Background
WSUM is a student radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I was fortunate enough to take on the role of Web Director my senior year of college which gave me the means to make this project possible. Before the job, I was avid member of the station and thus realized the impact a new app could make to increase station listening and engagement.
The Problem
The original WSUM app did not align with the new station's theming. Additionally, it was confusing to navigate and not entirely functional. Not many members of the station were aware of the app or only used it as a backup when the website was down. From these issues, I decided to start from scratch and re-imagine what it could look like.
Old app
New station logo
Constraints
Due to the limited time frame (since I would be graduating in a year) and max hours I could work in a week, I had to rush any preliminary research before starting design and development. Although I did not strictly follow a typical UX design process, I made sure to weigh in opinions from station members through surveys, empathy maps, and usability testing.
Collecting Ideas
The Engineering Supervisor was kind enough to share with me some empathy maps and user groups to use as reference and goals. I realized the WSUM App should not only cater to current listeners, but the broader WSUM community.
Empathy map made by the Engineering Supervisor
I also sat down with my coworkers, the Station Manager, and Engineering Supervisor to ask about features they would like to see on the new app.
From this data, I wrote down a few features I waned include:
- Podcast listening
- View show/DJ details
- 24 hour replay listening
- Save shows and get notified when they start
- Save podcasts and get notified when a new episode coms out
- See the current song that's playing
- Listen to music in the app background
- Blog integration
Wire frames
When I was helping re-design the website prior to my role as Web Director, I mocked up some mobile views. These ending up being great references for the app, which doesn't include the blog but does include the music playing feature.
I also created low-fidelity wireframes to map out the pages and their layout. I settled on Home, Schedule, Replay, and Podcasts.
The Viral "brat" Album
Around the same times as I was designing, the brat album by Charli XCX was gaining popularity.
brat album cover by Charli XCX
I decided to leverage the album design as placeholders for empty content. For example, if a song from the WSUM stream had no album/song cover, the placeholder image would take its place.
The resurgence of "brat" not only represented an iconic design, but the essence of a past raw, imperfect society. Thus, I felt inspired to leverage nostalgic design. Since the app would be a music player, the old iTunes library and playing experience on iPods were great references.
iTunes library
Initial Prototypes
I was able to utilize the Expo coding library which has a pre-designed navbar, header, and page component. Thus, it felt a bit easier for me to prototype directly from the code's previews.
User Tests
I conducted surveys on 15 station and community members to wager feedback from the beta version of the app. Despite most of the feedback centering around development bugs, I did get a few that were UI-focused.
Final Prototype
Results
1 year after launch, the WSUM App has over 3,000 downloads and 1,000 MAU (monthly average users). Engagement time is also pretty high, averaging around 23 minutes.
App stats since launch (Feb 2025 - Dec 2025)