The image below is a preview of some art Juan has created for the event. The Guadalupe Arts Center will be releasing all the official programs and images soon so stay tuned for information as we get closer to the event.

Viva La Re-evolution!

The client

Green Car Hawaii is the first car-share service in Hawaii and the nation’s first aimed at tourists. Their concept is that rather than rent a vehicle for whole days or an entire visit, Green Car Hawaii customers only pay for the time they use it. They make reservations on the phone, online or at a kiosk using self-service technology. Green Car is not a membership program so there are no fees to join. Rates start at about $15 per hour and include gas and basic insurance.  As a bonus all vehicles also will also come with an iPad mounted on the dash that have a custom application installed that provides a map of the Kauai area with points of interest and activities listed for the traveler’s convenience — that’s where we came in.

I want an iPad app… where do we start?

The first thing we do with any client at Ikayzo, regardless of what they come to us for is talk with them about their project and identify all the possible solutions that will best meet their needs. In most cases that entails considering both technical implementations, budgetary and time contraints. In this case the client came to us with a very specific request to create an iPad application which made things a little easier us so to start what we did was create an “Application Requirements” document that identifies all the core functionality of the application and any add-on features that could possibly be added. This is a process I’ve been using for all our iPhone customers that has worked well and in this case was also very helpful. The key things we try to identify at this stage are:

1. What will the core-functionality of the app be?
2. How many screens/views will the app have?
3. What will each of the screens/view do?
4. What “add-on” features could we add to the core functionality of the app that could possibly enhance the user experience.
5. What data/server/hardware/technical requirements will be required to develop and support the app

Once these key items are identified, the items in the “Appplication Requirements” document are then discussed with the client to make sure all their needs/requests are met.  In the following section we’ll take a look at what we found for GreenCar in this process.

Okay, so what will the app do? Creating Our ‘Application Features Menu’

So after our initial meeting with the client we learned more about what they wanted their iPad application to do. Here is their list of  their initial requested functioninality:

1. Give rental car users immediate access to a map of the Kauai area
2. Map markers on the map in 5 categories using data from a local tourism service prodiver
3. Take advantage of the iPad platform to provide multimedia content in the form of video and website views for each location marked on the map
4. App should have a music player that will play music that will be loaded on the device
5. The app should serve as a prototype of what is possible with the iPad platform and function as a base for further application enhancements

With these requirements in mind I then created a list of views for the application and basic functionality for each view. Here’s a brief summary of what I came up with.

1. Map View – plot markers of locations on a Google Map
2. Map Markers Details View – will provide details for locations
3. Map List View – will provide a list view for locations for easy browsing
4. Search View – will provide a search field to find locations by name
5. Music Player View – a music player to play songs loaded on the device

As you can see, this app was shaping up to be very simple. The music player and search you could say are add-on features but the client identified these two things as items they definitely wanted in the first version of the app. The next step then was to identify several add-on features for the application which most of the time involves a brainstorming session with our team and lots of caffeine. Here’s what we came up with:

1. Universal app (iPhone/iPad)
2. GPS Geolocation
3. Advertisement support
4. Advanced search for locations
5. Localization
6. Social media integration (FB/Twitter)

How will the app work?

With all the core and add-on functionality requirements identified I then moved on to talk with our engineers to figure out how the heck we were going to do all this. This is very important because we don’t want to promise a feature that is technically impossible or is out of reach of the client’s budgetary and time constraints. Luckily, once again,  since this application was basically a prototype it was pretty straight forward. We determined that the iPad application would be comprised of two items:

1. Front end client in the form of an iPad app
2. Static data source served from an app server on the web in the form of a JSON file

Usually in this step  if the application requires a dynamic data source we create a much more detailed list/diagram of server requirements, data sources and web interfaces.

The result… I’ll take the special and a couple of sides to start.

So once we figured out what the GreenCar app would do and how it would do it I finished putting together our “Application Requirements” document and added in how long in terms of billable hours the core functionality and each “add-on” feature would take to finish. The result is that this document ends up looking like a dinner menu that has a main course (core functions) and side dishes(add-ons). The client then has a nice overview of what their application will cost and the time and resources involved in it’s creation and picks what they want to have for dinner.  It is noted to the client though that this is a very broad general view/estimate of their project and that once they give their approval to move foward this estimate/requirements document will be refined in more detail during the next phase of the project — the design phase.

That does it for part one of this case study. In the next part I will go over how we took our  list of requirements and add-ons and translated those to actual designs for the Green Car iPad application.

