Foreign Lands

I designed and developed Foreign Lands in 2015 as a personal project for two reasons. First, I wanted to play with the Android design language, Material Design, and gain a better understanding of the development of an Android app. Second, as someone lucky enough to travel to and experience different countries and cultures, I often got confused by many of the measures I was unfamiliar with. Switching to a new measurement system, currency, and timezone can be difficult and this app aimed to help with the most common conversions for speed, distance, etc.

The goal was to provide travelers a quick, one-stop spot for all the measurements and currency conversions they might need. It was also a chance for me to gain a deeper understanding of Google's Material design language, with features like layers and shadows to convey depth and meaning. Designing Foreign Lands was also an exercise in reducing the interface to only the absolute necessities which was important to furthering my understanding of the design constraints on mobile devices.

Development for this project consisted of familiarizing myself with the Android SDK and their new (at the time) development studio. It also provided an excellent experience in adapting design to what was technically feasible (based purely on my own abilities as a coder). Still available on the Google Play store if you dare try it out.