brand identity + app design

A virtual jukebox
for your pocket

Client: Resonatr
My role: I worked as Creative Director, Lead User Interface Designer and Brand Designer

Resonatr grew out of a need to hear democratically selected music in shared spaces.

It's free, and was made to be used anywhere - at events and parties, cafés, bars, the gym, or the office.

The making of

USER RESEARCH + EXPERIENCE

Our group of potential users agreed that hand picking party- or event music playlists and attempting to match a variety of tastes was time consuming and complicated.

Office music was thought to be largely unpredictable, gym background tracks repetitive, and café soundtracks bland at best, and annoying at worst.

Competitor analysis showed that plenty of built-with-Spotify music/playlist apps were available, but none satisfied the particular need we'd identified.

Resonatr only requires initial setup of a personal profile, just featuring your favorite tracks and artists - which then self-transfers onto systems in any enabled host venue.

Anyone can host a venue, anywhere there's a network / WiFi connection.

3.resonatr_iOS.jpg — quick custom profile

app rtfm

“So easy to use, minimum hassle.”

— Tom, 26, London

VISUAL RESEARCH

I connected with web brutalism and controlled randomness; inspired by video game visuals, young digital art, elements of festival- and urban street culture, and the UK emerging art scene and its exciting social and digital counterparts.

Colour inspiration came through close observation of experimental digital art, the colour options intrinsic to every digital text program, the throwaway aesthetic of meme culture, a shared love of curious 90s music videos, computer game concept art and the 'festival’ feel of laser lights and neon glow.

4.resonatr_iOS.jpg — pop-up venues anywhere

+ magnify user segments via Spotify login

IDENTITY

Resonatr is a music app, so I initially conceived a myriad of logo concepts using sound waves, musical notations and vibration patterns.

The team focused on its custom coded React Native / Google Cloud back-end tech core, and in particular how this locates and activates a user via sector-based triangulation. Together with an understanding of the physics of resonance and amplification from which the brand takes its name, we ultimately composed a shape that successfully blends both those qualities.

SHAPING THE BRAND

The brand should comfortably work online and offline, and consistency, loading speed and reliability was - and is - imperative.
Following our love of web brutalism and nascent source code formatting, the Google font Space Mono provided a delightfully uncomfortable balance of geometric foundation and sci-fi grotesque details. We built our headers with Karla, an open-faced, playful sans serif that could stand up to any gradient applied to it.

Brand values simply resonate emotions that surface when listening to music: positivity, openness, energy, relaxation, and living in the now.

+ magnify logo concepts

+ magnify triangulation moodboard

↑ blending brand colours into one angular gradient

PHOTOGRAPHY

Resonatr's core proposition is effortless use after setup, via a smart algorithm. This 'no frills' principle accounts for equally minimal in-app photography.

Staying true to the concept of resonance, three dimensional renders of growing, shape-shifting forms as an abstract visualisation of sound seemed fit for purpose.