The Task

Radioplayer is a non-profit partnership between the BBC and commercial radio. They aim to keep radio listening simple, particularly on internet devices like computers, smartphones, tablets and smart speakers.

They are a non-profit organisation, working in partnership with broadcasters, developers, technology platforms, car companies, and hardware manufacturers.

Their relationship with thousands of broadcasters around the world means that they have unprecedented access to their data as it is broadcast, which is then available through the Radioplayer Partner API.

To assist with access to the platform and data, the team at Mucky Puddle were approached to design a Developer Hub with two key objectives:

To help non-technical decision-makers evaluate the API
To create a technical resource for application developers of all levels

Client

Radioplayer

Built on

Services

Web Development

API Reference

UX / UI Design

Animation

Two screenshots from the Radioplayer website.

API Reference

The API reference is at the hub's core; It provides access to documentation and tools for existing and prospective API users with a clear and trustworthy reference.

The guide walks the user through the nuts and bolts of all of the API endpoints and explains in more depth their workings. The reference is clear enough to be understood by developers whose first language may not be English. In addition to the reference, the Code Library provides sample code to help users get off the ground.

Someone using Apple Car Play in the car.

Test Console

One of the critical parts of the project was to create a console to allow developers to test their code on the RadioPlayer API. Our team worked closely with Radio Player’s API development partner to get a clear understanding of the technology and build out the console from prototype through to production.

Someone wearing headphones and using a laptop.

Design

The resource had to be clean and precise. Using brand elements and developing custom icons, the design team added a familiar Radio Player aesthetic to the hub framework.

Animation

Working through the project, it became clear that a short animation would be useful to help explain the Radio Player infrastructure. After a storyboarding exercise, we worked up the short clip using a combination of stock images and custom graphics.