Raw Beat

My passion project, a simple metronome, designed and developed by yours truly.

Overview

Ever since I got my first iPhone, I’ve been dreaming of building my own app someday. Eventually, I decided to start small and tackle a problem that had been bothering me – creating an easy-to-use metronome for practicing guitar.

Tap out the rhythm

The easiest way to set the tempo is to simply tap it out on the screen. The algorithm that I wrote can detect the correct tempo with only three taps.

Sound Design

Using Logic Pro I designed three distinctive sound styles for the metronome tick, each dedicated to specific practice environments.

Woodblock

Perfect for practice

Hi-hat

Ideal for jamming

Sound FX

For noisy environments

Time Signatures

Being an amateur musician myself I decided to stick with three time signatures most commonly used in modern music.

Three Fourths

Classical, Ballads

Four Fourths

Pop, Rock, Blues

Six Eighths

Folk, Celtic, Latin

Haptic Feedback

Long-press on the tempo enters into input mode showing the system keyboard. I designed and programmed custom haptic feedback pattern for the long-press.

Custom haptic feedback pattern

Custom Scroll Effect

I designed and implemented a custom scroll effect that scales up the values in the middle. Additionally, the scrolling also provides haptic feedback when passing each mark.

Monetization

I don’t run ads in my app. Instead I added IAPs for leaving a tip for the developer. To celebrate successful purchases, a custom animation is played.

Appearance & Accessibility

The app is designed to work seamlessly in both light and dark appearances. Furthermore, I dedicated time to ensure that my app is fully accessible and compatible with VoiceOver.

Branding

The name “Raw Beat” holds a double meaning. “Raw” represents the minimalist style of the app, while “beat” signifies the steady rhythm provided by it.

“Raw”

The uppercase “R” stands for the word “raw,” which in turn refers to the app’s simplicity and the raw metronome experience it offers.

“Beat”

The eighth note symbolizes the word “beat,” which encapsulates the app’s primary function: providing a steady beat.

Raw Beat

The logo’s symbol combines calligraphy-style uppercase “R” with elements of an eighth note, making it easily recognizable and memorable.

Symbol Exploration

Creating the perfect symbol involved iterative drawing of the same symbol to develop style and refine strokes.

Typography

The Raw Beat app employs default system fonts on iOS, specifically the San Francisco sans serif font and the New York serif font, which were designed by Apple.