BYTE Audio: A Platform for Producers
UX Designer | April 2025 | Figma, Photoshop, Canva
Designing a retail website and music-making app for music producers of all skill levels, giving hobbyists and professionals the chance to make their music dreams reality.
Overview
Making Music Production Feel Less Intimidating
Music production can feel overwhelming for beginners. Created for UGA's New Media Certificate, BYTE Audio was designed to make music creation more accessible without sacrificing the tools experienced producers need.
The Outcome
BYTE Audio brings its playful, approachable brand to life through a mobile website and interactive app prototype. Together, these experiences allow users to explore and purchase music production software, then create their own audio samples in an intuitive, engaging environment.
Problem
Starting a New Hobby is Hard
For beginners, stepping into the world music production can feel overwhelming. Complex software and tools with steep learning tools can make it difficult to know where to start.
The challenge was to design two connected digital products that made music creation approachable for beginners without sacrificing the functionality experienced producers expect. Through user-centered interfaces and playful visual design, BYTE Audio aimed to make music production feel less intimidating and more inspiring.
Research
Identifying Friction and Opportunities
Understanding User Behavior
To ensure my designs were intuitive and aligned with industry conventions, I conducted a competitive analysis on popular music producing software companies (Teenage Engineering, Ableton, and Native Instruments) to understand typical design patterns.
Findings:
Creative software companies establish trust through a cohesive visual identity.
They communicate credibility through clear, digestible information hierarchies.
They communicate their value by showcasing what users can create, not just what the software can do.
Ableton Website
Company Logos
Empathize
Understanding Users and How to Meet Their Needs
To ground my designs in the needs of real music producers, I developed two secondary research-informed personas that represented beginner and experienced creators. These personas helped guide design decisions that balanced accessibility for newcomers with the functionality seasoned producers expect.
Ideate
Building the Brand
Brand Identity
To exemplify the brand’s welcoming and playful nature, our team settled on a retro, cyber-y2K brand aesthetic. I created a mood board to guide my design decisions in building the brand and the products.
Colors and UI
I developed BYTE Audio's visual language to balance playful, retro-inspired aesthetics with clarity and usability. From color and typography to reusable UI components, each decision helped create a cohesive experience across both products.
Logo and Mascot
One of my earliest design decisions was to incorporate an animal mascot in the brand, adding to the fun and approachability of its identity. My idea evolved both into the logo system and mascot design.
LOGO
Blocky and y2k inspired, subtly integrating feline characteristics through a cat-like "Y" and a bite mark taken from the "E”.
MASCOT:
Beginning with my hand-drawn concepts in Procreate before vectorizing the final version in Illustrator. The mascot features a sly smile, headphones, and surrounding soundwaves, visual elements that reinforce BYTE Audio's playful nature and connection to music creation.
The Solution
///
With the visual foundation set, I began exploring BYTE Audio's digital interfaces through sketches and low-fidelity wireframes, experimenting with layouts and visual hierarchies for two connected products.
BYTE Audio Website: Designed to help users discover and purchase music production software while showcasing their creations.
SMPLR App: An interactive experience that allows users to record, edit, and experiment with their own audio samples.
I brought these concepts into Figma, refining the user flows and incorporating components from my design library. From there, I developed high-fidelity prototypes that balanced BYTE Audio's playful identity with intuitive interactions and visual consistency across both products.
BYTE Audio Mobile Website Wireframes
SMPLR - BYTE Audio Music Mixer App Wireframes
Reflection
Key Takeaways
Highlights
I enjoyed combining UX and branding across two platforms with this project.
Building this product also strengthened my ability to design cohesive digital experiences from concept to prototype while balancing business goals with user needs.
Next Steps
Since the current design is an MVP, there is a lot of potential for future improvements. In the future I’d:
01 - Strengthen the web's hero section with a product demo or testimonial carousel to better communicate value and capture attention faster
02 - Integrate a profile section for a more personalized experience.
