Airtime
A social platform for watch parties and live events, brought from the phone to the desktop.
- Role
- Design Lead, Web
- Team
- Six of us on the web app, and I was the only designer
- Timeline
- 2020
- Feature parity
- Desktop features
- Problem
- The platform was mobile only, and a phone can't be the screen you watch on and talk on at once.
- Solution
- A desktop web app built around presence and self expression, and the process and specs to ship it.
- Results
2x
MobileDesktopReactions sent, desktop over mobile
2.5x
MobileDesktopRooms created, desktop over mobile
+80%
MobileDesktopTime in room, mobile over desktop
Everything happened on a phone
Users wanted their professional mic and camera, and a bigger screen for watching and chatting at once.
The process I wrote
There was no process when I joined, so I wrote one: a route from the roadmap to a shipped spec.
The final design
More people visible at once, a reaction tray that floats over the stage, and chat docked beside the video.
When the speaking ring appears
Only when more than two people are talking, and after four seconds of it. We tested it until the team agreed.
How a reaction moves
Specified as real CSS: a 1.75 second float on a cubic-bezier, fading in and out.
Chat bubble motion
Rather than argue about how a message should arrive, I built the options.
The message indicator
A ripple when a message lands, so a closed panel still tells you something happened.
Interactive prototype
An Airtime room, live in the page. Click around.
Password protected. Ask for access at [email protected]
