LUMI is an illuminated keyboard and app that makes learning to play the piano easier and more fun. Pick a song, follow the lit-up keys, and become more musical in minutes.
With the vision of making it easier to learn and play music, ROLI asked us to help with the interface design and overall user experience of the learning app that connects to their innovative keyboard.
Embedding our team within ROLI's office for a number of months (thanks for the lovely lunches!), the process started by exploring the market positioning of LUMI. Should it be a series of interactive lessons? Or a library of songs to play along to? Or a game? Through an iterative design process, we explored each route in detail together with ROLI, before agreeing that the strength of the app would be in combining all three.
Following ROLI’s vision, we designed the app to be very easy to use for all ages. After completing a few simple onboarding steps to connect the app to the keyboard, budding musicians can choose to play songs or take lessons. From there, they can further customise their learning experience. The bite-sized, interactive lessons cover topics from scales to finger techniques, while each song can be viewed in different ways, from Guitar Hero-like streaming shapes to traditional musical notation.
The visual design is inspired by the colours and tactility of the keyboard, creating a strong visual link between the physical and the digital. From the 3D game elements and sculptural illustrations to the colourful video lessons, the look and feel captures LUMI’s guiding principles – Fun. Easy. Enriching. Limitless.
With an extensive collection of songs, across multiple genres, we wanted to create a cohesive visual language for the LUMI library. With the ROLI design team, we designed new cover artwork for the entire library of 200 songs and created a system for each music genre using different background shapes and duotone photography to complement the rest of the visual identity.
YaYaBee20, 04/22/2020
nav.indra, 04/10/2020