Photos From Abroad

This project consisted of designing and developing a website, compiling pictures from the experiences and travels in Europe. It was developed in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and then connected to a CMS called Typo3. The project was developed in my semester abroad at FH Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences.

The problem

It was requested to create an information platform handled by a CMS "Content Management System" called Typo3. The situation that the team analysed was that erasmus students travel from more than 19 countries and meet for short periods of time, sharing experiences and visiting different countries together.

The memory of each of the students is not enough to store the experiences and make them last in time, that is why they usually look for social networks like facebook or instagram in order to generate shared albums. The main problem is that at the end of the exchange period each student returns to their respective countries and the administrators of the shared albums have the possibility to delete or modify the memories and photographs that had been stored.

Coming up with a solution

It was of great importance to carry out an investigation of the social networks and digital platforms that offer possibility of images storage and their interaction. In addition, a moodboard was developed to identify the visual culture to which students from 19 different countries were exposed.

The structure of the content and navigation were defined through a process of sketching and ideation on the part of the 3 students who were part of the team and we also did interviews with the potential users of the tool. It was of vital importance to understand the operation of the CMS that was going to be used to manage the contents of the digital album, in order to identify what kind of photographs and texts could be deployed.

Finally the development phase and coding of the designs allowed us to put the digital platform on air, taking into consideration the user’s research and the visual components that were previously established.

My role

My role in the project was to develop and conduct interviews in order to identify the interaction components and the graphic line that was to be implemented as part of the design phase of the tool. I also took and edited most of the photographs that make up the site, as part of the compendium of experiences during the exchange semester in the city of Voralberg, Austria and in general around several European countries.

During the development phase my role was more focused on monitoring and uploading content to the Typo3 platform.

The result

The result is a digital photo album that gives the user the possibility to store and display a group of files in a simple and intuitive way. The result is visually pleasing and adapts to the results of the research with the exchange students that took place in the early stages of product development.