Cassette is an audio-based movie streaming platform. The concept was simple but overlooked: movies already have narrator tracks created by studios for accessibility, but those tracks rarely make it onto mainstream streaming platforms. Cassette set out to change that by turning movies into a fully audio experience, not just for the visually impaired community, but for anyone who wants to listen to movies on the go.
The idea came from a friend who had long been thinking about the intersection of entertainment and accessibility. He brought the vision, I took on the design. Together we explored how to present large libraries of content, how to distinguish episodic series from feature films, and how to package the product so it felt familiar but distinct from existing streaming services.
My role was everything on the design side: branding, logo, marketing, website, and full UI/UX. I leaned on familiar streaming patterns from Netflix and Spotify to keep navigation effortless while shaping unique interactions tailored for audio-only use. For example, we designed a clever playback detail screen that revealed your position in the movie if you pressed and flipped the currently playing tile. This solved a tricky licensing challenge while still aligning with user needs.
As for accessibility, it wasn’t just a benefit of Cassette, but it was baked into it's core. One of the standout features was an LLM-powered search system that allowed users to ask for movies verbally. Instead of typing, a user could press a button, ask “What action movies should I listen to tonight?” and hear a spoken list of recommendations. From there, they could simply select one and start playback. This made the platform not only easier for visually impaired users navigating with screen readers but also opened up a more natural, conversational way to explore the library for everyone.
We built the app into TestFlight and proved that it worked technically. While industry restrictions on licensing ultimately kept Cassette from moving forward commercially, the product itself showed what was possible in an overlooked market.
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For me, this was the first time designing at the scale of a streaming platform. It meant handling content-heavy layouts, playback navigation, and discovery flows across a massive library. Streaming platforms are some of the most familiar interfaces we use every day, so it was a fun challenge to meet user expectations while putting a fresh twist on the experience.
Cassette was never released to the public, but the project gave me invaluable experience in designing for large-scale media consumption, balancing accessibility with mainstream appeal, and working at the intersection of design, technology, and industry constraints.
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