UI design and front-end implementation of Ray of Sunshine quiz app for Sunshine Week
Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan and nonprofit national initiative to promote dialogue about the importance of government transparency and freedom of information which collaborates among the journalism, civic, education, government and private sectors.
Sunshine Week was launched in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) with the support of the Knight Foundation. The annual celebration is held each year in mid-March to coincide with the March 16 birthday of James Madison, the father of the U.S. Constitution.
To create buzz before the Sunshine Week initiative in 2011, ASNE team approached Schecter & Co. to create a learning app, Ray of Sunshine, which contained 15 multiple choice questions and answers about open government and freedom of the press.
I worked with a software engineer, Scott Schecter, to design and implement front-end code of the custom app. The app was built using Ruby and ran as a standalone website. We also provided a native Facebook app that any Facebook user can install and play on Facebook.
ASNE
2011
The custom Ray of Sunshine learning app leveraged both Facebook and Twitter in order to maximize outreach capabilities. The ASNE team reported it was a resounding success in spreading its open government initiatives throughout communities.
The app was created to get as many people as possible to have fun and learn about why open government and freedom of information in the U.S. is to be cherished and held to high standards.
The learning game took just a few minutes to play. If the wrong answer was picked on a question, the app will encourage users to pick the answer again until it was the correct answer, then move on to the next question. This approach ensured that everyone got to the end of the quiz game and got their prize, which was a “You’re a Ray of Sunshine” badge to share on Facebook.
A custom design badge in different sizes to share on Facebook and a Facebook app icon.