It’s new, it’s innovative, and it’s everything you’ve ever liked about Instagram – it’s Pout!
Recent Western grad Laura Smith has teamed up with Riley Donelson from the University of Waterloo to unveil a new app that is sure to please fashion-obsessed men and women across the world. ‘Pout’ delivers a mobile platform for all things beauty and style – no more sifting through random group photos or pointless cat memes (though they are pretty hilarious). The app, already downloaded by numerous fashion gurus and beauty bloggers alike, maintains a clean and easy-to-use design perfect for the average guy or gal looking for inspiration. Think of it as everything good about Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube – yes, it even includes a ‘Video’ page for YouTubers to stream their uploads! From its daily ‘Inspiration’ page to its weekly trending topic, ‘Pout’ is very likely to be the newest go-to app for beauty and style. I was able to chat with the creators, Riley and Laura, about their collaboration and creation of ‘Pout’ through a phone interview from their base in Waterloo.
Can you guys introduce yourselves and where you’re from?
RILEY: I’m Riley Donelson, and I just graduated from the University of Waterloo for Systems Design Engineering.
LAURA: And I’m Laura Smith, I just graduated from Western University. I did the dual degree of Software Engineering and Business at Ivey.
How did the two of you meet and decide to collaborate?
RILEY: We actually knew each other in high school – we both grew up in Waterloo. We went to different universities so we weren’t in touch those years, and then we reconnected with each other last summer when we were both doing internships in the San Francisco Bay Area. We realized we had complimentary skills in design and programming. This summer we were both back in Waterloo, both graduated, and we chatted about app ideas. This was the one that kind of stuck with us.
What made you guys think of the idea for ‘Pout’ in the first place?
LAURA: I have a lot of friends who are either fashion bloggers or makeup artists. I realized there wasn’t really a good or mainstream app for people to share their beauty and style photos. [Through Pout] we wanted to create a social network for specifically fashion and style.
How would you say your experiences at school helped contribute to the creation of Pout?
RILEY: The program that I did [at Waterloo] had a big design focus, and so a lot of the coursework was really applicable in terms of building the app. The whole combination of working at these internships and getting relevant coursework was sort of the perfect mix.
LAURA: Being around the community at Western, it’s a very fashionable community and also very social, so it gave me a good understanding of how such an app would be applicable for university women, as well.
Where do you see the future of Pout? Where do you see yourselves in the next 5 years?
LAURA: We’re planning on releasing worldwide soon, since right now it’s just available in Canada, and also planning to do a ton of marketing and growth in its future. We’ll definitely be focusing on growing the community rather than profiting from it, and it will be like that for a long time. Keeping the community really organic and sharing inspiration rather than sell people things.
RILEY: We have really high hopes for its worldwide launch, which will probably be in a week or two weeks. And yeah, we think once it’s out there and that engine gets running we think it can really be the go-to app for fashion and beauty. The existing ones haven’t really taken off, and we think we really hit the special sauce with this one. As for us, we’ll hopefully be growing and running a big company. If this can take off we’ll be building out Android versions, hiring more people in helping manage this community as it grows.
HC Quiz
Guilty Pleasures:
R: One Direction movie – I’ve seen it, like, ten times (I have a lot of sisters…)
L: Pretty Little Liars
Dream Job
Both: Currently living it, really!
Favourite Sport
R: VolleyballL: Dance, hip-hop (FUN FACT: Laura was apart of the CAISA Fashion Show!)
Celebrity IdolR: John MayorL: Ashley Benson
Favourite Dessert
R: CheesecakeL: Anything with chocolate!
3 Things You Can’t Live Without
R: The Internet, a guitar, NetflixL: My iPhone, Netflix, my weekly Zumba class