ArtPrize Android & iOS Apps
ArtPrize
ArtPrize is running the world’s largest open, independent art competition.
web
web
mobile
mobile
desktop
desktop
embedded
ArtPrize awards $500,000 in prizes to works of art selected by public vote and expert jury during a massive 19-day event. This requires a great deal of logistics, including mobile apps for 60,000 event-goers.
The ArtPrize app helps visitors find 170+ venues in the 3-square-mile ArtPrize district and vote for their favorite entries in real time. Atomic works with ArtPrize to update and improve their mobile app each year.
In past years, users could only register after they arrived in the ArtPrize district. This was difficult because the cell network is often overloaded during the event.
The team designed a new registration process. Users can now create an account and confirm their identity at any time. The final step of registration happens automatically when they enter the ArtPrize district during the event.
Jeff Wheeler, ArtPrize Director of Technology
Coordinating Stakeholders
Technical Specs
Atomic designed the system architecture and wrote software and firmware for:
Jeff Wheeler, ArtPrize Director of Technology
Voting Infrastructure Upgrade
Atomic overhauled the app’s voting system. Many ArtPrize venues have poor cell reception, especially when thousands of voters are competing for bandwidth. To solve this, the app stores votes until the user’s phone gets an internet connection.
In past years, data syncing was buggy and would sometimes return errors, delay voting, or display votes incorrectly. It also had trouble syncing votes cast using different methods.
Atomic restructured the entire voting infrastructure — creating a simpler, more reliable system. Thanks to the new approach, votes cast via the mobile app rose from 65% of all votes to 75% after the upgrade.
Stability Improvements
The Atomic team re-engineered the ArtPrize app code base, fixing persistent stability issues and adding geofencing, dynamic updating, and integrated navigation.
Taste-testing the Product in the Field
Coordinating Stakeholders
A Partnership with a Storybook Ending
The team’s careful project management, client communication, cutting-edge architecture, and cohesive design strategy helped the team ship the product on time and on budget.
Reflecting back on the multi-year, high-profile project, Robinson said Atomic helped his company arrive at a special moment in time.
“We'd never done anything this big. Ever,” he said. “We’re live across all the major pillars Atomic said they would deliver on. It was delivered on time, on budget, to expectation, live. Not three or four milestones late with people leaving and the platform half-baked and full of bugs.”
StoryLoom began open-beta in December 2022. A global launch is scheduled for the spring of 2023.
“We’ve been given a rare opportunity," said Robinson, "to find success by chasing opportunities Starship Enterprise-style: going where people aren’t—pushing boundaries.”
Jeff Wheeler, ArtPrize Director of Technology
Atomic provided Android app development and iOS app development for the ArtPrize mobile apps. Conduit Studio provided visual design and information architecture on the project.