The app interface illustration was a reimagined interface of the existing app of Frederick Scanner. Frederick Scanner is a live audio stream of Frederick, Maryland Police, Fire, Rescue, and Highway communications – much like an old CB radio or the two-way radios used by Police/Fire. The interface allows users, regular citizens, to follow local Fire department communications, or local Fire, Police and EMS communications, or local airport communications. The design solution was to make the scanner app look more like an old two-way radio or police radio. The app shape mimics an old handheld CB radio with the orange screen at the top showing the scanner station. Since the old CB radios were black with many buttons below the screen, much like a telephone, the buttons are located in the center area in black to look like the black buttons of the old radios. The intent was to keep the interface simple with the play, stop, and pause buttons on the left in orange and the rest of the buttons reflecting the options for listening. To differentiate the sections, yet still keep all the buttons in one area like an old radio, orange was used for the play, stop and pause buttons, with orange also utilized on the other buttons only when they were selected. For the volume, a round button that mimics the tactile experience of turning the volume up on the top of CB radios through the volume dial was placed below the button grouping. The bottom area under the volume reflects the area of the old CB radio that featured holes for hearing the scanner being played. In this app, the buttons do not have a function except as an aesthetic nod to the look of a CB radio. Steel gray and steel black were employed for a tactile appearance, and shades of black were used as the foundational color for the background to mimic the older CB radios.
