DRAUN by iamkrs: Futuristic Dark-Mode Music Player

DRAUN by iamkrs

Personal Project 2026

Look, I love streaming, but why does listening to my own FLAC collection feel like navigating a space station? I built DRAUN because I missed the days when music players felt like dedicated hardware, not ad-delivery engines. Inspired by Braun minimalism, vintage click-wheels, and retro E-Ink displays, DRAUN is a local-first Windows player built for people who actually care about their music collection.

Craft & Tech Stack:

Product Design Interaction Design Audio UX Electron React TypeScript Local-First

The Itch (Challenge):

Modern streaming apps treat music like background noise and podcasts like mandatory homework. I wanted a player that treated an album like an event - where clicking 'Play' feels intentional and the UI gets out of the way of the tunes.

My Role:

Sole Designer + Developer. I sketched the hardware-inspired controls, obsessed over retro E-Ink typography, and then actually wrote the Electron + React code to bring it to life on Windows.

Platform:

Windows Desktop (Electron)

Role Product & Brand Designer

Timeline 2026 · Personal Project

Platform Windows 11 Desktop

Deliverables Physical UI, Parametric EQ, Audio Shell

DRAUN by iamkrs music player UI interface

The Annoyance

Desktop music apps are just bloated websites stuffed into a window. They push AI playlists, obscure your local files, and hide sound settings 5 sub-menus deep.

The Fix

DRAUN is built like physical hardware for your screen. One click-wheel control, local-first library, Cover Flow nostalgia, live synced lyrics, and real analog-inspired audio toggles. Designed and coded by me in Electron.

The Specs at a Glance

1 Click-Wheel One tactile control to rule them all. No hunting for tiny icons.

Zero Cloud Your FLACs stay on your drive. Offline and proud.

Pure Audio ReplayGain, EQ, crossfade & tape warmth. Audiophile approved.

Cover Flow It's back, baby, and it feels as good as 2008.

Just your music. Zero algorithms allowed.

Draun
by iamkrs

Status: Built & Jamming

Designed and coded as a fully functional Windows music player in Electron.

iPod-inspired click-wheel UX
Cover Flow album flipping
Local-first FLAC & MP3 engine
Timecoded lyrics & tape warmth EQ

Interface & Visual Soundtrack

DRAUN music player synchronized lyrics view — Synchronized Lyrics View: timecoded lyrics stream over a dynamic fluid background (MJ's Earth Song in full glory)

DRAUN music player audio settings view — Tone Tweaking Zone: Direct Output, ReplayGain, Crossfade, and a toggle for subtle analog Tape Warmth

DRAUN music player playlist and track queue — The Queue: Tame Impala on repeat, local folder imports, and zero recommended podcasts in sight

The Outcome

DRAUN started as a 'what if?' late-night design sketch and turned into a working Windows app. I designed every pixel and coded the entire application in Electron - integrating real-time audio analysis, timecoded lyrics parsing, Cover Flow rendering, and custom equalizer profiles into a smooth desktop experience.

Actually Works! Built and running live on Windows, not just pretty Figma screens.

Click-Wheel Magic Physical iPod-style interaction model brought to desktop windows.

Cover Flow Joy Brought back album art flipping because it was too iconic to lose.

Karaoke Ready Real-time timecoded lyrics stream seamlessly aligned with playback.

Audiophile Tweaks FLAC support, ReplayGain, crossfading, and analog tape warmth.

Coded in Electron Written with React, TypeScript, and Electron under the hood.

Designer Takeaways

Design the interaction physics first: Designing the click-wheel mechanics first forced every menu, list, and screen state to follow one simple physical rule.
Constraints make UI feel cozy: Choosing an E-Ink color palette and minimalist layout forced me to strip away all visual junk. Less clutter = more music.
If you design it, try coding it: Building the app in Electron meant my design ideas had to survive real-world desktop windowing, local file systems, and audio decoders.
Nostalgia works when it's functional: Cover Flow and click-wheels aren't just retro eye candy - they make scanning 50GB of local music faster and way more fun.
Build tools for the joy of it: DRAUN doesn't care about monthly active users or engagement metrics. It just plays tunes really, really well.