Closer and closer.

I wanted to be able to have an onboarding experience that was interesting, but the app has so many other parts and pieces, that it’s hard to make the time to honing the onboarding when everything else needs attention.

One concept early on that I wanted to include was kind of like Tom on Myspace. If you don’t remember or weren’t there for it, when you signed up for Myspace, Tom, the CEO/founder was you immediate first friend. He was everyone’s friend. It was kind of cool because it showed you how the friend concept worked and had a picture of Tom at a whiteboard smiling as I imagine he was working on Myspace in that moment. You can see the image below in all of it's lo-res glory.

I wanted to have something similar, but I didn’t want to use my face or name because it felt a little too copy-cat. So, one of the first things I sought to do was have anyone that signed up for Facet have one memory already with Facet, and that memory would be your first time downloading Facet and a thank you from me/us.

It evolve very little since that concept, but now that I have a little more time to explore it, I’m going to add some more complex imagery as well as make the memory a gallery memory, and I’m going to add a song to it to illustrate how memories can have music clips. But… the song is hard… So hard. How do you pick one song from millions (billions?) to be the one song that everyone that uses Facet will see and maybe hear when they download and use the app for the first time?

It can’t be too personal'; it can’t be too colloquial; it can’t be offensive; it can’t be abrasive, BUT it should be memorable and something indicative of the app itself and the process of saving memories.

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m lie to drive and think to music. Most of the time it’s instrumentals where I can get lost in thought. It probably started back in 1996 with His Name is Alive’s song “Sitting Still Moving Still Staring Out” from the Jerry McGuire soundtrack. Perfectly named for a driving song; the act of sitting still while still moving and staring out. The song’s repetitive notes and cadence drew me into it and into myself. My collection of “thinking” songs grew from there, and while maybe not for everyone, these kind of songs encapsulate the essence of Facet in that I want people to take a minute, sit still, stare out, and think about their lives and those in them.

So, while I don’t know what song to add, I know the genre and the “feeling” I want to add. Maybe it will resonate. I’m currently in love with Tom Day’s “Going Home”, “Who We Want to Be”, and “Flemington”. Give them a listen if you’re on Spotify.


🎵 Music: Sitting Still Moving Still Staring Out