Roll Notes
Analog Photo Save
RollNotes is a notebook app, that allows you to save information about the analog photos you take.
Save your camera settings and metadata, like aperture, shutter speed, focal length and ISO, as well as date, time, and location for each photo. Review your photography process with ease.
Functionality
- Create cameras, rolls and albums
- Save date, time, and location
- Save camera settings
- View album as map
- Quick add function
- Light and dark mode
‘Roll Notes’ was born out of my personal desire for a better way to store information about analogue photos. Especially when photos are underexposed or overexposed, it can be difficult to track and learn from the making of them without information.
With ‘Roll Notes’ you can create cameras and film rolls that together create an album. The album inherits some values and preset from the camera and roll, like the number of images in an album.
Creating an image allows one to set metadata like date, time, and location as well as camera specific things like aperture, shutter speed and focal length. You can also set a name and a description for each image. All of those values can be edited later.
Special feature of this app is the map intergration. Not only can you see the location of each image, but can also navigate the whole album using the map.
Scroll wheels are used to emit most input fields and allow easier inputs. They can be customized in the settings.
For even quicker data entry, a photo can also be added from the album overview. Date, time and location are saved automatically, as well as focal length for prime lenses.
Technologies
I utilized Hive, Provider, and the Google Maps API to develop ‘Roll Notes’. Hive provided a robust database solution, allowing me to efficiently store image meta data.
Provider, on the other hand, allowed for state management and synchronization between the app’s UI and the data.
By integrating the Google Maps API and location services, the app can make use of maps and markers as well a readable address.
Those technologies were mostly new to me, but using them in this project gave me a deeper understanding of how to facilitate them.
Design
The design of the app is strongly influenced by neomorphism. When I was browsing for an interesting aesthetic for the app. The sleek and modern design comes with a touch of realism. The soft shadows create a sense of 3D-like elements that remind me of the fantastic design of the OP-1 controller and older, simpler cameras. It can also enhance user experience by providing a sense of depth.
The fonts are also based on the design language of vintage cameras. Clear and concise lines are mixed with the aesthetics of 8-bit displays.
I tried to keep the colors very simple with some accents for specific functions and a rainbow line for albums using color film.
Many inputs are done using a bottom panel and scroll wheels, which creates a sense of staying in the current album or page, in contrast to breaking the immersion, by switching to another page or opening the keyboard. It was made sure, that all possible values can be entered nevertheless.
