This is what I am currently working on.
There is somewhat of an irony of viewing designs for the web on another website, and I understand that static images are not the perfect way to present the work.
Single-purpose communication app helps people capture and surface the most acute moments for coaching and growth, levelling up leaders, and levelling up teams.
Brief.
Eleven, is audio based. It works on the premise that someone can quickly send a voice note/message to their manager and vice versa. No menu diving, no searching. Users had to be presented with the people they are connected with, and begin recording as quickly as possible.
Exploration.
Eleven is brand new, like new new. So there weren’t many ideas to how the problem could be solved visually. I believe the buzz word here is Zero-One. However there are plenty of places to look for inspiration within other applications, even if it wasn’t a primary use case.
Audio + Messages
With the abundance of communication apps. Audio is now a staple amongst them. Along side text interaction the addition in recent years of audio gives us plenty of inspiration.
However these apps don’t put audio at the heart of what they are. This is a choice, communication can be done via text input.
Abundence of applications that utilise text and voice communication

Early concepts showed all the states within one element.
It wasn’t long until the idea of using avatars, or faces to distinguish between contacts was thrown into the mix.
Allowing users to quickly scan and select there chosen contact would allow them to start recording a message as soon as inspiration struck them.
This could also be used to help show that there was a message ready to be listened to, or even allow them to be played from the same screen.
Live in 3...2...1
Even though it was possible to create a press and hold function for record, we ran into a few problems.
For starters, thumbs are big, and any feedback that we would want to show would be blocked by them. We couldn't move the avatar to show states as this would further exacerbate the issue.
We would have to look for a way to show different recording statuses elsewhere within the application.

Users would be presented with feedback depending on the recording state.
Connections Page Concepts.
A persistent record track allows avatars to be pressed and held, whilst showing feedback.
Once held recording can begin. Feedback is given with a animated sound wave, and record status.
On release, the users avatar is shown, audio is processed. Users can listen, delete or send.
Hidden behaviour.
Conceptually the persistent track would have been wonderful to implement. However there were several reasons why it wasn’t deemed correct for this version;
Upon seeing it there was confusion as to how you would interact with it.
Press and hold hadn’t been established as a learned user pattern.
It took up a lot of real estate especially for those with multiple contacts.

The persistent track wasn’t implemented, but we did find our style treatment for avatars/names/indicators.
Putting capture front and centre.

Marketed as making video "simple to shoot, simple to share" Flip video cameras ran from 2006 until April 2011.
Red button, always ready.
Its no good having an application that is built for voice, and spontaneity but not allowing someone to record as soon as something hits them.
It was time to look at ways to encourage this, in doing so I remembered the Flip Video camera (showing age here). Although short lived it too built itself on spontaneity, and put the record button up front and ready to hit at any time.
Making record the primary.
With the nostalgia in full swing. It was time to place the record button.
After going back and forth (including a floating button) I decided to place it somewhere that I knew it would be persistent and available regardless of where people were within the application.
The navigation bar.

A persistent record button allows users to record, from anywhere within the app.
Finalising the connections view.
Completed Connections view, with persistent navigation
Pressing (and holding) an avatar displays a recording track, replacing the title as to keep the avatars in place.
On release the user is presented with the ability to either play the recording, send or delete.