City Of Dallas - Deep Ellum

Overview

• Partnered with the City Of Dallas to create a mobile application to capture the rich Black history of Deep Ellum
• Develop custom 3D models, complete with animations of historical monuments utilizing Unity for development and a combination of Maya and Blender for 3D elements.
• Designed and developed a full timeline of events from the 1850s until present day, complete with AR ballroom experiences, documents, interviews, speeches, and musical pieces.

Project Scope

• Mobile Application Development
• 3D Modeling 
• 3D Animation
• UI / UX Design
• Unity Development
• AR Development

The Challenge

With technology advancing quickly, The City Of Dallas needed to capture the Black history of Deep Ellum in a way that would keep up with the times. 

There is so much history in the city to be captured, but textbooks would soon be outdated in favor of tablets and online services. Deep Ellum needed all their resources to be pulled together into a single source of truth that would withstand the test of time, but also tell the story of the city in an engaging and interesting way for future generations.

The City Of Dallas, Arts and Culture, reached out to partner with our team to try to solve this unique challenge. 

Our Approach

Our first challenge was to centralize over a century's worth of diverse content into a single location. This content included documents, speeches, songs, photos, and videos. To ensure we fully understood the City of Dallas's needs, we conducted a comprehensive creative brief with them. Following an extensive audit, we entered the pre-production phase, conceptualizing the best ways for users to access and interact with the information. We developed detailed sitemaps, wireframes, and capability discussions.

Our primary goal was to create a captivating product that immediately grabs users' attention through animated 3D models. The app's dynamic storytelling would keep users engaged as they explore Deep Ellum's history through interactive models and rich historical content.

To further enhance the user experience, we planned to integrate 360-degree photos, portraits, audio clips, and documents, making the past feel tangible and alive. Our UI/UX team eventually developed a timeline layout featuring an AR filter that showcased 3D assets at the top of the screen, with corresponding content and assets displayed below.

Our team began creating handmade assets in Blender and Maya to accurately represent Deep Ellum during different historical periods. Simultaneously, our Unity development team began pseudocoding the application and designing the flow between screens.

Once the groundwork was laid, the development team used Unity to build the mobile application for both Android and iOS platforms. After the initial development phase, our focus shifted to rigorous testing and quality assurance to ensure the application met our high standards of performance, usability, and reliability.

We conducted extensive testing on both Android and iOS platforms. This included functionality testing to ensure all features worked as intended, performance testing to verify the app's responsiveness and load times, and usability testing to ensure a seamless user experience.

Based on feedback from our testing phase, we identified and addressed any bugs or issues. This iterative process allowed us to refine the application, ensuring it was both robust and user-friendly. To further enhance the app, we conducted beta testing with a select group of users, including members of the City of Dallas and local historians. Their feedback was invaluable in making final adjustments and enhancements to the app's functionality and user interface.

Our Solution

To meet the City of Dallas's unique challenge of preserving Deep Ellum's Black history, we implemented a multifaceted approach focused on both innovative technology and engaging content.

Handmade Assets and Advanced Development

Our UI/UX team created a timeline layout that seamlessly integrated with the dynamic AR elements and static historical elements. 

Interactive 3D Models and Dynamic Storytelling

To captivate users, we developed animated 3D models that vividly depicted Deep Ellum's historical evolution. These models were designed to be both informative and engaging, providing a dynamic storytelling experience.

Capturing Historical and Modern Assets

We integrated 360-degree ballroom experiences, photos, portraits, audio clips, and documents to create an immersive experience that made the past feel tangible. 

The Results

• 1 MILLION IMPRESSIONS
• 1 THOUSAND DOWNLOADS
• 100+ YEARS OF HISTORY PRESERVED

Increased Engagement and User Interaction

The mobile application received high praise for its interactive and immersive features. Users were able to explore Deep Ellum's history in a captivating way, resulting in increased engagement and prolonged app usage.

Enhanced Accessibility and Preservation

By centralizing historical content into a single source of truth, we ensured that Deep Ellum's history would be accessible to future generations. The digital format safeguarded the content from becoming outdated, making it easily updatable as new information became available.

Positive Feedback and Community Impact

The City of Dallas and the Arts and Culture department expressed their satisfaction with the final product. They were thrilled with the final product, even showcasing it at the Fair Park Juneteenth Festival for their leadership team and the general public. The application was well-received by the community, particularly educational institutions, which saw it as a valuable resource for teaching local history.

Testimonial

"I am thrilled to highly recommend [the team] for their outstanding work in creating a groundbreaking mobile app that explores history through augmented reality technology. From the early stages developing a relationship and building trust with Eric (Peterson) to the final stages packaging the product was a breeze.

Despite tight deadlines, Matt Moore (the product lead/manager) and his team went above and beyond. Not only did Matt communicate every step of the process, they also delivered a top-notch product that surpassed all expectations. Freedom Trail Origins mobile app is the first of its kind in Dallas and has truly set a new standard in the industry.

The Black history research and creative writing roles I contributed to this project paired seamlessly with [the team]’s extraordinary abilities and foreword thinking design approach. Jim Welch is leading an incredibly talented group of individuals who are not only passionate about their work, but committed to truly understanding the individual needs of their clients. I would not hesitate to engage their services again for future projects."

Deah Berry Mitchell, 
CEO Nostalgia Black, 
Historian-in-Residence,
City of Dallas