Sadeem
Sadeem is a reality competition show for social media influencers.
Following an elimination format similar to TV competition shows like American Idol, but takes place entirely in digital/social realm.
This is the design component of the show’s digital presence. We also did the visual identity, which is here.
My Role
Design Director
The Opportunity and Concept
The Middle East / North Africa region has a very young population; 60% under age 25, compared to 25% in the US. The phenoma of social media influencers was relatively new, and incredibly popular in the region.
Digital media has been a bridge between the Arabic-speaking regions of the world, which is very diverse, and spans from UAE to Morocco.
The concept: A competition show for social media influencers from throughout the Arabic-speaking world, where contestants would come together in a creative space, and develop their craft, and build an audience.
The Challenge
The primary problems to solve here were creating a competition that worked across multiple social/digital platforms, in a way that would that would be compelling and natural to a youth audience.
To win the show, the contestants would build their own social following, so there were many digital streams that needed to be incorporated.
Research
Research was incredibly important to the process. This was a totally new approach for a product, and for a youth audience in a region of the world where there isn’t a lot of existing research.
We studied social media influencers in the region, and spoke with them. We conducted a survey with 400 college students in Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco. And conducted workshops with young people in Qatar.
Understanding the User
There were multiple types of users, from passive audience to the contestants themselves.
Designing the Experience
The most complex task was finding a way to make the show compelling to fans and have a digital presence that was cohesive and easy to follow and engage.
The Hub
Our solution was to create a central web presence called The Hub, that incorporated all the streams of content from the contestants and the show from social sites, and had profiles of the contestants, and live leaderboards of the competition.
UI
From here, we mapped out all the interactions and device cases.
Visual Design
