FL Studio Remote | Balla Diagne

Background

FL Studio is a leading music production software with a user base of +1.000.000 users worldwide. Here I’ve led the design of their Remote app, which was launched in 2014 and hadn’t been updated since 2016.

Feedback Analysis

The app had an average rating of 3.7/5 starts in the app stores, with many feedbacks regarding the User Interface.

Users on the company forum have been sharing their constructive opinions and suggestions for the last 6 years. We gathered, sorted, and ranked this data, identifying 3 main categories:

Features

Love

Insights

As a result of the research came qualitative insights, which validated a significant change in the app’s UI: using icons instead of text labels.

I redesigned +90 icons and optimized them for mobile. This included in-product usage tests.

Emphasis then shifted from reading text labels on buttons that were all similar to each other, to recognizing icons that were already familiar to theusers, optimizing response-time.

Interface

I redesigned the app’s interface with the new icons and a major focus on typography and animation. I then created the first prototype to test the design and discuss eventual technical issues.

I started developing the mobile app’s design system, the focus was differentiating the app while still borrowing and adapting elements from FL Studio.

I managed and organized our Figma team, creating components, styles, naming and categorizing.

Design solutions

While resembling FL Studio, the new app remains a separate entity: playful, colorful, but simplified. It’s supposed to make musicians' lives easier and not more complicated.

Producers can now control their desktop app from a distance seamlessly and with more confidence.

Features

People can now save, load, or import layouts that have been shared by others from the community.

Conclusions

Throughout the UX process of the app, there have been truly memorable moments, and the results translated into an exceptional experience. By taking advantage of the user forum and user research, I gathered valuable insights to inform every design decision.

This project has taught me once again how important listening to users is if we really want to create meaningful experiences that people love.

Special thanks to Arlo Giunchi, Miroslav Krajcovic, Frédéric Vanmol, Pierre M.,Andrey Shakhmin, Oliver Habersetzar, Maxim Zaev, Eugene Kryukov, Ville Krumlinde, Bero, Sylvian T., Scott Fisher.