Island City Sculpture Trail App
Designing an accessible web app for an urban sculpture walking trail in Cork City
Cork County Council
Team
Designed at Unthink
Role
Research & Strategy
UX Research
Wireframing
UI Design
Timeframe
Jun–Aug 2024
Island City is a public sculpture trail in Cork City. Cork Country Council wanted to develop the pre-existing printed trail map into an interactive mobile app. They partnered with Arts and Disability Ireland (ADI) to ensure that the project was accessible to everyone, physically and digitally.
The Opportunity
As the main function of the app was a map, we took a day trip to Cork to walk the trail and get a sense of the physical experience. As a visual language for the Island City project already existed, the app sought to ensure brand consistency while also delivering an accessible and usable mobile first platform. The approach can be a model for accessibility in future public art projects in Ireland.
The Solution
The solution was a progressive web app that was designed with mobile first so that users could navigate the trail and engage with the artworks in Cork, but could also be viewed on desktop so that users could avail of the pre-visit accessibility documents. A clear and simple navigation system was developed, foregrounding the map and the sculptures. The interface is flexible to allow for additional content to be added to tell the story of the project, such as behind the scenes content about the artworks, profiles of the artists, and updates about other cultural events in Cork City. We worked closely with ADI while developing the interface to deliver a web app that exceeded accessibility standards, and facilitated additional accessibility interventions in the space, such as Navilens.
Visit the App