This past Memorial Day weekend was appropriately one of the most memorable I’ve had in Hawaii since I’ve been here. Creating unique experiences that are cherished forever is one of the most amazing things life can give us and I feel blessed to be living in such a beautiful place where that comes easy. This weekend had everything from lazying around on the beach, getting together with friends for beers, dressing up for a  party and celebrating the lives of long lost loved ones…here’s to living in the moment.

To see more photos of the lantern festival click here

So today I participated in the Na Hoku Festival by doing a panel on social media and a short presentation on ” Tools for Creating a web presence” online. Got to walk to the Hawaii Convention Center from new place and enjoy a beautiful morning. It was pretty great to see the festival kicking into high gear after working with the organizers for months on their website. Things started off really nicely with a panel I was on Social Media with Roxanne Darling and Mike from the Mountain Apple Company. After the panel, I went into my presentation about creating an online presence online. I just thought I would share some of the online resources I talked about during that presentation, most of which are geared towards helping musicians and some of the things I learned from my fellow panelists. So here we go:

If you don’t have a website you are ten years behind

I talked in my presentation about how if you didn’t have a website you were basically ten years behind your competitors. Don’t worry though, if you don’t have a website there are plenty of solutions out there to get you a nice hosted site and best of all they are free.

• WordPress.com – is probably your best best to getting yourself a great website to start with creating your online presence. It’s free and literally takes only minutes to sign up. This is a “hosted” solution meaning WordPress will host the site for you but if you are more tech savvy and have your own hosting then I definitely suggest you do a custom install of the WordPress software found on wordpress.org. It’s what I use for this blog and I absolutely love it.
• Blogger.com – another hosted site solution provided by Google that provides you with a nice blog
• Tumblr.com – a very popular blogging solution that integrates social media tools like Twitter and Facebook.

Improve your Facebook Fan Page with My Band

My band is a neat little app for Facebook fan pages that least gives you access to some great band specific features. Here a list of features from their site.

• Add a Bio and Band Photo
• Post unlimited songs for streaming or download
• Sell your music
• Friends can add your music to playlists and share music with their friends (viral)
• Include links to your homepage
• Add your show or gig schedule
• Sell tickets to shows
• Grow your mailing list and street team
• Track how your music is spreading (who’s listening? who’s sharing? which songs?) to measure your popularity.

Stop using MySpace to host your music and use Twitter and TwitUrm instead

We talked a little bit about MySpace for music during out panel and how it’s an outdated tool. Most musicians used MySpace for their nice music player but now a days there are plenty of better ways to share and host your music only line. TwitUrm is a great tool that easily allows you to share your music via Twitter. It’s free and all you need to sign up is a Twitter account. So stop using MySpace and start using Twitter.

Use Twitter scheduling tools like Twuffer to make your Twitter life a whole lot easier

Ever wonder how the heck these people on Twitter seem to online 24/7 sending out Tweets? No, they aren’t super human they are just smart and using automated Twitter scheduling tools like Twuffer. Do a search online for “Twitter Scheduling” and you find plenty of apps out there that can help you automate your Tweeting and give your poor thumbs a rest. Here are some of the features Twuffer listed on their site:

• tweet pre-written announcements
• appointment/milestone reminders
• run a time-based scavenger hunt
• notify subscribers about upcoming podcast or video episodes
• appear to never sleep

Email addresses are gold, keep fan lists, send out newsletters and reward fans for giving you their email using FanBridge and MailChimp

One of the important things Mile from the Apple Mountain Company brought up during our panel was the importance of email lists. Email lists not only help artists keep them in touch with their fans but they can also provide all sorts of analytics. FanBridge is a nice tool created specifically for artists to capture and manage fan lists and has a nice feature that actually rewards fans with items if they sign up for your newsletter. For example, you can offer a free song if a fan joins your Fan list. It’s a very cool and I highly recommend it.

MailChimp is another great tool for creating email newsletter lists. We use it a lot for clients at Ikayzo because it has some very powerful features. If you are  email list power user and manage multiple lists for example then  then MailChimp is the way to go.

Sell your music online with BandCamp, CD Baby and TopSpin

So enough about marketing, how do you make money? These days Itunes rules the music market but there are some great alternatives for musicians out there these days. Mountain Apple Company uses TopSpin to sell their music online and noted that although this is a more expensive alternative it has some very powerful features and benefits like being able to sell your music directly on any site including Facebook by using their widgets. A very nice service from what I see, definitely worth checking out.

