Have you ever got lost at a festival or concert?

The summer is rapidly approaching, the clocks have 'jumped forward' and we are now officially into 'British Summer Time' 2014.

The Famous Glastonbury Festival during the summer of 2013

You will hear the songs that define this year specifically for you, in your future memories. Years to come from now, you will hear a song/tune that will take you back to a specific time and place during the summer of 2014!

Many of you will get these memories from attending Festivals, Concerts, Live Events....

Let us set the scene....

You go to a festival this year and you have arrived after what for most is a long journey in a packed up the car/camper. You are shepherded into a farmers field to park your vehicle amongst the tens of thousands of others. 

Parking in farmers fields

Then comes the carrying of all of your kit, to where you pitch your tent or if your lucky enough a Yurt!

Or a Yurt? They all look the same!

Sea of tents! Which one is mine?

Skipping forward past putting up the tent and getting yourself settled in you grab a drink and go for a look around, find out what's going on and where?

You find a a stage with a artist playing you like and you settle in, relax with a drink to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the music.

Sound perfect? This to most is the usual journey each of the millions of people will make this summer to attend the wonderful festivals on offer.

Now you have sat and enjoyed this artist for a while and you fancy another drink or how about something to eat? 

Enjoying the music, the surroundings and the ambience!

Where are the refreshment stands? In fact where are the toilets as you don't fancy making two trips! As with the majority of people, finding the refreshments and toilets is one thing! But finding your way back to where your friends are! Now thats a whole new level of stress and hassle!

Going through your mind is no doubt a few or all of the following:

- How will you get back to where you where? 

- How do you find your friend(s)? The proverbial 'needle in a haystack'! 

Unless your friends are 9ft tall and everybody else is under 5ft tall, you are going to struggle! Add in the feeling you get after a couple of drinks and your orienteering skills are not the sharpest they have ever been!

Is there a solution? Other than carrying around a massive sign or a flag saying 'I am here!' 

What happens if everybody does the same thing, you are all right back to where you started, looking for a 'Needle in a Haystack' springs to mind.

The solutions has arrived and does not require you to carry anything more than what you walk around with in your pocket everyday - a smartphone or tablet.

Lets go back to the point where you're stood looking for the refreshments stand and toilets. Now open up your smartphone/tablet and click on the skignz App! 

Now 'Pan' your phone around as if you were videoing the crowd!

skignz: Increasing & Enghancing the Environment around you!

As you do this and as if by magic, little 'virtual signs' will appear above the toilets and the refreshment stand. Pan further to see who's coming on stage next? Use the pinch on your phone to Zoom in and out on each skign, press the skign on your screen, a short press activates some relevant content, a longer press reveals how far away that actual skign is located!

How about downloading a discounted album of the artist on stage right in that moment, press the 'album cover skign' above the stage and in one or two quick clicks and its delivered to your device - there and then!

So back to your little mission to get a drink and something to eat, visit the toilet while you are there. 

You have used skignz to find each of these locations. 

This type of skignz can been provided by the festivals producers or their sponsors to help you find your way around the festival and make your life easier, while enhancing the whole experience.

Where are my friends? Its like trying to find a 'Needle in a Haystack!'.

Now you have been to the toilet, bought your food and drink and you want to find your friends? 

This is where skignz really becomes your best buddy! 

Hold up the phone again and pan across the crowd and you will see 'skignz' above each of your friends heads! You will only see theres because like with other social media channels you are only linked to people you know or want linked to you!

Now if they have a great big skignz above their head - is that not the easiest way to find them EVER? Theirs and your personal skignz will have a picture of you, your name and a little comment - like a 'Tweet' or 'Facebook status update' on their skignz!

Not only can I find my friends, but also each one is personalised to them!

We at skignz though want to make finding ANYTHING! Easier...! 

So we have included in the free to download App, the ability to 'drop a skignz or arrow' over your car (remember the thing you arrived in and parked in a sea of cars in a farmers field a few hours earlier - you will need that to get home!).

Also your FREE account will let you drop another one over your tent/yurt etc... (remember a few hours ago, after parking the car and carrying your backpack and tent, the thing you then spent an hour trying to build that only has 3 poles and a few pieces of canvas, but its your 'home' for the next few days!).

