Hayat FM 95.6 Website

Gulf News Broadcasting was looking for a partner to design and develop a website for Hayat FM, a brand new local radio station they launched in Dubai.

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‍The client wanted to take the new brand online by creating a website to support the station from an online perspective, where users can see top songs, listen to live streaming and find out more about the shows, presenters and weekly schedule. Besides, allow users to catch up on latest news through the integrated social media feeds, and give them the ability to download the mobile app to richen their on-the-go experience.

The Solution

The radio team wanted to be able to update the website by themselves, so they required a Content management system- or shortly a CMS.

Drupal was proposed as a CMS to build a common platform for Gulf News future radio websites, due to high number of available modules, and scalability which were part of the requirements. Furthermore, it was connected with their existing systems using custom developed modules to read live playlist information from the radio stations and display it on the website.

The solution was built starting with a set of wireframes which would outline the core content and sections of the site as well as the importance and placement of each. This was the most significant step to plan the site architecture and make sure the site was in line with the client’s expectations. It also helped us designing the site and getting fast approval since we required very little iterations during the design phase.

The Design

The entire idea was to achieve a fun, fresh and vibrant look and feel of the website. A colorful and lively design concept was in mind to align it with the brand and the name of the station, which in Arabic means "life".

To achieve the sense of liveliness and bring some elements of sound in the design, pulsating circles and drop swooshes matching the form of the logo type were used. Cutout effect with particles was used on the images to give them unconventional look and to breathe some life into them. Additional widget was designed to stay at the top of the page and give direct access to live streaming of the station.

The design adapted gave the page a clean modular look, where different sections from the website were easily exposed.

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“We took the new brand of radio Hayat and turned it into a clean, fun and fresh Arabic website design without clutter and some special attention to readability.”— Shahid HassanMultimedia Designer

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User Experience

The site allows users to get information about the new radio station; this includes the program schedule, info and bio of the presenters. Users can view the program schedule by exploring the shows section. This section contains information of when each program is on air during the week and provides detailed information about each show.

To make the site more personal and provide users with background information, the “presenters” page includes detailed biographies and social links for each RJ.

Users also get access to the live stream of the station which allows users to listen from their PC anywhere in the world. A custom developed web service would feed information from the station back into the app, such as the program schedule or other dynamic updates.

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The Result

The result is a brand new interactive website for Hayat FM which represents the station online, and allows users to listen to live music, view list of presenters, and connect with them on social media. The website also gives them a quick access to latest information about the shows and what is playing right now.

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