Locality, UI, Brand Identity, 2019

Objective: Create a brand identity and UI system for Locality, a music streaming app that helps local musicians share music to their local music community.

Approach:

The first step in approaching “Locality” was to understand what it means to be local. What were the brand’s core values? What color did we want to go with? What typeface? We initially went with a loud but welcoming orange hue, and a typeface that felt harmonious.

Logo Sketches

The logo design was based on a specific sketch that combined the Seattle Landscape with a pine tree. The roots would go into the landscape. The owner of the store was Japanese, her name Alex Kinoshita, and she wanted to incorporate some of that into the identity. The tree is also a symbol of Japanese architecture.

Brand Building

Locality’s typeface was “Basic Sans” because in spite of the name, it provided a vibrant and idiosyncratic energy. The logo feels humanistic, and I wanted something to compliment that. A pattern full of white monochromatic outlines of music equipment was also made, designed to encourage local musicians to make the sounds they want to make.

Interface

The interface was inspired by “spotify”, and “tinder”. Using the tinder algorithm, one would be able to find local musicians by swiping through songs on a playlist. If they liked it, it would go into their feed, or they could swipe right if they didn’t enjoy it. Pandora, Spotify, and Tinder were the primary inspirations.