Sydney Culture Walks
Guided walking tours in Sydney
Overview.
Sydney Culture Walks is an award-winning app published by the City of Sydney, offering curated, content-rich
walking tours throughout Sydney's inner suburbs.
UX and UI
Mobile Apps
Content Management
A tour guide in your pocket.
The Sydney Culture Walks apps, first published in 2013, was one of the earliest guided walking tour apps available
on the App Store and Google Play. Within the app, users are presented with a series themed of cultural, historical
and architectural walks throughout Sydney's inner suburbs.
Each walk uses a custom-styled map to present the walking route, offering written turn-by-turn directions and
'follow me' map mode. As users make their way along the walk, a unique split-screen view allows users to pull up
the details for each point of interest on top of the map, with photos, audio descriptions, detailed historical
and architectural notes and links for more information.
The app is entirely free to use and requires no sign up or registration. Sydney Culture Walks has been audited by
the Centre for Inclusive Design to meet AA accessibility standards.
A case study in responsive design.
The usage scenario for the Sydney Culture Walks app seems straightforward at first glance - an app used, out on
the streets, by people maybe not so familiar with Sydney's inner suburbs. The solution to this design puzzle
emphasised simplicity, large, clear elements and minimal ornamentation.
But insights from analytics told a different story. Users were using the app in many other places, often far
from Sydney, and usually in an entirely static location.
A recent redesign and rebuild of the app focused on this 'lean back' mode. The app wasn't just a tool to use when
on the walk, users were in the app to virtually explore the city. To give these users the experience they were
after, designs were adjusted to highlight the strong, professionally taken photography on each walk and to add
some extra finesse to transitions. The goal was to keep the UX intuitive, while still feeling lush.
Our most awarded app.
The Sydney Culture Walks app recently celebrated 10 years on the App Store and Google Play. In that time the app
has received multiple awards, holds a 4.8 star rating on the App Store and remains the most popular app published
by the City of Sydney.
We Make Apps have built a long-term partnership with the team at the City of Sydney, helping to respond to the
needs of the organisation while also suggesting ways to enhance and improve the app.
