Role
UX/UI Designer
Company
Personal project
Duration
1 month
Tools
Figma, Figjam, Notion
Reimagining a new approach to selecting a song
Designing a new voting experience for Festival da Canção that feels simple, trustworthy, and culturally connected.
The Goal was to bring back the collective excitement and national tradition that once defined the contest, while reimagining it for a new, digital age.
Reimagining how people connect through music
Create a new way for the public to have a voice in Festival da Canção (the biggest song contest in Portugal) not just by watching, but also by shaping it actively.
The goal is to bring back a sense of tradition and community through a digital experience that is simple, reliable, and unmistakably Portuguese.
The challenge
Festival da Canção is a moment where Portuguese came together, but nowadays most public voting still happens by phone call. For many people, that means they simply can't participate, whether due to cost, accessibility, or convenience.
The challenge here was to give everyone a voice. To rethink how the audience takes part and build a digital, free, and inclusive way to vote. This meant designing a secure and fair system, with voting limits, able to work smoothly in real time during a live broadcast. A modern experience that brings people closer instead of leaving them out.
Goals
Understanding the challenge and how people vote and what it means to them
I began by exploring how voting works for television viewers in Portugal, a moment of participation, pride, and belonging.
During conversations and analysis of the RTP ecosystem, I uncovered how design could make this collective gesture more meaningful and accessible.
How might we strengthen the emotional connection of the contest while creating a simple and trustworthy way for everyone to voto from home?
Analyzing data to turn ideas into a new voting experience
The challenge was to turn a national tradition into a clear and modern interaction. I explored patterns and design systems to transform needs and motivations into usability, ensuring that every element, from the timer to the vote confirmation, had a reason and a purpose.
Creating the structure and clarity to define how people explore the Festival da Canção app.
This process helped create intuitive navigation, balancing content discovery with quick access to the voting experience.
Defining how users experience the app until voting on their favorites
Building a complete and seamless experience for fans of the Festival da Canção
After setting the structure and main navigation flows, the attention moved to transforming the app into something visually appealing, accessible and consistent with the RTP ecosystem.
Wireframes
The main improvements included:
Reorganizing the voting buttons and confirmation buttons for better clarity.
Simplification of navigation on feedback screens.
Spacing and contrast adjustments to improve readability.
Home & Exploring
Voting
Artist detail
Bringing the full experience alive
To maintain consistency within the RTP universe, it made sense to follow a design model and system so that, visually, this application would be part of the digital identity of Portuguese television.
Style Guide
Keeping the contest tradition alive with a new voting system
The final prototype reflects everything learned along the way. Listening to fans, testing ideas, iterating flows, and shaping an experience that feels digitally something made by RTP with the modern, classic, and elegant looks and visuals from Festival da Canção.
Login & Authentication
The integration and login flow is designed to be fast, secure, and aligned with RTP's digital ecosystem. Users authenticate themselves through RTP's account system, ensuring the verification of Portuguese residents' eligibility, which is a fundamental requirement for maintaining the integrity of the vote.
Completely integrated with Conta RTP - the account system used across all of the brand's digital products
A simple, accessible, and guided authentication process
Users with previously created RTP accounts only need to log in to validate their eligibility to vote.
Credentials are securely saved after the first login for a seamless return experience.
Home & Exploration
The home screen was structured to adapt throughout the festival season, reflecting the competition's time. Before, during, and after the live shows.
The final design features:
A dynamic countdown for each show
Quick access to live content and voting, when available
Featured artists and news for engagement beyond voting
The logic and layout grew from mid-fidelity wireframes to increase clarity and prioritize real-time calls to action without overwhelming the user, especially the Hero Section.
Voting Flow
The voting process focuses on security, clarity, and excitement. Users can explore artists, listen to short previews, and easily submit their votes, with transparent progress and confirmation steps.
Adjustments from previous iterations include:
A clearer indicator of the voting limit per user
A confirmation screen to prevent errors
Visual feedback and an alternative flow via phone call when digital votes are exhausted
The flow has been refined to balance usability and security, aligned with RTP's voting system infrastructure.
Post-Voting Experience
After submitting their votes, users receive a clear confirmation and are redirected to the application to continue exploring the app about the Festival, avoiding a dead-end experience.
Improvements and additions to this flow after some iteration:
Improved the confirmation screen in the voting flow
Created a feedback message when the user exceeds the voting limit
Introduced the festival's main page with improvements in spacing and copy for greater clarity and better functionality
The user confirms their votes, returns to the home screen, navigates to the Festival section, accesses the live semifinal, and sees the vote limit message after trying to vote again.
What I found
Realized how powerful it is to design for a very broad audience. Speaking with different people, from fans to casual viewers of all ages, made it obvious that everyone has their own pace, expectations, and level of familiarity with technology. That pushed me to make decisions that felt simple, universal, and intuitive, rather than niche or “designer-centric.” A voting app couldn’t just be functional. It had to reflect the mood, the excitement, the identity of the event. And even when the main focus was voting, many users expressed the desire for something bigger: a way to explore artists, follow editions, and live the contest beyond the live show.
What I learned
This project made me grow a lot as designer. I learned how to prioritise without losing the bigger picture. First, providing a solid, secure, and intuitive voting experience, while also building a product with features that people really wanted, such as discoverability and community moments. It was also the first big project that I fully embraced variables in my workflow, and honestly, they became a lifesaver. They helped me iterate faster, test ideas with more confidence, and maintain consistency from mid-fidelity to prototyping.
Above all, I was reminded of how important it is to listen. The final product became clearer, more accessible, and more meaningful because real people shaped it.