Another site that’s been around for a while is CD Baby. I first encountered this site a while back when I did some album art work for an artist who was selling their music on the site. This is a very good alternative for selling music online and since they’ve been around such a long time they have quite a bit of exposure and reach online. If you are looking for a more traditional way of selling music online then this is a rock solid choice.

Lastly, BandCamp is a recent entry into the online music business and has made a great deal of traction attracting top names like Wynton Marsalis who we looked at during our presentation. I like the simplicity of Bandcamp, you sign up and in minutes you have your own little online store where people can download and listen to your tracks. A very powerful distribution tool and another way to get away from hosting music on MySpace. =)

Fund Your Next Album with KickStarter

So you’re a starving artist that needs cash to record their magnum opus, where do you go? KickStarter is a great new site that allows people to solicit investors to fund their creative project. Mike from Mountain Apple mentioned a local artist named Sabrina Velazquez recently found success on KickStarter and funded the recording of her album through the site by raising $5300. There are plenty more success stories where that came from too so give it a shot, you never know. Just sign up, embed the widget on your site and star plugging away to get people to pledge money. Offer rewards for pledges and involve your fans in the creations of your project.

Become your own mobile merch store with Square and accept payments anywhere

This is something I wish I had when I was selling comics and books at conventions — a way to accept credit card as payment. Using the Square mobile app and reader, anyone can now accept credit card payments. A very power tool when you are out there doing gigs and selling merch. Never pass up another buying customer again because you can’t take plastic. Best of all, it’s a free service. You jus pay a small per-transaction fee.

Create your own fan community site with Ning & SocialGo

Becoming part of online communities is key for promoting yourself online. Now with tools like Ning and SocialGo you can even create your own community site like the one we created for the Na Hoku Festival. Ning recently started charging for their services but Social is still free and offers many of the new features. These are two very powerful tools to bring people together and join basically your own custom “mini Facebook”.

Aside from participating in several meetings at MIC, last week I went to the first Civil Beat “BeatUp”. Civil beat has been of particular interest to me because it’s a new startup company headed up by the ex-founder of Ebay Pierre Omidyar. I was curious to see what kind of company Pierre was building and at the BeatUp I go to meet the Civil Beat crew and even give them my own first impression about their site. I don’t know what other startup would allow someone off the street to walk into their office and give their CEO advice So far, Civil Beat has great intentions but I feel it’s got a long way to go. We’ll see, I’m currently trying to get the CivilBeat crew to come up to Manoa for a BeatUp lunch.

Today I attend another event at Leeward Community College called the Pacific Region Learning Summit. It was invited to this event by an LCC teacher named Leanne Chun whom I helped out a few months ago by doing a webinar on web design for one of her classes. I had fun interacting with her students so when she asked me to participate in this special event I was delighted to accept. The focus of this summit was preparing students for the “real world,” something I wish I would have gotten when I first started out. I taked to two teachers, one from the Bay Area and one from here in Hawaii. They wanted to know how Ikayzo approached projects and how our development process could be recreated in a course. I thought it was pretty interesting and I hope I was of help. I also got to meet several other attendees of the event in a sort of “speed dating” scenario where every 15 mins I would meet a new person. All in all, a very good experience plus I got free lunch. =)

Lastly, this Friday I will be speaking at two more events. One of the first projects I got to work on at Ikayzo was the website for the Nā Hōkū O Hawai`i Music Festival which kicks off tomorrow with a pre-opening party and kicks into high gear Fri-Sat with a series of workshops and concerts throughout Waikiki until the big finish with the Awards Show on Sunday. I will have the honor and pleasure of participating in the two workshops during the festival. Both will be this Friday. The information is below and there are more details here.

10:30AM-11:20AM

New Media: Social Media Panel Ikayzo, Roxanne Darling and Mike Pooley of Mountain Apple
The panel discussion will focus on social media topics relevant to the music industry. This is the first in a series of workshops focusing on the many productive applications of social media alternatives. Joining the panel will be Roxanne Darling of Barefeet Studios and Dan Leuck of Ikayzo.

11:30AM-12:20AM

Creating a Compelling Web Presence & Promoting Your Music via Social Media In this workshop we will explore the use of free and inexpensive tools that allow you to create a web presence and promote it via social media. We will discuss simple visual tools that allow you to create a website without requiring deep technical skills and cover effective use of blogging, tweeting, Facebook and MySpace. Special attention will be given to features of use to musicians.

Well that’s it for now. I’ll be posting a recap on my workshops and follow me on twitter to get real time updates and photos while I’m there.