So now, not only do you know where you parked (ready for quick exit to beat the traffic), where your tent is? (so you can find it, in the middle of the night amongst the ocean of other temporary canvas structures) where the toilets showers and whose playing on what stage and at what time... download their music at offer price, right to you handset, even where the charging points are so your phone does not go dead! 

How much of an improved festival experience is that?

Festivals, Concerts and Live events are the easiest place in the world to get lost & lose your friends!

You dont have to worry about getting lost, finding anywhere specific, losing your friends? skignz is not only helpful, insightful and interactive, is also great as a safety device. 

Getting lost is a horrible feeling, losing your friends and wandering around aimlessly for hours is no fun, after all you came with your mates to have a good time - mostly together, because an experience shared, is so much more than one you experience on your own!

So why not download the skignz app if you are going to a festival, concert or other live event? Even if the venue has not heard about skignz or got their event environment skignzed up! 

Why only see this?

Get your copy of skignz now: 

www.skignz.com/download

You can do it yourselves between you and your friends! even if you only use it to find each other when you get lost, find your tent or car! 

Surely thats gotta be worth 10 secs of your time download a simple little app that could be the coolest thing on your phone this summer! It certainly will be for those people when they get lost and they will!

Enjoy this summer, enjoy the festivals, concerts and other live events, but enjoy it more, knowing you have a little app on your phone that can help you navigate around a strange place, find your friends and find your transport home, cos if you don't find that, you won't get to go to anymore events this summer!

When you can see & experience this...!

Bring on the summer of 2014 - When you hear the new Calvin Harris song 'Summer' and you and your friends have all downloaded skignz to see what its like?

We are sure from now on you will remember the summer of 2014 as the 1st year that you used skignz!

Get your copy of skignz now: 

www.skignz.com/download

skignz are changing University Campuses forever!

University campuses are changing every day. With the constant updates in technology it is essential that Universities make sure they adapt to that change to meet every need of their students and provide them with the best experience and education available. 

skignz can help speed up that change, as it can provide all services that a student needs for when they are at University and even beyond the campus. I will explain how skignz can help in more detail below.

Teesside University Main Campus

Let me just start off with informing you about the work that skignz has currently provided for Teesside University by working with them to adapt to the changing needs of the University campus and students themselves. skignz is a new way for students to navigate around campus. It is a free app that everyone can download to their mobile devices. 

skignz provides students with a lot less worry for when they arrive at Teesside University. Prior to coming they will download the app and ensure that everything is set up for when they arrive. To find where they need to be on campus they can simply navigate through loading up skignz on their phone and scanning the campus environment to see where the building is they need to locate. 

Teesside University Enhanced by skignz

It simply is a sign in the sky. Teesside University were the first to use skignz and have ensured that it is a huge benefit for everyone to the University; staff, students and visitors, providing them with the simplicity of being reassured when on the campus. 

No need to try and understand them maps anymore! Students can download the app as soon as they get the offer letter from their university.

Checkout this short video for you to see how skignz works: http://youtu.be/5ZHWmI_cFb8

Don't just take our word for it, here a few students tell us what they think about skignz being on the Teesside University Campus:

Abigail Allick - 2nd Year Degree Student

“I’m not very good at navigating myself around, especially if I don’t know the area”

“I find the app a lot more easier, like getting myself around Uni and different places where I actually am”

Timi Odeyemi – MA Student

“If you think about the fact that a lot of students come here relatively clueless, and you want to know where buildings are, you want to know what exactly is going on”

“To meet and discover, wow, this is being set up right here. It just sort of gave that potential, made it feel real, that certain things can be developed”

“It’s essentially like a visual google or something of the sort”

As you can see from above, students who have experienced skignz already on campus have said how much it really helps for people attending University.

“It’s essentially like a visual google or something of the sort”

Freshers at Teesside University

skignz has provided a new exciting, interesting and essential service to current and new students, including everyone at Teesside University. It is new technology developed and Teesside University have jumped right on board of taking advantage to be the first to use this, and they have done right to do so! The difference it has already made is fantastic.

So what are the benefits of skignz?

skignz has many benefits to what it provides. I could talk about them all and go into much detail; the possibilities of where it could go and what it could do are vast.

skignz provides a new way for 'EVERYONE' to navigate about. It doesn’t just have a certain place it can be used or a certain audience that can use it, it is for everyone. You no longer need to be lost. You no longer need to feel alone. You can now prepare and know where you are at all times. Plus it is not boring like looking and trying to read or understand a map. It is simply straight there on your device. It is always with you wherever you are. No need to go in search of a map or some form of location help.

