Flashback

Introduction

Flashback is a simple application that generates videos from multiple images. With Flashback, you can trace the changes in the things around you through the photos you take. Do you want to see yourself aging or how your children have grown up? The possibilities are endless. Be creative with Flashback!

User Interface

As the initial design approach for the Flashback user interface, I aimed to bring users delight and joy in taking photos and experiencing change. I wanted the design to be unique and exploratory, while maintaining the simplicity of the user flow and adhering to the nature of iOS apps. The image below shows some of the initial prototype mockups. While creating them, I paid homage to Everyday, the original inspiration for Flashback, and experimented with visual designs reminiscent of the iOS 6 era. Unfortunately, none of these designs ultimately worked out.

There are some fun ones that made it out there. Most of them are just tiny animations designed to catch users’ attention and make the app feel more lively and delightful. Sadly, these have been removed in the current version, which taught me a lesson: animations can backfire unless presented in the right way. They can potentially distract users or cause unnecessary waiting.

App Icon

The app icon for Flashback is a significant topic and has evolved significantly to the current one. The image below illustrates the transition from the first icon draft to the version 1.x icon on the right. It started as a simple camera app icon but naturally shifted to silhouette-based designs. This change is tied to the story behind Flashback. When my first nephew was born, I felt a strong urge to capture his growth because I was amazed at how quickly children can develop. Flashback was created with the hope that parents could use it to capture their children’s growth (surprisingly, it works for any object!), so the main motif was a viewfinder to observe kids through.

The v1.x icon was great, and I liked it, but it was a bit too abstract. I was concerned that it might not clearly convey what the app does as much as I believed it should. Flashback uses a Polaroid-like shape to display photos and create a video from them, so I decided to adopt this style for the icon. The result is shown below, and I am quite happy with it! (You can still choose the first one in the app).

What’s now?

It has been a year and a half since the release. Flashback is now at v2.3.0 and continues to be actively developed, receiving feedback from users and incorporating upcoming features. In the latest version, you can change the aspect ratio and background color of the video, which allows for more personalized video creation and suits the formats of various social networking services.

Obviously, I am a user as well, and I believe I use Flashback most intensively because I take a selfie almost every day, and the video is shown below. The more you use it, the more fun Flashback becomes, and it’s just a little testament to that. (My folks say I haven’t changed much).

Download

I hope you enjoy this page and are interested in Flashback. It is available on the App Store for free. You can check the link and privacy policy on the product page.