Applying design thinking principles to craft a solution for the San Luis Obispo area.
Role
Team Lead & UX/UI Designer
Duration
10 weeks
when
Spring 2026
where
San Luis Obispo, CA
Project Overview
AMPD began with a question: how could we make it easier for people to find and connect with San Luis Obispo’s local music scene? Over 10 weeks, my team and I explored how a dedicated platform could help local artists share their work and help listeners discover shows beyond their usual circles.
I led the project, organizing weekly goals and deliverables while bringing my UX skills into our collaboration. Alongside our research and concept development, I designed the app’s mid to high-fidelity core screens and explored AI and vibe-coding platforms as a way to make our ideas more tangible.
Process
Listening to the Local Music Community
We started broadly, considering different ways to help people discover local experiences before narrowing our focus to music. Conversations with local artists, band members, and music enthusiasts revealed a familiar frustration: finding a show often meant piecing together social posts, following the right accounts, or hearing about it through a friend.
For artists, getting the word out took time and energy, and their posts could easily get lost in a feed. We organized our interview findings into themes and used insight statements and “How might we” questions to focus our direction. We wanted to make discovery easier for listeners while giving artists a place to reach people beyond their existing followers.
Choosing a Direction That Could Reach Further
Our ideation led us to two very different possibilities: a campus rover displaying local event promotions, and a digital app that brought artists and upcoming shows into one place. The rover was a playful way to bring music discovery into everyday life, but it also kept the experience tied to campus grounds.
We ultimately chose the app because we wanted to reach a wider audience, not just people on campus. That decision helped us focus on a shared space where newcomers and existing fans could discover local shows, get to know artists, and find ways to participate in the creative community.
Making the Idea Tangible
I designed the mid to high-fidelity core screens around four areas: Discover, Shows, Artists, and Jobs. The concept brought together nearby events, show details, artist profiles, and local creative opportunities, giving the app a purpose beyond a one-time search for something to do.
Alongside the screen designs, I explored multiple AI and vibe-coding platforms, including Lovable, to visualize early interfaces and assess how different tools supported the process. This was a self-directed exploration, not a validated product. The prototype was not tested or reviewed, so the screens show a proposed direction rather than evidence that the experience met users’ needs.
Reflection
AMPD gave me the chance to balance leading a project with doing the hands-on design work I enjoy. Setting weekly goals helped my team keep moving, while the research gave us a reason to look beyond an interesting concept and ask who it could actually reach. Choosing the app over the rover was an important part of that shift.
Exploring AI and vibe-coding tools made it easier to picture different possibilities, but it also reminded me that a convincing interface is not the same as a tested experience. If I continued AMPD, my next step would be to put the prototype in front of local artists and listeners, understand what feels useful or confusing, and use that feedback to guide the next iteration.