All work

Project 02 / 04Made for a friend

Organ Vault

An app that invites people to explore the world of organs through interactive challenges and stories.

Result: Onboarding cut to a single key: press it and you have started

Role
Product and visual design
Type
Freelance, for a friend
Timeline
2025
Platform
Mobile

01The problem

Studying the organ is usually dry, technical and intimidating for anyone outside a conservatory.

02Research

  • Started from what puts beginners off: the vocabulary, the stops, and material written for people who already play
  • Looked at how language and music apps keep people coming back: short sessions, visible progress, a reason to open it tomorrow
  • Talked through the subject with the friend it was made for, who knows the instrument, to keep the content right

03Why build it

Why it mattered
The organ has a lot to give and almost no way in. Material is written for people who already play, so curiosity ends on the first page.
The bet
If learning feels like playing, short challenges with a story behind each, beginners will come back for the next one instead of stopping at the theory.
How I'd know it worked
Someone who has never played presses the first key without being told how.

04How I built it

  1. Turned the learning path into challenges rather than chapters

    WhyLanguage and music apps showed what brings people back: short sessions and visible progress. A chapter asks for commitment up front. A challenge asks for five minutes.

  2. Paired each instrument with a story, so context sticks before theory does

    WhyStops and registers mean nothing to a beginner. A story gives them something to hang the theory on, so it is remembered rather than memorised.

  3. Designed a dark, tactile interface where the keyboard is the hero

    WhyThe keyboard is the one thing everyone already knows about the organ. Putting it at the centre means the app explains itself, and the dark screen keeps the keys in front.

05Why this way

  1. Challenges, not chapters

    A challenge ends with something you did. A chapter ends with something you read, and that is where people stop.

    Set asideA course with lessons in a fixed order

  2. The first instruction is one key

    Pressing a key is the whole point of the instrument, so the app starts there. No tour, no slides to swipe.

    Set asideA three screen onboarding explaining the app

  3. A greyscale palette, like the instrument

    Black and ivory keys are the brand. Colour would compete with them, so only the pressed state changes tone.

  4. Nunito, a rounded typeface

    The subject is formal. Rounded letters make it feel approachable without turning it into a toy.

06What I tested

  • Tested

    Showed the splash and first screens to the friend it was made for, and to people who have never played

    What changed

    The keys got a visible pressed state, because a flat screen gave no sign that anything had happened

07Play it yourself

Sound on. This is the first thing the app asks you to do.

08The look

Logo

  • The Organ Vault wordmark in white, set on two lines
    Wordmark, on dark
  • The Organ Vault wordmark in dark grey, set on two lines
    Wordmark, on light

Colours · tap one to copy it

Typeface · write your name in it

  • Click here to start

    Nunito · Everything: labels, inputs, buttons and body

09The screens

Drag or swipe to flick through

1 / 4

  • The keyboard is the welcome

  • Log in

  • One key to begin

  • Keys press like real ones

10The result

A study tool that reads as accessible, playful and engaging. What I took from it: the fastest onboarding is the product itself, not an explanation of it.