Whats in it for you? The social side of skignz!

And there's more ... skignz is not just for navigating. It has a whole social side to it beyond University campus. It is the social element of taking skignz into other parts of your life. 

You can use it when you go shopping. Say you fancied going shopping in a new place you hadn’t been before, you can set up skignz before you go and easily locate the shops and where you need to be when you arrive. 

It saves you time from looking around and wasting valuable time what can be used to shop. You can find your car in a very busy car park. Most of us forget from time to time where we have parked, so simply set up a skignz above your car for when you having finished where you need to be and find where you have parked you will be able to see it through skignz on your mobile device. It can also be used when you are at concerts or festivals with your friends. 

Getting lost from your friends or group is very easy: going to the bar or to the toilet - how will you be sure to find them again in that huge crowd? Well, before you go to the festival you and your friends can each download skignz and set it up before you head off to your festival. Therefore when you arrive you will each already have skignz set up, so if you go to the bar and lose your friends, just load up skignz on your mobile, scan the crowd and there you will see a little sign just above your friend's head informing you of where they are.

Just like Timi Odeyemi – MA Student stated:

“Imagine going to somewhere like London or Tokyo and trying to meet someone or find jobs or anything. You could try to find bars, you could try to, well, meet people socially, that kind of thing. So, to me, I see the possibilities of this particular app to be, like, endless. It could be the next big thing, in my opinion”

skignz really is the next big thing. It has a lot of benefits for people who use it and can be used in any way you wish.

So what does skignz mean to student experience?

It provides new students who are coming to University a way to feel comforted and reassured that they are going to know where they are going when they arrive on campus. Everything will already be set up for them putting them at ease and giving them time to get used to the app. It is also available for them to download before they come to University prior to them receiving the offer letter.

TU Freshers understanding skignz!

They can also find it to find new friends. Such as students who may not be very good at making new friends, they can use it in a social way to talk to new people. They could set up a skignz for themselves to inform people that they are new, what course they are on or if anyone else is doing the same, going to the same lesson as them and so on. 

It provides a new way for them to interact with other students if they do not feel they are best at doing that.

It can help foreign students also who have mentioned to us that when they arrive on campus they are generally alone. This way they will be able to find each other and a new way to make friends who they feel comfortable with. It is not always easy for foreign students to make new friends as they have said before to the university.

Professor Eileen Martin (Deputy Vice Chancellor)

“It’s a really important tool when students first arrive on campus because it’s an easy navigation, as they are used to using mobile technologies. This is a really good addition”

As you can see above, Professor Eileen Martin of Teesside University stated that it is an important tool for when students first arrive on University campus, providing them with easy navigation to where they need to be.

Party Time with skignz at TU Students Union

skignz also provides students with excitement when they come to University. They can use skignz not only to find new friends but for nights out or if they wanted to interact with others to have some fun. 

It provides value in their learning ability as it will put them at ease to find other students who they can relate to and also to have some friends and fun for the nights out in the Student Union and around town. 

For example: if they were having a house party for new students then they could place a skignz above their house to let people know that’s where the party is or even to try a few places with new friends. If they were to go for food and a few drinks they could each set up skignz on their phone, plan out where they wish to go and then each find where they need to be.

Understanding skignz on Campus

It is a new town for some students arriving. They need to feel at home where they are and that they are well looked after by the University.

Professor Eileen Martin (Deputy Vice Chancellor)

“I guess it adds a USP (unique selling proposition/point). It brings some fun and excitement into the student experience as well”

“I think it’s a really exciting and also very innovative and creative development. And I think we’re only just starting to understand the potential and the very different ways in which we can use it, both across the social world of the student but also actually in terms of their learning as well”

skignz really is the new best piece of technology that University campuses can take on. It will provide a whole new outlook to students on University campus and improve their life in social and learning aspects. It will give the University a huge boost in providing good technology and keeping up to date in all the advancements. skignz can be used in any way anyone wishes. To sum it all up below is a short video for you to see.

skignz in a Nutshell - http://youtu.be/ZEIEpkp8stY

Like Timi Odeyemi – MA Student says: It can be or will be…                “…the next big thing”

To find out more information on skignz then please see our websites and social media sites.

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

#discoverskignz