Joe Zeff Design is excited to announce that Notre Dame Gameday, an interactive gameday program for the BCS National Championship Game we developed for University of Notre Dame, is now available in the iTunes App Store.

Notre Dame Gameday takes fans behind the scenes with the No. 1-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, recounting the highlights of their climb to the top of the BCS rankings and previewing their January 7 matchup against No. 2 Alabama, the defending national champions. The free iPad app features game-by-game recaps of the team's 12-0 season, photo and video galleries, statistical analyses, interactive rosters, animated lineups, stadium diagrams — even a virtual tailgate party.

Here's some video to whet your appetite:

We designed and developed the app in less than two weeks using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. Instead of reformatting a print edition, we created an experience exclusively for iPad. The rosters are sortable to display players by name, number or position. The starting lineups are depicted as 3D-rendered characters that animate into place. There are video highlights from every game this season, taking fans inside the locker room and onto the gridiron with the Irish. Screen captures don't do the app justice, but here's a sample:

Even more screenshots here. But really, just download the app here. :-)

We worked closely with Notre Dame and Adobe to produce the app — in particular Dan Skendzel and Tim O'Connor at Fighting Irish Digital Media, Notre Dame's video production group. See their amazing work throughout the app, and even more here.

"I am absolutely flabbergasted at the work JZD managed to create in a vanishingly small period of time," O'Connor said. "In reviewing this app, I feel like I'm looking at months of work from a team of dozens. This is all the more impressive when you consider that I have only known this team since last Friday."

We look forward to opportunities to work with Notre Dame and others to expand upon the concept. Notre Dame Gameday, we believe, is only the beginning.

We see interactive gameday programs as a way to make live sporting events more relevant to a generation of fans accustomed to interacting with screens. Someday fans may be able to chat with one another, order hot dogs from their seat, and watch live feeds from helmet cams, huddle cams, sideline cams and locker room cams. Targeted advertising would direct Bud Light ads to the bleachers and Heineken ads to the club seats, and turn spectators into participants by allowing them to call plays and enter contests.

This is the second app this month we've launched on behalf of a major university. Assets Digital, an interactive magazine we developed for UCLA Anderson School of Management, debuted in the iTunes App Store earlier in December. Increasingly, universities are leveraging the popularity of the iPad to engage alumni, students, faculty and others.

(Alabama also has an interactive gameday program made with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. We encourage you to download both apps and decide who's truly No. 1!)

About Joe Zeff Design: We design and develop iPad apps for publishers, corporations, agencies, institutions — anyone with a story to tell. Based in Montclair, NJ, former TIME Graphics Director Joe Zeff and his team of experienced designers, illustrators and animators produce multimedia apps for their clients, which include Fast Company, National Geographic, TIME, Food Network, Kids Discover, UCLA and others. We have designed four apps chosen by Apple as iTunes App of the Week, and one that resides in the iTunes Hall of Fame. In addition, the team has illustrated hundreds of major magazine covers and album covers for Jay-Z and Kanye West. Learn more at www.joezeffdesign.com

A BCS Championship App for Notre Dame