macOS Version - Podcast App Concept

A new challenge to push myself, redesigning the podcast app experience on the Mac and a chance to become more familiar with the macOS human interface guidelines.

I went with a dark UI as the default UI because I felt that in this particular case where the content is what the user has come for, that the UI should fade away to black as much as possible in order to put more emphasis on the cover art.

Another ux idea I was exploring was that some podcasts are stories meant to be listened to from start to end, like an audiobook, and not listened to randomly like news and broadcasts. If the user chose to listen to a story podcast I wanted the UI to show audiobook-like controls and then switch back to traditional podcast controls when the chosen podcast was more like a news broadcast.

Some other explorations in this design were – using the circular motif and bright purple color from the official Apple podcast icon. Also, I really liked the idea of replacing the tower broadcasting on the hill with the actual podcast cover art broadcasting from the hill. Which then also created an opportunity to put some of the UI elements along a curve.

As always let me know what you think.