Crafting an app for an intuitive music-listening experience to encourage social communication across a shared interest.
This study focuses around the creation of a social platform for easy music sharing with the framework of location-based gaming. I partook in a UCSD course titled “Social Computing”, focused on exploring how to weave social communication with technology. There were multiple phases of pitching and going through the design process in order to meet consumer needs. My team was tasked with crafting an app for an intuitive music-listening experience to encourage social communication across a shared interest.
My role in this project was coordinated between the two other designers with whom I collaborated with on the user research and conception of the UI for this app. I created frameworks, surveyed participants, and created final rendered graphics. Our collective findings led to a fully fleshed out design centering ease of sharing, conciseness, and streamline functionality.
There was a six week turnaround from the start of concept creation until the final prototype. My team received feedback from higher executive, Steven Dow, as well as hundreds of users within the class. Our research and notes for creative direction within the first four weeks led to the following two weeks of interface design and finalization.
When brainstorming ideas, we initially found interest in creating a platform for friends to improve hobbies alongside each other. Not being able to continue to persist through a hobby was a problem we found to be prevalent amongst our team. However; the self-reporting was a factor that could not be checked through image identification. This would defeat the purpose of the application.
We brainstormed more topics that could fit in a similar style of social platform. There are a multitude of music streaming and sharing platforms but none that entice people to actively check the status of other users or return to the app once downloaded. This was the steppingstone to explore a platform that could join the ends of social media and music listening.
Initial Survey
We created an online survey that would be used to understand the direction in which we would take our application.
We aimed to answer:
○ How often do people connect through music tastes?
○ Would people like to use music as a means of connecting with others?
○ Are there instances where people face difficulties in connecting with others when they would like to?
Our survey consisted of 2 demographic questions and 7 questions revolving around music use and interacting with others on the basis of music. Out of our 42 participants, the demographic of those who responded ranged from young adults ages 17 - 28, mostly being UCSD students and others gathered from the music online communities.
Key Findings
○ 70% reported experiencing higher quality friends due to similar music tastes
○ 41% participants answer that similar music tastes occasionally lead to better quality friends
○ 66% participants answer no or are unsure if music leads to higher quality friends
○ 66% participants rate similar music tastes a 1 or 2 out of 5 for importance of sharing similar music tastes with friends
Competitive Analysis
In order to gauge other social interaction music apps, we conducted competitive analysis on platforms such as Last.fm, Airbuds, Tastebuds, and Oops. Many music sharing apps tend to lack user-friendly methods of constant social interaction.
Prototype Testing
From our lo-fi screens, we determined that we wanted to place focus on proximity and chatting with others. To simulate our desired interactions, we utilized the following platforms:
○ Figma: to create and customize avatar, create a music profile, and interacting through commenting
○ Spotify/Apple Music: to reference top songs and genres, as well as send songs and playlists
Lo-fi Wireframes
In order to flesh out what interactions we wanted to focus on for prototyping, we developed lo-fi screens that illustrate the general flow of our desired app. We attempted to get in the head of how we want our prototype sessions to reflect the product we are creating.
“I think in an attempt to make the interactions more structured, organized, and specific the demo lost some of those fun, playful qualities that make the prospect of sharing music with other people appealing."
-Anonymous, testing user
To reflect our gamified experience with customizable characters, we chose a color palette and fonts that reflected the playfulness of the app and that felt inviting to users. There are both 3D and 2D elements to keep the users' interests while still maintaining the integrity of the design.
Refine the prototype.
Further developing the prototype and increasing the overall ease of use and interactions
Implement Spotify Application and location services
Integrate Spotify/Apple Music data to inform the character creation, and use location services to find real people nearby and interact with
Conduct more user testing
Receive additional feedback on what we can improve on for the prototype, and see if our desired goals were effectively communicated
The Importance of Communication
When working in a group, it is important to align goals and set deadlines to meet. We experienced a few bumps in the road, but overall ended up with a team that shared the same mindset and that worked well together.
How we can design to promote social communication
During our brainstorming, research, and designing processes, we were challenged to create an app with a novel concept, which we struggled with at first. However, we were able to combine the concepts we wanted to integrate into a more unique platform.
Lots of iteration
With our user research, we found issues with character creation and chatting with others, the two main aspects of TuneIn! We struggled with streamlining the process of making the initial user profile in order to allow users to jump into the virtual world. There were many iterations comparing the global chat and the 1-1 messaging inbox.
Prototyping the purpose and usage of the product
Prototyping without a Figma prototype has given us a lot more insight about the feasibility of our product and the social space we are engaging in. Being able to see the complexity and flow of how a music-centered social can actually be emulated like.