AUDIO GUIDE
Pyeniny
The mobile app audio tour to Pieniny mountains lets you listen to the stories and legends exactly where they took place. But don’t worry if you can’t come to Pieniny—you can also use the app wherever you are.
WHAT WE DID
art direction, UX & graphic design, creative writing
STATUS
Discontinued after six years of running due to lack of funds.
AWARDS
Silver A’ Design Award in Mobile Technologies, 2016
Graduation Projects, 2013
PYENINY – AUDIO GUIDE
1 · Story
Hiking Pieniny with local ethnologists was the best trip in our lives. We wanted to make this experience easily available for other mountain enthusiasts.
Pieniny has a rich culture, history and legends. After weeks of hunting for the stories in books, guides and local institutions, we selected over 50 historical facts, 30 highlanders’ legends, beliefs and Slavic myths. We gathered them into 26 chapters distributed along the trails.
We’ve devised a storyteller who witnessed all the described events—a mysterious mountain spirit. He guides the listeners through history from time immemorial to modern days.
PYENINY – AUDIO GUIDE
PYENINY – AUDIO GUIDE
2 · Map
The core of the app is the map which guides the travellers. It is also an essential visual element, so we knew it had to be spectacular. We decided to make it manually. Mateusz hand-drawn the map line by line and dot by dot. It took him over 180 hours to draw it all, and was a truly meditative experience. The map covers an area of about 34 km2.
PYENINY – AUDIO GUIDE
3 · Design
The logo's shape resembles a pin icon and Three Crowns—the iconic Pieniny peak.
The app shouldn’t distract the user from enjoying nature when used in the mountains, so the design is simple yet charming. The app is intuitive; it offers the chapters distributed along the routes—about 30 km. A player appears at the bottom of the screen by tapping the chapter pin. The user can listen to the recording or read the text.
Simple instructions are provided with the first use, and so is the “Prologue”, which introduces the narrator. The user can find instructions and the opening chapter in the about section.
When the point is reached, it is marked with a peak icon, encouraging the hikers to explore all the routes and listen to all the chapters.
A part of the design was an uppercase display typeface inspired by the alleged Slavic runes. For body text, we used Roboto Slab.
PYENINY – AUDIO GUIDE
4 · Audio
Two voice actors—Krzysztof Radkowski (Polish) and Roman Picheta (British), lent their voices for the narrating mountain spirit.
A prominent Slovak musician Peter Adamov composed the soundtrack for each chapter. You can hear him playing local folk musical instruments—fujara and pipe, while James Evans plays the accompanying violin.
The total time of recordings is about 60 minutes.
