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Designing a unified audio & video experience
Europe 1 aimed to redefine its native app experience around live, on-demand, and personalised listening.
The goal was to craft a seamless media journey, from discovering a show or podcast to playing it instantly, without ever losing control of playback.
The challenge was to unify multiple content types - live radio, replays, podcasts, video clips, and highlights - into a single consistent ecosystem.
The new player also had to anticipate personalisation, with features like likes, follows, and saved content, paving the way for a richer, user-centric library.
Condensed 1-Minute Read
Designed Europe 1’s native media experience to bring clarity and flow to a complex audio and video ecosystem.
From live radio to podcasts and themed webradios, users can explore and interact through dynamic visuals, contextual actions, and smart playlists.
The result is a flexible, adaptive player that connects discovery and listening in a single, cohesive experience.
Research & Insights
Before diving into design, we benchmarked key streaming products to understand how users navigate, switch and resume content.
We noticed that users often struggled to keep their playback while exploring other areas of the app, and that switching between audio and video required too many steps.
Our main insight:
“Users expect to control their listening or viewing continuously — not to choose between discovery and playback.”
This became the foundation of the new experience.
Experience Design & Flows
The player was built as a persistent layer, accessible from anywhere in the app.
Users can start playback from the home feed, thematic playlists, or deep content pages, and keep exploring freely.
It supports both live and on-demand modes, with seamless audio/video switching, smart playlists, and related content suggestions.
Playback controls like pause, skip, -10s/+30s, and editable queues give users flexibility, while two player states, minimized and fullscreen keep navigation smooth.
A Time-shift feature lets listeners pause the live stream, browse, and resume anytime, blending the best of live and on-demand experiences.
Dynamic UI & Contextual Interactions
Media pages UI adapts dynamically to each piece of content, background colors shift with the artwork, bringing rhythm and emotion to the experience.
Bottom sheets and modals make interactions fast and contextual: adding to favorites, sharing, or exploring related pages like a host profile.
For Europe 1’s music webradios, a dedicated player lets users browse stations via a horizontal slider and set a sleep timer, blending functional depth with visual harmony.
Continuity
across media types
Retention
& engagement increased
Future
ready for cross-brand
Outcome & Learnings
The new player established a consistent media experience across audio and video, supporting future personalization features and simplifying everyday use.
By combining UX, UI, design systems and motion design, the app now provides:
Continuous listening and watching, even while navigating
Faster access to live and replay content
Clearer transitions between content types
A more immersive and modern streaming experience for users
This project strengthened my expertise in designing native streaming products, where continuity, clarity and motion define the overall quality of the user experience.
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I’m always interested in exploring new opportunities, collaborating, or exchanging ideas with like-minded individuals.
Feel free to email me to discuss a potential project.