Case Study -
Ride the Wave Media

Creating a Memorable Brand Experience Through Custom UI Design

Project Type: Branded Web Platform
Role: Lead Designer & Front-End Developer
Timeline: 3 months (2024)
Challenge: Design differentiation in a crowded podcast market

THE CHALLENGE

Just Blane's podcast network needed to stand out in an oversaturated market where most podcast platforms look identical. The client's goal was simple but ambitious:

create something so visually distinctive that listeners would remember and return to the site.

The brief was intentionally open-ended: "I want something completely different from anything else out there. Something that makes people stop and say 'whoa.'"

Key Constraints:

No budget for user research or testing
Had to work within existing audio streaming infrastructure
Needed to be fully responsive and accessible
Timeline: 3 months from concept to launch

Client Vision Board

Spotify player controls

Annotated links on FigJam board

Immersive cyberpunk website example

design strategy

Without traditional user research, I focused on competitive differentiation and brand alignment:

Competitive Analysis: Audited major podcast platforms - Spotify, Apple, PodBean, etc - found them universally minimal, sterile, and forgettable

Visual Research: Analyzed genre-specific digital experiences (retro games, synthwave art, sci-fi interfaces) to identify visual patterns that would resonate with the target audience

Core Insight: While other platforms prioritize "clean" design, this audience values personality and immersion over minimalism.

Final "control board" for laptop

"past episodes" section screenshot

Close up still-shot of grain effect

Custom Solutions

Hand-Illustrated Media Player: The centerpiece was a 1980s boombox-inspired media player that I designed and illustrated from scratch:

Hand-made each control element in Illustrator and Figma

Created glowing hovering animations and neon-on-black styling

Added Subtle TV grain animation overlay for visual depth and immersion

Technical Implementation:

Front-end coding: Implemented custom CSS animations for glow effects and micro-interactions

Responsive design: Ensured the intricate visual details worked across all screen sizes

Accessibility: Maintained WCAG compliance despite heavy visual styling through careful contrast testing and semantic markup

Hi-fi mock-up of multiple style directions for the same page

Beginning ideation

design process

My approach was explorative and iterative: starting with visual research and interaction pattern analysis, I moved through multiple rounds of wireframing and prototyping, testing 3-4 design variations at each stage.

Experimental illustrations of assets and environment

Site maps and wireframes for client approval of scope

This allowed me to push creative boundaries while validating usability through rapid iteration, ultimately delivering designs that were both visually distinctive and functionally intuitive.

creativity | usability

The biggest challenge was making something visually striking that still functioned intuitively. While visually more fun, most of the early iterations for unique controls proves confusing and overly complex

My solutions:

Simplify: Instead of having a different type of button/toggle/knob for each function, I re-purposed the same button for most functions

Familiar patterns: I grounded the layout in recognizable conventions, (i.e. play pause button icons, locations of buttons/functions)

Clear affordances: I made interactive elements' functions obvious despite the stylized design

Menu located as expected, though the visuals are novel

Player functions intuitively/ traditionally labeled for ease of use

All the same affordances and patterns apply on the desktop version

Key principle: "Surprise and delight, but never confuse"

results & impact

Client Response:
"This is absolutely transportive. It's become the perfect extension of our brand - every time I send people to the site, they're blown away."

Platform Performance:

Successfully launched and serves as the primary digital presence for the podcast network

Consistently receives positive feedback for its unique visual approach

Demonstrates that bold design choices can coexist with functional UX

Design Impact:

Created 100% original visual assets (no stock elements)

Delivered fully accessible experience despite complex styling

Established a distinctive brand presence in a saturated market

Key Takeaways:

Brand differentiation matters: In crowded markets, memorable design can be a competitive advantage

Constraints spark creativity: Limited budget pushed me to focus on visual impact over extensive research processes

Technical skills enable creative freedom: Being able to code my own designs allowed for pixel-perfect execution of complex animations

Accessibility and creativity aren't mutually exclusive: Bold visual design can still meet usability standards with careful planning

This project reinforced my belief that great design doesn't always follow the same process - sometimes the brief calls for creative courage over traditional methodology.

CALL ME

Alyssa Nelson

Case Study -
Ride the Wave Media

Creating a Memorable Brand Experience Through Custom UI Design

THE CHALLENGE

design strategy

Without traditional user research, I focused on competitive differentiation and brand alignment:

Custom Solutions

Hand-Illustrated Media Player: The centerpiece was a 1980s boombox-inspired media player that I designed and illustrated from scratch:

Technical Implementation:

design process

My approach was explorative and iterative: starting with visual research and interaction pattern analysis, I moved through multiple rounds of wireframing and prototyping, testing 3-4 design variations at each stage.

This allowed me to push creative boundaries while validating usability through rapid iteration, ultimately delivering designs that were both visually distinctive and functionally intuitive.

creativity | usability

The biggest challenge was making something visually striking that still functioned intuitively. While visually more fun, most of the early iterations for unique controls proves confusing and overly complex

My solutions:

Key principle: "Surprise and delight, but never confuse"

results & impact

Client Response:
"This is absolutely transportive. It's become the perfect extension of our brand - every time I send people to the site, they're blown away."

Key Takeaways:

This project reinforced my belief that great design doesn't always follow the same process - sometimes the brief calls for creative courage over traditional methodology.

Alyssa Nelson

Case Study - Ride the Wave Media

Creating a Memorable Brand Experience Through Custom UI Design

THE CHALLENGE

design strategy

Without traditional user research, I focused on competitive differentiation and brand alignment:

Custom Solutions

Hand-Illustrated Media Player: The centerpiece was a 1980s boombox-inspired media player that I designed and illustrated from scratch:

Technical Implementation:

design process

My approach was explorative and iterative: starting with visual research and interaction pattern analysis, I moved through multiple rounds of wireframing and prototyping, testing 3-4 design variations at each stage.

This allowed me to push creative boundaries while validating usability through rapid iteration, ultimately delivering designs that were both visually distinctive and functionally intuitive.

creativity | usability

The biggest challenge was making something visually striking that still functioned intuitively. While visually more fun, most of the early iterations for unique controls proves confusing and overly complex My solutions:

Key principle: "Surprise and delight, but never confuse"

results & impact

Client Response: "This is absolutely transportive. It's become the perfect extension of our brand - every time I send people to the site, they're blown away."

Key Takeaways:

This project reinforced my belief that great design doesn't always follow the same process - sometimes the brief calls for creative courage over traditional methodology.

Alyssa Nelson

Case Study -
Ride the Wave Media

The biggest challenge was making something visually striking that still functioned intuitively. While visually more fun, most of the early iterations for unique controls proves confusing and overly complex

My solutions:

Client Response:
"This is absolutely transportive. It's become the perfect extension of our brand - every time I send people to the site, they're blown away."