Radio Barrio Centenario
A Community Radio on Every Neighbor's Phone
- Role
- Product design and development
- Studio
- Shape Creative Studio ↗
- Platforms
- Android app · Admin Console · Web player
- Status
- Live · v1.4.0 (Android beta)
- Listen
- radiobarriocentenario.cl ↗
01
Context
Radio Barrio Centenario is a community radio station that now broadcasts around the clock on its own digital platform: a mobile app for neighbors, a web player, and an Admin Console where the team manages shows, the weekly schedule, votes and announcements. I designed and built it end to end under Shape Creative Studio.
02
The challenge
A neighborhood radio runs on volunteers, a tight budget and an audience of all ages, including older adults. The challenge was to bring it to the phone without losing what makes it theirs: neighbors feeling that the station belongs to them. The app had to be as simple as turning on a radio, and the team needed to run the schedule without relying on a technician.
The app in use
Real screens from the live version.
Live player
One obvious action: listen. Artwork, song and artist update in real time, and the ONLINE indicator confirms the signal is on air.
How are you feeling?
Listeners vote on their mood and the most-voted emotion changes the music live. Taking part takes one tap.
Schedule
The lineup by day, with recurring shows and visible exceptions such as "only on the 3rd Tuesday of the month".
Neighborhood votes
Community proposals about the programming, with minimum quorum and closing date in plain sight so every vote makes sense.
Always playing
Background audio with native controls on the lock screen and in the notification center.
Admin Console
The panel the team uses to run the station day to day. Screenshots from the demo environment.
Control dashboard
What's on air, connected listeners, service health, quick actions and what's next on the schedule, in a single view.
Audience analytics
Live listeners, audience trend, geographic distribution and minutes listened per show.
Weekly schedule
The Monday-to-Sunday lineup in blocks, with what's playing now and what's up next.
Shows
The show catalog with host and status, plus RSS feeds to publish each show as a podcast.
Music blocks
The selections that air when there is no live show, with alerts when a block runs short on tracks.
Broadcast engine
Stream status, time on air and the current track, with the option to skip a song instantly.
My approach
As simple as a radio
I started from who listens: neighbors of every age, many of them not used to apps. Large type, generous buttons and a main screen with one obvious action: listen.
Frictionless participation
The first version explored decentralized governance (DAO). In the live version, participation was simplified into three gestures any neighbor understands:
- Reactions: "Like" songs and share your mood live.
- Votes: neighborhood proposals with clear quorum and closing dates.
- Announcements: neighborhood notices built into the menu, no extra screens.
Radio Barrio Centenario Design System
A vibrant, community-driven visual language with glassmorphism, designed so any neighbor can listen and take part. Mobile-first, built on React Native.
Color Tokens
Primary, secondary, and neutral system tokens built for contrast and consistency.
Primary brand color. Play button, CTAs and primary action elements
Secondary buttons, UI backgrounds and supporting surfaces
Brand accent. Artwork border, highlights and premium elements
General app background (Light Mode)
Card and modal surfaces
Primary text, headings and high-priority content
Metadata, subtitles and secondary text
Confirmations, active states and the ONLINE signal indicator
Stream errors, failed actions and critical states
Typography Scale
Primary Typeface: System Default (React Native) (App native UI (iOS/Android))
UI Component States
Interactive primitives sharing token geometry, borders, and typographic rules.
Buttons
Form Inputs
One ecosystem, three pieces
I designed and built the whole platform, from the user experience to the infrastructure.
- Mobile app (React Native + Expo): 24/7 streaming with background audio, native controls, reactions, votes and schedule.
- Admin Console (Next.js): the team manages the weekly schedule, shows, music blocks, votes and the broadcast engine, and follows the audience in real time.
- Host workflow: hosts upload their recorded shows from the web and they go into the schedule.
- Web player: the station can also be heard in the browser at radiobarriocentenario.cl.
Results
Audience growth with the digital signal
Historic turnout in neighborhood votes
Continuous signal on app and web
Radio Barrio Centenario went from concept to a platform in daily operation. The key lesson: in a community product, technology works when it disappears. What remains is the neighborhood radio, now in every neighbor's pocket.
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