Ådalen Literature Festival – a festival app

In August 2023, the very first Ådalen Literature Festival took place in Ådalen, a river valley on the High Coast of northern Sweden. Founded by the authors Mats Jonsson and Tove Alsterdal, it was much like a music festival, with tent stages, food trucks and a packed programme – except that the stages mainly hosted authors, poets, journalists and conversations instead of music.

Challenge

The first Ådalen Literature Festival was an outdoor event on Sandslån, a small island in the Ångermanälven river, in August 2023. For two days Sandslån was teeming with authors in conversations across genres and beyond the ordinary, with literature and readers, music and happenings. Everything took place in boathouses and barracks, tents and workshops, on jetties and around campfires. For visitors, there was a hefty programme to keep track of.

To complement the printed programme and the information on the website, the festival decided that an app would be a good idea. Besides presenting all the participating authors, moderators and music and theatre acts, the app was meant to help visitors find their way around the site and keep track of the programme.

Solution

The home screen has both image menus and a bottom menu for quick and easy navigation. Every author, moderator and other participant is presented on their own page, with links to their programme items.

All stages, food stalls, toilets, defibrillators and more were placed as info pins on the illustrated map. One tap gives more information. Since visitors always see their own position on the map, it's easy to find the nearest toilet or place to eat.

The programme ran on four stages at once. In the app's calendar, visitors could not only see what was happening hour by hour but also add events to their phone's calendar, creating their own schedule for the two days of the festival.

Push notifications let the festival get news of programme changes out quickly.

Brilliant app! Clear and comprehensive, with information about everything you needed to know. I especially liked being able to book seminars and talks into my calendar.

Hedvig Larsdotter Armand, festival visitor