Client
Personal Project (Nazaray)
Work
Product Design
Interface Design
Animation
Sound Design
3D Renders
Marketing
Sound Blocks is a playful music making app designed for kids and non-musicians
You simply place blocks of sound anywhere on the grid, connect them together and play! It's a remarkably simple new workflow that removes the obstacles and steep learning curves commonly associated with conventional music production software.
Sound Blocks was conceived and designed over a span of two years - after which I shared the project publicly on Reddit, where it went viral. Seeing the public's response, I crowdfunded the development on Kickstarter and raised $ 15,000 USD. Sound Blocks also won a USD $ 5,000 grant from Buildspace and was shortlisted in the top 20 out of 70,000 projects.
Sound Blocks is also a personal exercise in radically reimagining interfaces to make creativity more accessible. In the age of mindless content consumption, I believe we need more mindful and constructive digital experiences to reorient our relationship with technology.
Sound Blocks was conceived and designed over a span of two years - after which I shared the project publicly on Reddit, where it went viral. Seeing the public's response, I crowdfunded the development on Kickstarter and raised $ 15,000 USD. Sound Blocks also won a USD $ 5,000 grant from Buildspace and was shortlisted in the top 20 out of 70,000 projects.
Sound Blocks is also a personal exercise in radically reimagining interfaces to make creativity more accessible. In the age of mindless content consumption, I believe we need more mindful and constructive digital experiences to reorient our relationship with technology.
Process
01 — Prototyping
Despite not having a coding background, I was able to leverage AI tools like chat GPT to help me code a rudimentary prototype of Sound Blocks. I used the Java based 'Processing' software to build the first version and was able to iteratively expand the scope. This process also taught me how to convey logic to LLMs and sequentially build usable apps.
02 — Buildspace
Buildspace was an online community based in San Fransisco where people collectively built their passion projects over nights and weekends. I joined Buildspace to give me a sense of accountability and external structure to lay the foundation of Sound Blocks over a span of six weeks. The video on the right documents that journey.
At the end of the Buildspace journey, Sound Blocks was shortlisted amongst the top 20 projects out of 70,000 and given a $5,000 grant.
At the end of the Buildspace journey, Sound Blocks was shortlisted amongst the top 20 projects out of 70,000 and given a $5,000 grant.
03 — Kickstarter
After generating hype via Buildspace and Reddit, I decided to create a Kickstarter project to raise more funds for the development of Sound Blocks. I set a target for $10,000 and finished the campaign a month later with $15,000 USD raised which helped me hire developers to begin building the app.
© Umer Ahmed, 2025