The GDCh provides diverse and quality content for the chemical community and those interested in chemistry. Integrating their member’s magazine as a bookshelf, and numerous articles from other platforms like Typo3 and Twitter needed to be readily available in the app. The aim was for the content to be easy to access and share – so we incorporated push notifications, bookmarks and sharing options.
GDCh.APP – APP FOR THE GERMAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
How we developed an App for +30,000 chemists
OVERVIEW
The GDCh.app
It’s mid 2020 and the GDCh is on a quest: to find the perfect partner to create their GDCh.app – a digital beacon project for the renowned German Chemical Society.
Client
German Chemical Society e.V.
Services
UX Design
/
UI Design
/
Web development
/
App development
Project duration
7 Months
The team
1 Project Manager
/
2 Front-end
Engineers
/
2 Back-end
Engineers
/
1 UX Designer
/
1 Visual Designer
Challenges & goals
The memo was clear – we had a year to create the GDCh.app to positively impact the more than 30,000 international GDCh members. News, articles, and social media from various channels and systems had to be incorporated into the app. Members can create profiles and find their colleagues on the app, which needed to be available on the Internet, App Store, and Play Store.
Our approach
Due to the complex and multi-layered technical and content-related requirements of the GDCh, we initially advised carrying out a UX and concept workshop. The aim was to fix the final feature set with all stakeholders and lay the foundation for a successful IT project.
30k+
Registered users in Germany and worldwide
8+
Supported platforms
and device types
7
Especial dream team employees
0
Planned maintenance hours / month
ROADMAP
How we developed the App
Together with the stakeholders, we run through the Concept Phase of establishing wireframes and developing features in Design Sprints or UX Workshops. The wireframes are then refined in Visual Design in terms of color and aesthetics, and ultimately converted into program code.
01
Concept & UX Design
02
Visual Design
03
Programming
CONCEPT & UX DESIGN
What do users want
01 Great content at the palm of their hand
02 The Social Butterfly
An easily mapped out social network is vital for users of the GDCh.app. Members should be able to share their interests, their specific field, and profile bio. Upploading a profile picture and linking to other social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn were also part of the requirements.
03 Easy Access – App & Web
Available at your fingertips. The GDCh.app needed to be effortlessly accessible whether the user was in the office, the laboratory, the breakfast table, in the train to the university campus or simply on-the-go. With these requirements in mind, a multi-platform app was created with full functionality on both the Web, as well as on desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones.
04 Elearning, ecommerce and so much more!
Always looking ahead. As the digital beacon project, thinking long-term was important. The GDCh.app needed to have the bandwidth of incorporating future ideas like integrating training offers or the career service. The design, the system landscape and the technical structure of the app needed to be equipped to handle these potential changes.
The way we work is unique and extremely effective.
Within only a few short weeks we had completed the Concept Phase. We had agreed on the vision of the app with all stakeholders, analyzed the data structure and developed a clickable prototype. The prototype we created served as the perfect visual for the GDCh to make their final conceptual changes.
Within only a few short weeks we had completed the Concept Phase. We had agreed on the vision of the app with all stakeholders, analyzed the data structure and developed a clickable prototype. The prototype we created served as the perfect visual for the GDCh to make their final conceptual changes.
VISUAL DESIGN
A Modern Look
Once the Concept Phase is completed, we further explore and develop the Visual Design. This is where we implement the visual and aesthetic refinements to the GDCh.app.
We received a general outline in terms of style from their existing corporate design. We needed to create a modern layout for the social media components. We had to strive for an app that delivered a seamlessly enjoyable reading experience. For example, with users being able to adjust the font size on the app.
We had our work cut out for us, and we couldn’t wait to solve these technical obstacles for our client. The GDCh.app was designed as an app for iOS, Android, and the Internet. We needed to re-arrange the design to include users on desktops PCs, tablets and smartphones- which is exactly what we stylishly did.
