Tokyo Otaku
Discover cool spots for anime, manga, and gaming
Idea to Launch: App Design, Branding, Development
Background
Japan attracts many a traveler who first gained interest in the country through popular media. For them, the country can be a treasure trove of fun things to see, shop, and experience. We created Tokyo Otaku to allow subculture fans to tour Tokyo based on their own specific interests.
Finding spots to visit
The initial idea was simply to have a map showing nearby otaku spots to visit.
Typically, a traveler can look at spots near their current location, or plan for a future visit to another location. Showing nearby spots catered to the former, while a saved spots feature would cater to the latter.
Are these spots worth visiting?
Other ideas included "liking" a place, such that a user would be able to gauge the quality of a spot based on the number of likes. Since reviews require more effort, we imagined "likes" as a possible alternative.
Light gamification
We imagined that users might also gain levels based on their app activity and earn fun titles.
Branding
Our typography and color scheme is derived from The Best Japan, our travel site. We also drew an original character named "Sakura" to act as a tour guide.
App Development
We developed the iOS app in-house. Although we didn't execute all of our original designs or features, we prioritized launching an MVP and iterating afterwards.
Download the App
Tokyo Otaku is available now.
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