Excio seeks photographers, artists, museums to join background photo app

Excio co-founder and chief executive Ana Lyubich holding one of Wellington Public Library's books which is used in the app.

Whether it is a photo of your favourite book cover, or a portrait from an obscure artist, there is something for everyone's "small billboard".

And while most mobile phone owners choose to have family photos on their home screen, some people prefer scenery, or artwork.

"If you don't like to put your family images there, it's just another screen and with most of the being five-and-a-half inches now, it's like a small billboard in your pocket," Wellington app designer Ana Lyubich​ said.

Photographers, museums and artists sign up to the app and list their images on it.

"You look at it about 100 times a day, and can close and open different apps, but the home screen is always there, so why do you use it for something meaningful."

READ MORE: * Size matters: Phones are as big as they can get

And that is where Excio comes in.

The app shows an array of home screen backgrounds for mobile devices.

Excio is an app which provides mobile users with an array of home screen backgrounds, as well as provide exposure to photographers, artists and museums.

Lyubich, the co-founder and chief executive of Ad Cloud, the company behind Excio, said it offered more than 2000 images to choose from, including book cover illustrations and work from exhibits.

Most of the photos were from New Zealanders, of New Zealand, however, there were also images of art from galleries in the US, she said.

You swipe down on the image to find out more information about it, including the photographer, artist or illustrator.

Lyubich, with her partner Vlad Dolgov​, were now gearing up to tackle the Chinese market, she said.

Ad Feedback

Excio differs from other home screen photo apps because it allows users to swipe down from the image to find out the name of the piece and the artist or photographer.

From there, mobile phone owners could read a brief description of the image, and see more from the person who created it.

"All other apps … are like poster on the wall, you need to take down and put another one up from time to time, so it's just a static image that doesn't give you any information about the story behind the image," Lyubich said.

Some of the big names who use the app include Te Papa, Staglands Wildlife Reserve, and the Wellington City Library, using it as a tool to showcase art, exhibition pieces, books, and animals.

"What is interesting is that you can discover new content from artists and photographers who I have not heard of before … you get to see so many photos which are extremely beautiful," she said.

"There's a feeling of excitment when I look at my phone and see something new from someone I haven't heard about yet."

Lyubich hoped to grow the app in "as many parts of the world as possible", she said.

"And that's mostly to give exposure to all the talent that is in the world, because there is a lot of talent people who just don't have a way to break through and be discovered.

"I want to bring all these meaningful images to the screen."

The app is only available on Android phones, but would be available on iPhones within a year, she said.

 - Stuff

Source: Excio seeks photographers, artists, museums to join background photo app