Hippotrix Creative App Development team share White the App news in this guest blog; calling all early years children, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts…in fact anyone who would benefit from a delightful moment of joy!
Hippotrix have been busy upgrading White The App code for multi-platforms and now, with Catherine Wheels, are very excited to launch White The App, for the first time on Android devices, so it’s available in Google’s Play Store! Yay! So now, all children can try this must-play app and parents can download it for free on any iOS (as also upgraded Apple iOS version) or Android devices.
We at Hippotrix are creative app developers working predominantly with arts and education organisations, to develop quality, playful digital-toy experiences that often relate to existing creative ventures. Developing White The App, inspired by Catherine Wheels’ internationally award-winning White, was a highlight of our working process in 2014 when we formed Hippotrix, and was our first arts organisation collaboration.
The original designing of playful interactions for early years children was great fun, but at the same time careful research was carried out by Ben Fletcher-Watson into apps and child development, and this considered approach is now used by Hippotrix in all our software creation. Jonathan Charles, brought his film animation expertise to ensure the code produced the most beautiful movement and interactions, for young people and adults enjoyment alike!
A key stage was carefully photographing the original show props to reimagine them as visual assets, for the app. We worked closely with Shona Reppe (show designer) and Andy Manley (show originator), on the best egg cups, bird boxes, and even which background wallpapers to use. The soundscape was carefully reworked with Danny Krass (show musician) to make sure it really felt like the show, but also effectively to bring the the app functionality to life. Perhaps our proudest part of musical design is in the final scene where as you open more bird houses the soundtrack builds, while also as you close them the sound returns to a gentle state.
We realised early on during the pandemic, how important it was for children to have access to quality arts experiences, while restrictions meant live shows were paused and also just how crucial it is for those digital tools to be fully functioning, as platform updates lead to bugs developing.
White The App was originally launched for IOS devices, while the company were touring White in Hollywood no less, and since then there have been over 4,000 downloads globally and still the wonderfully positive feedback continues to flood in.
If you would like to download this free app, from either App Store or even Google Play, follow the links below and please do give it a star rating as this helps others to discover the joy that is White The App!
White The App was originally developed with the financial assistance of the Creative Scotland Innovation Fund and AmbITion Scotland.This app was upgraded to multi-platform in 2021, supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
For more information about Hippotrix, visit www.hippotrix.com