What’s Spinning?

What’s Spinning? is a record mat made for listening together from different places. A small microphone and LED ring let one person play a record at home while someone else listens in from another city, with an app for comments and reactions while the music is playing.

I worked on it with Matt Dietzman, Charlie Johnson, and Luke Schlegel, and I handled the visual design. During interviews and workshops, older participants kept asking for something simple they could set up once and not have to think about, while younger participants wanted something that felt more immediate. That shaped a lot of the visual direction and how we approached the interface.

I also shot the pitch video on my Sony A7R II and ended up playing the grandpa myself.