Backstage Pass for LiveXP iOS Demo App

At Iter8, we've been hard at work on a demo app for LiveXP event analytics. This app presents users with a schedule and locations of performances at a music festival. It also uses iBeacons placed throughout the festival grounds to send targeted marketing to users.

The Backstage Pass functions as a login form. Users can authenticate themselves using a Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, or email login. They can also post to these services from within the app. The pass is a modal that appears over other content, allowing users to sign into social networks without leaving their current tab.

The pass is unapolagetically skeuomorphic. It reinforces the experience of being a VIP ticket holder at a music festival. Making a skeuomorphic interface is a tricky balancing act, because it transforms the interface from a means to an end to an end in itself. Minimal interfaces provide nothing of visual interest. They defer to the content within the app. However, there are many cases in which interface needs to provide context to content. In this case, the interface does more than facilitate login to social networks. It suggests that the user is part of an exclusive entourage.

Skeuomorphism in context enhances a user experience. However, when it is used out of context, it detracts and distracts. For example, if this backstage pass were used for a cooking app, it would make absolutely no sense. At best it would be a nonsensical visual flourish. At worst, it would eat up precious screen real estate that could be otherwise used for a more compact, minimal user profile.

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