Joopie
Schrijver
2 nov. 2023
Once in a while you come across something that is truly helpful. The Kans App is one of those things. The app allows you to transform your sketches into the right cans for your favorite spraypaint brands, like Loop Colors and Montana Black. To learn more about the app, its creators and how it is created we did a little interview with them. Read it below!
Team Joopie (TJ): Could you introduce yourselves a little bit?
Cristophe (C):The team consists of three people: Shindo, Christophe, and Guillaume.
Shindo, who lives in Switzerland but has German roots, is the graffiti expert of the team. He possesses extensive knowledge of various techniques and has a strong network within the graffiti scene. He has been practicing graffiti for 32 years and is part of the new generation of street art artists who utilize digital tools like Procreate or Illustrator to create magnificent wall art.
Christophe and Guillaume are both French and reside in Marseille. Christophe worked in startups for the last 10 years and decided to venture into creating his own mobile applications. He serves as the Product Manager of the app and possesses the expertise to build and promote a product.
Guillaume (CTO) previously worked as an IT journalist for a few years and later founded his own company, specializing in computer repairs. He made a transition to becoming a web developer and now serves as the tech expert of the Kans App team.
TJ: How did you get the idea for the app in the first place?
C: The story is quite amusing. Shindo and Christophe met during a Buddhist retreat in April 2023, where they happened to be roommates. During this time, they shared their experiences and ideas. Shindo shared his concepts on how to enhance street art. Kans was conceived in that small room, with our minds fully open and receptive.
TJ: For whom is the Kans app designed, and how should people use it?
C: This app is primarily designed for street art artists who sketch their artwork on Procreate or Illustrator before transferring it to walls. Many of these artists face the challenge of transferring colors from digital tools to physical spray cans.
The app is user-friendly: the artist uploads their sketch and provides the wall dimensions, selects colors, and the app suggests the best matching spray cans from their preferred brand, along with the appropriate quantity for each color.
Users can then download their shopping list and use it to purchase the cans either in physical stores or online. The app is free, and artists can save approximately 4 hours per wall. It's truly remarkable!
TJ: We have no idea what it takes to develop a good app. Can you walk us through the process?
C: Building a quality app can be challenging. Our main objective was to be as closely aligned with artists and potential users as possible.
We began by creating a Proof of Concept (POC), followed by a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and ultimately, the first version of the mobile app.
At each stage, we put the product into the hands of artists, gathered their feedback, developed new features, and fixed existing ones, repeating this process iteratively.
Key Product Indicators (KPIs) we monitored included Usability, Performance, and Time to Action. For instance, one of our top priorities was to ensure that artists could acquire their spray cans in less than 5 minutes. Now, the average time to find the perfect match spray cans is just 2.7 minutes!
TJ: Were there any challenges you had to deal with?
C: One of the challenges we encountered was related to the brand's color palette. Some of the colors provided by the brand were not exact matches, leading to differences between the color indicated by the brand and the actual color when applied to a wall.
Additionally, we had to address the issue of automatically extracting colors from an image. While there are various tools available that claim to "extract" all colors from an image, none were precise enough for our work. We had to develop a complex mathematical system that allowed users to specify how many colors they wanted to automatically extract.
TJ: What's next? Any future developments you would like to add to the app?
C: We have several plans for future features, including:
- The ability to download the complete brand color palette for direct use in Procreate/Illustrator.
- A one-click color extraction feature, utilizing a highly precise auto-palette extractor.
- The incorporation of an e-commerce component, enabling artists to purchase spray cans directly within the app.
You can find Shindo's Instagram here: Shindo's Instagram
Download the KANS APP today to improve your writing game!