were books written by Krzysztof Koper – an expert in Pieniny history and culture.
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
MS: The biggest challenge was to develop the app to work for most of the devices. With every system actualisation, it is necessary to test the app once again and to fix the possible issues as soon as possible.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
MS: This project is my brainchild, and I am proud of it, so I just wanted to „show it to the world”. I hoped that winning the award will help the project in its promotion and would encourage people to come to Pieniny and experience the stories by themselves.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
MS: It was our first application, so I have learned a lot about the UX and app development. While making the map, I improved my drawing skills, as well as my patience… Last week before handing the design over to developers, I was drawing every day about 6 to 8 hours. It was a truly a meditative experience for me. I also improve my skills as art director – I was responsible for to maintain the overall mood of the project: from working with the writer on the texts, on the music with the composer, directing the actors and communication with the developers.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
MS: The application was initially created as my Master of Fine Arts diploma thesis project in the Multimedia Design Studio at Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, with the supervision from prof. Marian Oslislo.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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