Creating The Grammy's Second Screen Experience

Created in 1958, The Grammy Awards are offered by the Recording Academy to recognized artists and musicians through a nomination and voting process. 

The mission of the Recording Academy is to recognize excellence in the recording arts and sciences, cultivate the well-being of the music community, and ensure that music remains an indelible part of our culture.

We partnered with the Grammys to update and improve their mobile and tablet applications, successfully enhancing and expanding music fans’ experience of the Annual Grammy Awards, as well as delivering a wide variety of original content and music purchase capabilities.

The free application embraces and encourages society’s evolution towards a multiple-screen entertainment experience, as well as backstage coverage and an archived video library of selected Grammy Awards moments.

In addition to the video library and exclusive streams, which feature separate camera angles and perspectives from the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, the application offers:

• A year-round, continuously updated daily content feed of music and entertainment-related news articles, photos, and videos
• A "Grammys Live" view of four live backstage video fees to get VIP, behind-the-scenes access to the show
• The ability to view and search Grammy nominations and winners from current and past years

It was important for the design of the app to push forward with modern interface elements and animation while maintaining the iconic branding of the Grammys. Some key design points include:

• A modern user experience with sleek new interface elements that make it easy to browse through the stream of content, creating a better user experience for discovering something new
• A new, more visually rich design with photos, slideshows and video content that slides centrally into focus as you scroll
• Multiple aspect ratios for phones and tablets in portrait or landscape modes. Tablets morph content depending on which way the device is held

• In 2014, we saw an iTunes takeover of our app with an outstanding engagement performance.
• In January 2015, the app was ranked in the “Best New Apps” in Apple’s App Store
• The app has since been recognized for various features and successes and has won several awards, including:
  • Gold W3 Award: Mobile Apps – Entertainment
  • Gold Davey Award: Mobile App – Entertainment
  • Silver W3 Award: Mobile Apps – Music & Audio
  • Silver ADDY Award: Digital Advertising, Mobile Apps