BackTrack
BackTrack is a retro inspired music streaming app tailored to lovers of 1970’s music, bringing the retro style and music genre into a modern interface.
2026 | 6 Weeks | Visual Imaging & Interaction
Brief & Overview
This project focused on creating a music player to browse, choose and play music with a minimum of three screens. I recognise how personal peoples music preferences are to them, so I wanted to create an immersive experience to capture the musical era of the 1970’s. Mainstream music apps tend to cover music of all genres and eras, and I recognise that there is the opportunity to create more tailored user experiences for those with particular interests. This led me to design BackTrack, a retro inspired music player designed to bring the 70s aesthetic to modern life through its visual identity, interactive features and overall user experience.
Research
I began with a competitor analysis of popular music platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music by investigating their interfaces, features and user experiences. This highlighted the importance of personalisation and familiar navigation for usability and functionality, as well identifying opportunities for improvement and a more unique visual identity.
To capture the spirit of the 1970s, I did some research into the decade’s wider culture, taking inspiration from music, fashion and interior design trends at the time to ensure the experience felt authentically 70’s.
Concept & Audience
My ideation began with a mind map of ideas, identifying key features that a music player could include and a sense of the visual direction I wanted to take. I recognised the market for an app tailored to a specific type of music, and finalised my idea of creating a retro 70’s music player for an audience of people with an interest in the decade.
Design Process
Sketching & Wireframing
I explored various design ideas through sketching, eventually deciding to feature a spinning vinyl record on the playing screen instead of traditional album covers. I later digitalised my sketched into wireframes, which helped with refinement and visualising my idea of a retro app with vinyl incorporated.
Refining & Prototyping
I developed high-resolution prototypes, using vibrant colours and interactive elements to capture the retro aesthetic I had in mind. I experimented with visual hierarchy and colour combinations at this stage to create an engaging and cohesive user experience. Each screen and interactive feature were prototyped to create a functional UI with working navigation.
Feedback
Following a critique in which I recireved constructive feedback, I revisited some of my design decisions and reconsidered them to strengthen Backtrack’s visuals and create a more engaging user experience. I introduced a more playful, decorative typeface, refined the colour palette with a vibrant accent cyan, and redesigned icons to better reflect the retro aesthetic I aim to convey. The most significant change was the addition of a profile screen, introducing listening statistics and friend connections to enhance personalisation.
Project Outcome
Developing BackTrack challenged me to translate the culture of the 1970s into a modern music player, while maintaining familiar navigation and UI structure. Through sketching, prototyping and feedback, I considered user engagement and created an engage experience. This project strengthened my understanding of the UI design process and showed me how research, experimentation and iteration can transform an initial concept into a successful outcome. If I were to further develop BackTrack, I think it would be very interesting to create a series of versions for different decades of music to appeal to a wider range of users.
