Opening the Blossom - A Media Specific Analysis

Table of Contents

The Bloom and Bloom HD apps have distinctive features, functionality and affordances. Knowing that long-term preservation of these apps in their specific instantiations cannot be guaranteed due to their proprietary underpinnings on a highly constrained platform such as that of iOS, it behooves this project to describe these essential features, functionality and affordances so that future developers might approximate them in later platforms. This is the purpose of a media specific analysis.

"I don’t consider Bloom to be a tool for making music—I see it more as a piece of music that comes to life if you bother to switch it on. It’s always sitting there with all its possibilities and all the ways it could be. I’m sure that somewhere in the world someone is playing Bloom right now and bringing to life one of its endless possibilities." ~ Brian Eno (from the article "Stealing Time with Brian Eno")

Auditory Characteristics

We know that the Bloom apps derive their sonic background noises and touch tones from original recordings from Brian Eno. These accompany the app and find their expression within the app with the help of predefined, sometimes randomly sequenced algorithms derived from Peter Chilvers’s sound engine.

Generally a user can work their fingers from top to bottom on the screen and progress from bright to deep tones, and vice versa. Moving horizontally at generally the same level across the touch screen will tend to produce a consistent tone—at least based upon this project creators’ testing.

Depending on the mode and the “seemingly” random application of the sound engine, more or less reverberation may be applied to any given session’s touch tones. Each mood has a background ambient sound sequence, but this may be slightly differentiated depending on which mode is in operation (Classic, Infinite, or Freestyle). Freestyle Mode in particular applies the most machine variation with the use of its delay and sound shuffling and “evolve” algorithms when left idle.

Visual Characteristics

Bloom’s visual aesthetics derive from background graphic configurations and algorithmically augmented touch graphics. Each mood seemingly has a different set of configurations and algorithms that determine both the background sequencing and the specific displays for each touch event. Probably the best way of thinking about the interactions between any given mood and series of touch events are that they occupy a highly unique but somewhat calculated range of possibilities.

The visuals are heavily geared towards the various mood settings, which are somewhat differentiated based on which mode (Classic, Infinite, or Freestyle) one might be operating in. For more about the unique conceptual qualities of each “mood” please see the section on “Essence of the Moods - A Textual Analysis”.

Haptic Characteristics

The Bloom apps do not have touch feedback per se, but the app is notoriously encouraging of frequent touch interaction due to its initially “random” and somewhat “cryptic” algorithm schemes for generating sound sequences. Just when a user thinks they may have figured out how to sustain a pattern of predictable sound, the app’s algorithms assert themselves to change the patterns and elicit a response from the user.


what it does: 
range of tones on the screen
auditory: melodies and tones. tones are the same from left to right but brighten from bottom to the top.
haptic: tapping. makes circles on the screen and the movement on the screen has different effects on tone. 
visual experience: blues, greens, purple, pink, yellow. some soft colors, some are vibrant. Bubbles start off concentrated and ripple out
olfaction (none but the moods suggest that eventually there could be or the importance of including that sensory feedback) 
Recording of the user experience
textual analysis: how its engineered leaves impression on user. the participation in the music is so powerful. The app is captivating and therapeutic in a way. It is able to take you away from your every day life stresses and frustrations by the soft piano-like keys. 

Ambient, as defined by Dictionary.com, is "of the surrounding area or environment." Brian Eno's expertise in the ambient music and the effect of Bloom is just that. The power of the subtle melody in the background before the layers of user created key tones takes the mind away from the world and leaves you present, in the moment of each touch.