iMetronome - iWatch app (quick exploration)
A match from heaven?
I’ve been using iWatch for a few years now. My current one - iWatch SE has been my life companion from day one. I actually never was into digital watches but as soon as I gave that one a try it just clicked right away.
I’ve been also a gigging musician since 2014. I’ve played numerous shows throughout my career and always practiced with metronome to keep my playing and rhythm as tight as it can be.
I’ve used some metronome apps before on the phone and some of them weren’t quite right for me. The clicks were too irritating and the banks of possible sounds to choose clicks from weren’t that good either. And the feeling of taking my phone out every time to use that app while on speaker was just too frustrating for me (and for my girlfriend too after hearing the clicks for hours :) ). I could use headphones of course but that meant more cables to wrap myself in and limit my movement while playing especially while practicing and figuring out stuff.
"The feeling of taking my phone out every time to use that app while on speaker was just frustrating for me."
One day I was doing my breathing routine in the morning and as the watch vibrated to indicate another breathe something strucked me…
How about making a concept iWatch app that can show me the beat on gigs and rehearsals just by vibrating on my wrist the entire time? That would be super cool and real handy on concerts or in the rehearsal room.
So I sat down with pen and a sketchbook on my lap and started to brainstorm possible ideas for the future iMetronome app.
"If it's not broken don't fix it"...
I just love simple interfaces. I’m a kind of minimalistic person when it comes to design. Apple has clean and readable UI’s in their WatchOS and in my opinion they utilize the white space on those tiny screens to the maximum so that was a really good foundation to design my app on and get inspired a bit. No need to reinvent the wheel :)
So the next thing I did after finishing my initial sketches was naturally to give them life in Figma. I came up with few necessary views for the app...
I went for darker aesthetic mainly because when playing live bright lights can make you pay too much attention to them or even get you distracted while playing the instrument. Of course I thought about changing BPM's mid concert or adjusting tempos on the spot so the option to darken/brighten the screen is also available through built in feature to the watch which detects luminosity in the room you're in. So whatever the situation - your vision is not worsened.
"I went for darker aesthetic mainly because when playing live bright lights can make you pay too much attention to them or even get you distracted while playing the instrument."
Few words about functionalities
Adjusting tempo
Main function of the iMetronome - which is adjusting BPM's (Beats Per Minute) can be controlled in 3 different ways:
- Rotating the scroller on the watch itself to increase/decrease the amount,
- Tapping the current BPM's on the main screen to set them in tap tempo mode,
- increase/decrease 5 BPM's from the main screen via buttons on each side
Training mode
In this mode you can increase/decrease BPM's over time or after certain amount of bars, you can also randomize tempo by choosing the lowest and the highest number of BPM's available to use and setting the time or bars after which the changes occur. Great option if you want to get out of your comfort zone and practice sudden tempo changes.
Playlists
Here you can create your own clicktracks of your own songs and arrange them in a setlist that can help you play your concert in time and with no need for songs being written by your feet on paper. Every part like Intro, Verse, Chorus etc. is fully customizable in the amount of bars, tempo and time signature. Individual parts (blocks) of the songs can also be moved and rearranged in summary view at any time.
Last but not least of features. Here all sounds (clicks) can be set. When no sounds are chosen the app will go into vibrations only mode. When no vibrations are chosen the screen flashes to indicate the beat.
My final thoughts
And there you go! My concept in quick preview. It's a bit of a shame that it doesn't exist in real life actually, but maybe one day I'll give this concept a chance and make it "go live" (ha!). I think it would actually make life easier for some musicians. I know mine would be!
Thank you for reading this far!
Contact me if you have any questions or want to work with me
Have a great day!
~Piotr
