LampPost PT1: Catching Up

A background

LampPost is a spin-off of an idea that was proposed to me earlier this year. Though I’m skeptical of it’s viability, it was a project that I thought would be interesting to take on.

I attempted to make an in-progress project page, to show activity on this site. Because I made it with the goal of documenting my planning, strategies, setbacks, and decisions, it ended up being a lot more dense than a project page warranted. 

In the spirit of frequent updates and in-depth documentation, I decided to turn the project progress into a blog instead. 

"College students just aren't really coming to these shows anymore."

This was the main concern of a promoter who approached me, knowing that I was a product designer. With transparency that I’m hijacking someone else’s idea for my project, I want to paraphrase what this promoter envisioned for an app: 

  • Music Streaming Bandcamp does what it does poorly, and it can be improved upon.
  • Music Journalism Pitchfork was recently gutted, leaving a vacuum.
  • E-commerce For local merch sales.
  • Event Promotion For local shows.
  • A social connection More like Discord than Instagram or Facebook.
  • Localized Content All of these components would be bound to a certain geographic area. 
  • Connecting with the Creatives Outside of music, this would be a community-organizing app for any kind of artist for opportunities and events.
  • But… without any of the unhealthy baggage that comes with social apps and their algorithms.

I’m not a developer, but I already knew this all was a huge ask. There were a few points I was intrigued enough by to offer to help build a business case or even a prototype.

My main interest was a localized, comprehensive event promotion app geared towards getting people out. This was informed by a handful of factors:

Location Context

.Uncharitably, Peoria is a past-prime rust-belt industrial town that was built around a manufacturing company that no longer inhabits it. Charitably, it was where I went to college.

Both of these points are important to the context of this project. Central Illinois, along with many land-locked states are breeding grounds for hardcore, emo, and experimental music scenes. With UIUC and ISU close by, the Central Illinois area is perhaps the the densest non-urban scenes in middle America. 

Timing Context

When I was told that college kids weren’t coming to shows anymore, the reason was immediately obvious to me: because I had been living it.

I came into college at the peak of the pandemic. Everyone who came in after had experienced it throughout high school. 

This resulted in a more online, more risk-averse population. For an event that