Project Summary:
Aquatica Exotica is a mobile app designed for fish keeping hobbyists made to help with aquarium maintenance by supplying users with information on fish, invertebrate, and plant species. It allows users to build and manage their tanks digitally and also create scheduled reminders for their tanks. The application also doubles as a social hub for those within the fish keeping hobby with its built in forum for users. The goal of Aquatica Exotica is to be the ultimate source of information and assistance for both newcomers and veterans to the hobby.
Design Challenges:
The world of aquarium keeping is incredibly expansive and continues to grow, and with it so is the relative information. This constant flow of new information can lead to a lot of it quickly becoming outdated. For example new species can be discovered or old ones can be reclassified, and new information can be found or old information clarified; because of this, physical records can be quite unreliable. Also, the information that pet stores themselves offer to their customers can be false, leading to it spreading further and unintentional harm being done to some fish species.
Online databases in the past have received little to no updates on their information and many times are downright missing species. Some of these databases are not easily navigable, are not mobile in any sense, and are not welcoming to newcomers.
Design Solutions:
Aquatica Exotica was designed with the hobbyists in mind, both the newbies and veterans alike. The flow of the application is designed to be as simple as possible so that users of all ages and experience levels can make full use of its services. It is also designed to be able to update and add information to its species profiles, allowing the database to grow and remain up to date. The database itself contains all necessary information needed for keeping a specific species of fish as well as suggestions for tank mates and setup. A tank building feature allows users build their real aquariums digitally so that may set maintenance reminders about them and always be able to remember what is going on with their tanks. There is an added social function that allows hobbyists to interact and share with one another, driving a sense of meaningful connection and positivity within the community
