iWallFlower

The idea behind iWallFlower is simple, share your artwork with the world. After starting the application you're immediately presented by artwork created from strangers living around you. The artwork can range from silly (an alien abducting sheep) to very personal messages (one user wrote R.I.P. Dad) to some amazing works of art.

As the application cycles through different pictures you are presented with an animated pin dropping on a 3D globe displaying exactly where the user drew the picture. Along with the pin, you are also presented a glimpse of what steps the user took to draw the picture. For example, one user drew a smiley face then drew black over it, then drew a face with a frown. This is a very unique look into what steps people take while drawing a picture. It's a simple touch that adds a lot to the application.

You can also view the global wall where strangers can choose a small section of the wall to draw their artwork. Some people take up multiple spaces on the wall and use this space to promote themselves (I saw someone ask to be friended on Facebook), others use this space to promote social issues (Global Warming for example.)

At any time if you feel inspired enough, you can click the “Crayon” button at the bottom of your screen to start your own drawing. iWallFlower has a very simple way to draw pictures. Select the brush size, then the color and you're good to go! Tap and drag on the screen to to draw a simple (or complex) picture. The only problem I had with the drawing is iWallFlower does not start with a black (or white) background color, instead gives the user a picture of the Earth that you must paint over.

This application is a very neat social experiment that lives beyond my expectations. The app handles very well, even when displaying hundreds of user made pictures on the screen at a time. Also, the ability to see how people have made their creation gives a glimpse into their creative process, a very unique perspective.

I had a great deal of difficulty trying to get iWallFlower to load pictures over an EDGE connection. Pictures would load very slowly and sometimes not at all. However, this is almost expected when you are dealing with thousands of images from across the world.

iCloseBy created an excellent blend; two parts art, and one part social experiment and ended up with an application that rivals the best in the App Store. The accessibility, creativity of the user base and the awesome animation of drawings make this an application that will stay on my iPhone for quite some time.

Some featured artwork: