The Parade of Hearts project began with a unique vision: to unite Kansas City with a public art experience that celebrates the Heartland and its diversity of local artists.
Our challenge was to create a passport-style mobile app from scratch that would serve as a virtual guide for participants: offering GPS navigation, artist bios, heart designs, and news updates. The app needed to offer an additional layer of engagement and utility that would augment and enhance the in-person experiences for observers of the city-wide art installment.
Beginning in 2022, we developed the Parade of Hearts app from the ground up, collaborating with Whiskey Design, who created the brand identity and creative vision for the app’s look and feel. The app includes GPS mapping for heart locations, artist bios, and badge-unlocking features, encouraging users to explore every corner of the city.
Each year, we’ve improved and evolved the app by listening to user feedback, adding new features, and fine-tuning the experience. Our goal was to create an app that doesn’t just inform, but also enhances the joy of discovering each new heart and local artist across Kansas City.
While local heart hunters scoured the metro wishlisting, favoriting, and scanning hearts in the Parade of Hearts mobile app, we compiled a data dashboard to track key user activities, and create a leaderboard of the most beloved art pieces.
Hearts Favorited
Hearts Scanned
Hearts Wishlisted
App Downloads