Making a user feel at home
Delivering an efficient, engaging onboarding flow that welcomes users and gets them excited to start creating on Splidi.
Roles
Product Designer, Prototyper, UX Strategist, & Copywriter
The challenge
Speeding up the signup & educating users in a practical, non-invasive way.
A large portion of user acquisition will come from collaborative invites–these users likely do not know what Splidi is.
Similarly, a new user will oftentimes come to listen to a song they just created
Other platforms like Dropbox don’t require signup to listen
In order to ensure IP security, we need a user’s information when they’re invited
We want to get them to the music player seamlessly.
Name of the game–avoid user frustration & educate them where possible.
A ton of new users will want to get here quickly–as they can with Dropbox or Google Drive. Interestingly, we started development with this player, based on advice from a mentor who suggested perfecting a secondary value prop first. This allowed us to work backward toward our core value prop–Splids–ensuring the entire experience was quality.
This initial registration flow was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I had to reference our data structure to remove all the dead weight–without scrapping crucial user info.
Being a finicky user myself, I had a good idea of where to start.
How I Tackled the signup
With reconceptualizing the user flow & backend automation, we could safely eliminate all of the last three frames above. ↑
I dislike passwords–what if users don’t need one?
2FA is already commonplace, so we could streamline user input by utilizing sign-in-codes.
A large amount of users will be invited via phone or email–if we separate this page from first and last name, a pre-invited user can do instant verification, enter their name and be on their way.
Goal: Get phone number or email, full name–then separate them.
To maximize the effects of my new sign up, I had to reflect the changes in the invite flow and settings. These changes could result in making sign up as easy as entering your name. Design decisions have app wide effects, and I try to leverage this.
The app “Vault”–a patreon-esque song demo platform–had the ideal signup process
Phone number → code → username → finish
Netflix also uses a similar principle.
These flows made me feel my time was valued, so this felt like the perfect inspiration for the signup process.
Researching intuitive signup flows reinforced the importance of valuing user time and minimizing input steps.
Research
Solution
Users sign up with phone/email verification & minimal input.
Segmented the necessary fields by page to maximize efficiency.
Applied the necessary changes to the invite pages.
This flow eliminates unnecessary friction, creating a seamless and intuitive user experience.
Registration takes the user seamlessly into an optional education path – see below.
How I Tackled the User Ed
Research
My initial thought was to create a design similar to the education flow of both Splids & Projects—highlighting and explaining each feature on the interface. While this approach worked well for teaching specific tools, it felt too microscopic for Splidi’s entry point. It lacked the cohesion and impact needed to communicate Splidi’s broader value as a platform.
One onboarding I particularly liked was from Splice—this inspired me to simplify and streamline the flow while focusing on general, high-level information about how to use the app. Splice’s approach reinforced the importance of showing users how a platform integrates into their workflow, rather than diving into feature specifics upfront.
Through supplemental research on Dribbble, I referenced multiple visually striking designs to elevate Splidi’s onboarding. These insights pushed me to prioritize a visually bold and cohesive introduction to make the entry experience feel seamless and exciting.
Solution
Designed a lightweight, three-page introduction highlighting Splidi’s main benefits:
Your music, your rules: Securing your intellectual property.
Fair splits, made simple: Democratizing the creation of legally-binding music contracts.
Collaborate like nev: Secure storage and project management.
Added a "Skip" option so experienced users could dive in immediately.
Kept the tone conversational and visuals engaging to minimize cognitive overload.
Could the user answer this question: What does Splidi do?
Splidi’s core value proposition–Splids–will not always be the initial reason a user joins the platform.
If a user expects the standard simple audio engine and file library, they could be confused by the depth of our features if uninformed.
Many people, including me, do not want an obnoxiously long user education journey
Goal: Give users a fundamental understanding of Splidi without burdening their experience.
At first glance, this flow is strong and meets the immediate needs of educating users on Splids & Projects. But after completing the onboarding walkthrough, I recognized a need to raise the bar even further. Strong wasn’t enough—I wanted phenomenal, and this realization has shaped how I approach iteration and consistency across the app.
The results
This onboarding flow establishes a visually striking, cohesive entry point for Splidi. By prioritizing efficiency, user autonomy, & seamless transitions, it effectively introduces users to the platform’s core value while minimizing cognitive load. The design sets a foundation for improved user activation & retention, with future iterations planned to refine consistency across other user education flows.
A simple, effective sign in flow…
Sign up now, password later–because who likes passwords anyways?
A curated branding moment with a side of Figma fun. I call that two birds, one stone.
To me, colors are like music and white space is like silence–you use use the silence well, the notes you play have so much impact.
