Roadeo

A Finance Tool for Touring Artists

Role: Product Designer
Tools: Figma, Google Studio AI, Claude, Netlify
Scope: UX/UI, Prototyping, Research
Status: Prototype v3 / Branding in progres

Track income, expenses & merch in real time.

The problem

Touring musicians often operate in a constant state of financial uncertainty. One night it’s a sold-out show with merch flying off the table, the next, it’s a door deal that barely covers gas. Money comes in through different hands, platforms, and formats: cash, PayPal, merch, guarantees. By the end of a tour, most artists have no idea whether they made a profit or ran at a loss.

➔ Disorganized income from multiple sources (cash, merch, guarantees).
➔ No clear view of show or tour profitability.
➔ Inventory tracking is manual or non-existent.
➔ No dedicated tools tailored to their needs.

Research & Insights

12 independent artists were interviewed, across Germany, France, USA and the UK in order to validate the idea. We discussed their workflows, tools, and frustrations. I also reviewed existing tools, from finance apps like QuickBooks to music-specific platforms like Bandcamp and MerchCat, and built a competitor matrix.

➔ Artists need tools that work fast on the go, often during load-in or right after a show.

➔  They value clarity over complexity, they don’t want dashboards full of graphs,  just the number that tells them if they’re in the green.

➔ Emotional tone matters: tools that feel cold, corporate, or overly analytical don’t build trust.

➔ No existing tool combined show-based profit tracking, POS, and inventory logic in one place, most artists were stitching 3–4 tools together or giving up entirely.

91,7%

Sells Products while touring. 

83,3%

Are affected by financial uncertainty. 

60%

Lost track of product stocks. 

Design Objectives

Roadeo was designed not just to work, but to work under pressure, during soundcheck, backstage, or half-asleep in a van. Based on insights from real users, I defined five clear goals to guide the product direction:

1.

The tool had to work on a phone, fast, legible, and finger-friendly.

2.

Logging a sale or expense should be faster than opening Notes or Instagram.

3.

Artists need to instantly see what they earned after each gig.

4.

Know what sold, where, and how much is left, without spreadsheets.

5.

The MVP requires no login, so artists can try it mid-tour with zero onboarding.

Architecture & Flow

To translate user needs into an intuitive product, I mapped the entire experience around how musicians actually think while on tour.

Instead of separating tours and shows into disconnected modules, I introduced a unified Event structure, each event contains its own POS, expense log, and financial breakdown, making it easy to track performance per night or across a tour.

At the same time, Inventory and Products live independently outside of Events. This allows merch to be reused, tracked, and updated consistently from show to show.

➔ Events: Combining shows and tours into a single unit.
➔ Nested flows: POS, Sales Log, Expenses inside each Event.
➔ Inventory: Managed separately from events.
➔ Automated logic: Real-time profit and product stock calculations.

Design System

The design system below reflects Roadeo’s goal to deliver clarity and confidence to artists on tour. I built a semantic token system, consistent spacing scale, and reusable components designed for mobile-first interaction. The use of vibrant but controlled color cues ensures emotional resonance without visual noise. 

➔ Modular components: POS cards, inventory selectors, expense entries.
➔ Scalable spacing and layout units.
➔ Custom icon library themed around music and finance.
➔ Responsive typography using Inter for legibility on small screens.

Prototyping

To bring Rodeo to life quickly, I used Google Studio AI to transform my Figma designs into a functioning MVP. This no-code approach allowed me to validate interactions, data flows, and overall usability. 

➔ Add/Edit Events.
➔ POS for logging merch sales.
➔ Real-time profit calculations.
➔ Inventory deduction logic.

Key take-away

While the prototype reflects core logic and flow, it does not fully capture the emotional tone, spacing, and visual hierarchy present in the design. The design emphasizes brand personality, human connection, and clarity, while the prototype prioritizes speed and functionality. 

➔ The original dashboard layout is layered and expressive, whereas the prototype flattens the layout.
➔ Typography and color contrast in the prototype are less refined.
➔ The Figma version uses human elements like band imagery and smoother spacing, which the prototype omits.
➔ Typography and color contrast in the prototype are less refined.

Next ? 

Rodeo began as a personal solution, but the response from other artists proved that the problem is universal. The next phase is to evolve Rodeo from a working prototype into a fully polished tool musicians can rely on throughout their tours. This means investing in smoother UX, real-time syncing, and offline access, as well as partnering with developers or investors who share the vision of empowering independent artists.

I’m currently seeking collaborators to help bring Rodeo to life on a larger scale, whether through funding, development, or strategic partnerships.

➔ Building the database.
➔ Polish UI to align prototype with design system
➔ Collect more user feedback through real use on tour.