The Pocket Pittsburgh Gallery Guide (PPGG)

Background:

The Pittsburgh Gallery Guide (PGG) is in its 3rd year of existence. It is a grass roots effort to create a printed guide that is distributed and available for free in the city of Pittsburgh. There is currently a distribution of 10,000 guides. The Pittsburgh Gallery Guide wishes to expand its audience and readership by taking their publication to the web as well as mobile devices.

Project Summary:

The PGG website will serve as a central hub for art information for the Pittsburgh region (and South Western PA). The mobile counterpart will serve as a personal navigator for self-guided tours. The focus of this development will be for the mobile device. The PPGG is an application for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. The user will use this application to navigate through different pre-determined “Art Tours” with the use of maps, gallery listings, and descriptions of what each gallery has to offer. The Art Tours will also provide dinning suggestions and mention additional points of interest along the way. The PPGG will also serve as a reference guide by listing contact information and available business hours.

Future development of the PPGG will make the application compatible with other devices for maximum accessibility. The user also will be able to download the application onto their phone via The Pittsburgh Gallery Guide website.

Perception/Tone/Guidelines:

The target audience’s perception about the Pittsburgh Gallery Guide’s website is hard to speculate since their online presence has only been launched for a few weeks. Since its inception the Pittsburgh Gallery Guide has mainly been a print publication with a small distribution. Going online is big step for the PGG. It will give them a whole new audience and a broader range of distribution. PGG has received praise and recognition for its printed version of the guide, including acknowledgement by Art News. Also, Visit Pittsburgh is a strong supporter of the guide as well as many hotels, downtown condominium complexes, the Pittsburgh Airport Information Center and various hotels around the Pittsburgh Airport. PGG has had thousands of requests for guides from all over the country.

PPGG wants to promote an awareness of the arts in Pittsburgh, while promoting tourism and art sales. PPGG’s target audience will have a better understanding of Pittsburgh’s Art’s culture and will also be able to navigate their way with ease in a city that for many is quite complicated to travel. PPGG will allow its users to feel safe and have a sense of where they are in the city at all times. PPGG will assist the user by pointing out the best restaurants to dine at along the way. PPGG makes it easy to tour Pittsburgh’s galleries by foot, bike, or car. PPGG users will think of us as experts on the City’s art scene. PPGG will provide a unique experience with the self-guided tours that allows the user to stroll at their own pace without the hassles of a large group or time constraints.

PPGG is a unique, “rough guide” experience. The tours consist of “off-the-beaten-path” and “underground” art tours, as well as the main points of interest in the city such as its largest museums.

The PPGG application’s start page will give the user the option to choose whether they want to tour by foot, bike or by car. The interface will consist of simple clean icons that are easy to understand without having to read the label. After the user chooses his/her preference for transportation, a list of tours with descriptions specific to the transportation type will appear. There will be an image for each tour. There will also be an option audio component that reads each description. The audio component may be turned on or off. Each tour has its own interactive map with specific directions. The map will have numbered red flags in sequential order to point out all the destinations. The user can click on each location individually, or the tour will automatically play through with pause, play, and rewind capabilities. The maps will have a “Google-esque” quality to them. When a destination flag is clicked on a talk bubble will pop up. The overall look and feel of the application will be clean and sleek with shiny buttons.