Mobile app,
Case study

A mobile music application focused around the idea of shared music experiences and the journey from ideation into concept.

OVERVIEW

The initial idea started with the fact that there are no mainstream music apps which provide a user friendly experience of simply sharing a song to friends without having to go on another platform I.E "I found a song on YouTube and have to share it either through a link or play it on speakers for friends to listen."

I had to resort to using shoddy ways of having a discord bot play music from links on a voice chat platform. So that's when i decided there are easier ways to all this!

With the help of Neon, we'll be able to listen to music together live, create groups in which songs can be discussed or sung together through voice chat and provide a platform where artists can host performances or provide behind the scenes on certain upcoming projects they might have.

User Interviews

To start the research on my project, I conducted user interviews in order to get a better understanding of the problem, the people and possible expectations.

What did I find?

They enjoyed discovering new songs from friends with similar tastes.
They like looking further into some of their favorite artist creative process.
They would resort to open mic nights, karaoke, jam circles and concerts to enjoy music together.
They enjoy using the radio but hate the breaks in-between (ads and announcer rambling on).

Research

Information gathered about the competitors in the market to help define basic features I should include in my application.

What did I find?

The biggest competitors have the ability to create and search for public playlists.
However only some of them have social features and even then it's limited to comments & "current song playing".
None of them have a diverse selection of both original and remixes of songs but one or the other.
Only one platform supports streaming and it's main focus is for DJ sets & mixes rather than a social aspect.

Public Playlists

Social Interaction

Artist livestream

Multiple logins

Diverse choices

Design

Low fidelity wireframes

I usually start the design process with low fidelity wireframes and sketches. This way I can iterate through many different designs. With wireframes I'm able to clearly define the basic features and main user journey of the app.

What can users do in the app?

All the expected features of a music app (play, pause, next, previous, seek ,etc.).
Follow friends and artists.
Create sessions with friends to chat/voice chat whilst listening to music simultaneously.
Join artists live streams and participate in live artist sessions.

Usability testing

Using Figma I created a Interactive low fidelity prototype. I tested this prototype with 4 users. After 2 tests I iterated the design once and validated my solutions with the remaining 2 users.

They didn't like using the menu every time to return to homepage

Removing favorites is a

2 step process

One-click removal

Logo leads to homepage

Final design

Final product

Look & feel

As with every UI design process, many different colours and styles were experimented with. I focused on picking the right colours and customized visual elements to provide a distinct look and feel from any other music application out there.

Final design elements:

Using Purple and Yellow to mimic neon lights.
Adding black and grey gradient accents.
Standardized logo as home button.
Vibrant, high resolution images of neon signboards and album art.

Takeaway

What have I learned?

I enjoyed working on this passion project. What I learnt the hard way, was that I really have to dedicate time recruiting. Initially I planned multiple usability tests and design iterations but at the end I only iterated once due to lack of test participants.

More time will be spent on this in future projects. Besides that I really enjoyed this project, It also helped me learn more about the current music app market and the available features.

Mobile app,
Case study

OVERVIEW