The Lineup · onboarding polish · Brand/Creative · June 14, 2026
Three onboarding fixes — rhythm, balance, and the leaked labels
The re-heroed first run is good (the Follow hero + the notifications beat are the best writing in the app). These are the polish items the fresh-eyes review caught: the background flip-flopped navy↔white beat-to-beat, several beats had a sparse middle (content up top, button at the bottom, a void between), and two internal design labels leaked as live eyebrow copy. All three, fixed in the v2 treatment.
1 · Commit to a background rhythm
The flip-flop reads as disjointed because it's random. The fix isn't "all one color" — it's an intentional rhythm that maps treatment to meaning: dark for the brand + emotional moments (the open, the Follow hero, the payoff), warm paper for the functional setup (live/visiting, area, interests, name). The dark beats become punctuation; paper carries the work.
Brand
The going-out guide for your city.
Get started
Dark · open
Setup
Live here, or visiting?
Continue
Paper · setup
Setup
Which parts of town are yours?
Continue
Paper · setup
Setup
What are you into?
Continue
Paper · setup
★ Hero
Follow the bands and places you love.
Follow 2 · Continue
Plum · the hero
Almost there
What do you go by?
Continue
Paper · setup
One last thing
Want us to tell you when your bands play?
Yes, tell me
Paper + accent · ask
You're set
Here's your weekend.
Take me in
Dark · payoff
The rule: dark = brand/emotion, paper = setup.Three dark beats (open · hero · payoff) bracket and punctuate; the four setup beats share one warm paper ground. The notification ask sits on paper with an accent edge — it's a setup action with an emotional payoff, so it bridges. No more random navy↔white; the rhythm now means something.
2 · Fix the sparse middle
On several beats (mode, area, name) the content clustered at the top and the button sat at the bottom, leaving a big empty void. The fix: center the content as a group and let the beat breathe evenly — the setup beats are short, so they should feel composed, not top-loaded.
● Before
Almost there
What do you
go by?
Title pinned top, button pinned bottom, a large void between. Reads unfinished.
● After
Almost there
What do you
go by?
Just a first name — so the app can talk to you like a person.
Stacy|
Continue
Content centered as one composed group. The beat breathes evenly — intentional, not empty.
3 · Replace the two leaked labels
My design-board annotations (THE HERO, TIED TO THE FOLLOW) got built as live eyebrow text — on the two most important beats. Here's the real copy. (Lesson logged: board annotations are not product copy — I'll label them unambiguously going forward.)
Leaked: “THE HERO”
On the Follow beat — headline “Follow the bands and places you love.”
✓ Make it yours
alt · Your lineup starts here
alt · (no eyebrow)
“Make it yours” — frames the action as personalizing the app, sets up the headline without stealing it. The headline is strong enough that no eyebrow is also fine.
Leaked: “TIED TO THE FOLLOW”
On the notifications beat — headline “Want us to tell you when your bands play?”
✓ One last thing
alt · Stay in the loop
alt · (no eyebrow)
“One last thing” — it's the final beat before the payoff, so this orients and signals brevity (you're almost done). Warm, human, not a system label.
Make it yours
Follow the bands and places you love.
We'll tell you the moment they play near you.
Follow 2 · Continue
The Follow hero · fixed
One last thing
Want us to tell you when your bands play?
Only ever about things you follow. No digests.
Yes, tell me
Not now
The notif beat · fixed