8 Hertz

8 HERTZ

Project concept:

Personal project

Year:

2025

My role:

Mobile App UI/UX

Interactive Prototype

Design System

User Research

Physical Speaker Design

A mobile app that lets users control light, music, and mood in one seamless experience.

OVERVIEW

8 Hertz is a speaker and mobile app ecosystem designed to turn music listening into an immersive, multi-sensory experience. The app allows users to control music, lighting, and visual patterns from one place.

THE PROBLEM

Traditional Bluetooth speakers focus almost entirely on sound. Lighting features, when available, often feel disconnected or require overly technical controls. This makes it difficult to create a cohesive atmosphere for focusing, relaxing, or recharging.

DESIGNING THE SPEAKER

I first designed the physical 8 Hertz speaker, which translates sound into moving light patterns. Audio frequencies vibrate a water-filled membrane, while an integrated light projects the resulting patterns onto the ceiling. The mobile app was designed as the digital companion to this physical experience.

THE GOAL

To design an intuitive mobile application that seamlessly controls the 8 Hertz speaker, transforming music listening into an accessible, multi-sensory ritual. The primary user goal was to enable one-tap immersion into different emotional states (Focus, Energy, Calmy, Dream). The goal was to create engaging ecosystem that highlights the speaker's unique technology and encourages daily use.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

I mapped the core user journey to be as frictionless as possible: from opening the app to being immersed in an experience in just three taps. The sitemap was structured around four main pillars: the Home Dashboard for instant control, the Mod Studio for creation, Routines for automation, and Discover for community inspiration.

VISUAL DIRECTION

The visual language was inspired by water, light, and cymatic patterns created by sound. Color psychology and music visualization informed a fluid interface that changes with each mood while remaining part of one consistent system.

GUIDED ONBOARDING

A short animated onboarding introduces the app’s main functions: selecting moods, controlling light, playing music, and viewing sound-generated patterns. This helps first-time users understand how the app and speaker work together.

MOOD-BASED MUSIC & LIGHTING

The core feature of 8 Hertz: one-tap sensory immersion. Users select their desired mood among Flow, Energy, Calmy, or Dream and the entire system responds instantly. The app's UI, the speaker's lighting, and the music all synchronize to the chosen mode's unique color palette, creating a cohesive and immediate atmospheric shift.

MUSIC PLAYER & LIBRARY

The system suggests playlists and artists that perfectly complement the chosen atmosphere, ensuring the audio and visual elements are always in harmony.

CUSTOM MOOD CREATION

Beyond the presets, users can become creators in the 'Mod Studio.' Users can design their own light patterns by adjusting colors, motion behavior, and intensity, then saving them to their personal library for future use.

SMART SCHEDULE

Users can set routines, like a calming wind-down sequence in the evening or an energizing wake-up alarm that automatically activate specific light and music modes at predetermined times, making the 8 Hertz ecosystem a proactive part of their daily rhythm.

COMMUNITY HUB

Users can explore, like, and download light modes created by the global community, share their own creations, and discover trending combinations, fostering a collaborative platform for inspiration and shared sensory experiences.

Reflection

This project helped me explore how digital and physical interactions can work together to create an emotional experience. The main challenge was balancing instant, simple controls with deeper customization.

Progressive disclosure allowed me to keep the core experience approachable while still offering creative tools for users who wanted more control. With more time, I would explore biometric input such as heart-rate data to adapt modes automatically.