The Soundboard

Industry

Music

Client

Wiley Guitarworks

Process

Research
UI Design
UX Design
Wire Framing
Prototyping
User Testing

THE CLIENT

Wiley Guitarworks is an independent luthier known for their tagline "A Hand-crafted Experience." They specialize in creating not just custom guitars, but transformative journeys for musicians.

ABOUT

As a multi-disciplinary designer/maker, one of my passions is building hand-crafted, custom guitars. I have always been driven by beautiful, clean, modern designs and my guitars are no different. Additionally, with my background in architecture and product design I wanted to provide more then just a good, an object, a thing.

My guitars aren't just about aesthetics; they represent a bridge between the physical and emotional realms that playing a musical instrument create, fostering a deep connection between the player and the instrument. I wanted to cross the boundary between a person's physical and emotional connection to playing one of my guitars and into the realm of an emotional experience during the BUILDING of one of my guitars.

In a world filled with distractions, I believe in the power of experiences in design to create lasting impressions and meaningful connections between companies and client.

CHALLENGE

Wiley Guitarworks was struggling with fragmented customer communications across multiple platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger), which contradicted their brand promise of "A Hand-crafted Experience"

RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY

Through narrative interviews with luthiers and customers, along with extensive sentiment analysis of past communications, we discovered that customers deeply value the emotional journey of guitar creation but felt disconnected from their instrument's story due to fragmented communications, with 80% describing the building process as "emotional" or "personal" and 70% treasuring build photos but struggling to connect them to a cohesive narrative.

RESEARCH QUESTION

How can the custom guitar-building experience be enhanced to foster a stronger emotional connection between luthiers and their clients throughout the build process?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Understand how clients emotionally experience the custom guitar-building journey.
Identify the pain points and limitations in current communication methods between luthiers and clients.
Explore what kinds of content (e.g., photos, videos, updates) are most meaningful to clients during the build process.
Assess the degree to which fragmented communication affects clients’ sense of connection to their instrument’s creation.
Uncover opportunities for a centralized, narrative-driven experience to improve client engagement and satisfaction.

PERSONAS

From the interviews, I developed two distinct personas of users. By creating detailed profiles that represent key user segments, these helped me empathize with the users, understanding their challenges, motivations, and experiences on a deeper level.

PRELIMINARY SKETCHES

In my sketches, I created basic wireframes that helped me visualize flows and also the different categories of information I wanted to display for each section. I tested on users to verify the organizational flows and architecture of the information of the app.

SOLUTION

I created a branded, immersive platform that transformed customer communication into a meaningful part of the journey. This allowed WGW to showcase the evolving story of each instrument's birth while honoring the company's belief that they're not just building guitars – they're crafting experiences.

RESULTS AND IMPACT

The Soundboard app transformed the custom guitar journey, with customers stating they were receiving 'more than just a guitar' and spending an average of 22 minutes weekly engaging with their instrument's evolving story. The emotional connection created during the building process resulted in 70% of customers viewing the waiting period as 'part of the enjoyment' rather than a frustration. This strengthened Wiley Guitarworks' brand positioning around 'A Hand-crafted Experience,' increased referral business and inspired existing customers to commission second instruments. Most significantly, the app reinforced the philosophy that the creation narrative is as valuable as the physical product itself, turning what was once a communication challenge into a competitive advantage that competitors could not easily replicate.