AIM graduates create app for fan meet-and-greets

Fans of One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer ought to take note during ARIA Week, the launch of new app Sign My Phone could change the way fans treat meet-and-greets.

Combining a ‘selfie’ with an autograph, photographic sharing app Sign My Phone was designed by Sydney friends David Hodgkins, Mark Ashton, Owen Field and Paul Di Francesco who met at music and creative arts school AIM while signed up to the same entertainment management course.

“We bonded over a love of music, sports, and movies,” said Owen Field, who works at Tim Levinson’s Sydney label Elefant Traks. “The rivalry of Arsenal and Liverpool tends to split the four of us down the line at the best of times.
Paul has experience in the startup world, he’s also an avid Redditor, Arsenal fan and comic freak. Mark is currently working at AIM in the Entertainment Management department. Loves tech, gadgets and all things Thom York.
 David has a background as a drummer but is also a singer songwriter as well.”

The app has been 18 months in the making, was coded by enCloud and self-funded. The technology allows those doing the signing to use their finger to trace their signature on the phone screen.

Launched this week, Sign My Phone for iPhone is available to download for free from iTunes in all territories, with the Android version launching through The Google Play Store in mid December.

Field told TMN they’ve almost hit 500 downloads since its launch on Tuesday.

“Those that have used the app, both end users and celebs have all been dumbfounded at the simplicity of the idea,” he said. “Quite a lot of them have had the same reaction of ‘why hasn’t this happened before?’ and with such a brilliant idea, they’re excited to see where Sign My Phone goes from here.”

You can download it here.