On May 1, KID Museum quickly filled with people of all ages and app knowledge to kick off our very first App Fair. Participants took part in interactive activities while speakers shared their app making expertise. Each station had a different app-related activity led by an expert. Depending on level of experience, participants could create a paper prototype of their app idea or perfect their coding in Swift.
Suvi Gluskin and Aaron Berkowitz of PBS Kids took the mic first. They showed off ScratchJr, an app that gives kids the opportunity to design and program scenes in a story.
While excited kids rushed to the PBS table, Jared Alexander shared how he creates an app after identifying a problem. The Tysons Apps co-founder created Pet Pix after being frustrated that his cat wouldn’t look at the front facing camera during selfies.
Then it was time to hand the mic off to Pete Johnson, President and CEO of Apollo Matrix, Inc,, and Carly Klebine, his Thomas Jefferson high school student intern. They presented on how to turn an idea into an app from its name to the font of the text.
The last speaker, Ouafae Taame of Ubisoft, spoke about all aspects of video game design. Taame helped design the Prince of Persia series and Assassin’s Creed II.
Did you miss the App Fair? Check out presentations from Jared Alexander, Pete Johnson, and Ouafae Taame.
Jamie Gleklen