This project sought to solve the problem of increasing support in the local Rochester, NY community. It will encourage people to explore what the city has to offer by shedding light on hidden local gems.
I created an interactive app (RocRhythms) to encourage users to explore the city. I wanted to use music as a way to connect users and promote local groups and venues to discover.
When I started sketching I knew I wanted an interactive map feature that the user could filter to discover events they wanted to attend. I took inspiration from travel tracking apps because I liked the pin systems that they used that encouraged users to mark places they wanted to go and remember previous places they went.
I created a persona Tasha Bramwell to further put myself in the user's position. After creating my persona's personality I created a flow about what would intrigue her and encourage her to download this app.
I complied a styleboard with colors, icons, typefaces, and images that inspired the mood I was trying to emulate in my designs. I wanted to go for a 1970s/1980s feel by taking inspiration from funk music.
Process Work
When developing my design I started with wireframes to lay out my static frames. Once I had a solid version of static frames, I stylized them and began prototyping in Figma. I used smart animation to seamlessly stitch the static frames together. I also created some of my assets in Adobe Illustrator so that I could bring them into Adobe After Effects to compose videos to insert into the Figma file.
Takeaways
While designing this interactive app experience, I learned a lot about the importance of intuitive design and ensuring that first time users understanding where everything is and what they are supposed to be interacting with.
If I were to do another project like this one, I would test out more ways I could arrange the information I'm trying to convey upfront. I spent a lot of time designing and redesigning the interface because I wasn't satisfied with the layout and grouping of information. Moving forward I would prioritize the layout of the interface before thinking about unique features.
© 2025 Maya Probeck