Connecting musicians through a social and educational platform. Independent research and design.
Qualitative Research | User Storytelling | Prototype Design
Mobile apps and websites have become increasingly popular platforms for education. With numerous digital resources, learning a new skill seems as easy as the click of a button. For musicians, YouTube provides instrument tutorials, Abelton.com offers digital music lessons, Musicate provides lessons on mobile devices… countless platforms present learning material for musicians.
But despite the many resources, there is still a limited amount of mobile applications that support music learners’ needs. Based on my user research, music learners desire a platform that is simple, straightforward, and personalized to experience level. Further, they need a community. My qualitative research has shown that one of the most valued aspects of music is the ability to learn and create with other people. Musicians require insight, support, and collaboration -- yet many struggle to find partners.
These findings thus inspired TuneMate: a mobile application that provides personalized music lessons and a platform to connect local musicians. TuneMate users can access lessons tailored to their interests and experience by completing an evaluative placement quiz. They can also find musicians nearby by joining local group chats and messaging others.
I began my research with a heuristics evaluation of the music theory learning site, LightNote, and the digital music making site, Learning Music.
From this analysis, I aimed to learn what adds to the usability and educative qualities of both sites, and identify improvements for a better user experience. Takeaways from this analysis include that users need a way to track their progress, need accessible help/ information for activities, and need the ability to undo or redo in activities.
I conducted a usability test (UT) with the Learning Music website. The purpose of this UT was to identify potential issues in the Learning Music site, providing insight to features that would result in a more effective, efficient, and satisfactory product for users.
This was an online moderated usability test. The survey was conducted through Google Forms, and the session was recorded via Zoom. Materials, tasks, and observations shown below.
Although experienced, the user ran into some issues with the website. The most notable error occurred with the menu. The menu icon design is not consistent with other site designs, which resulted in the user ignoring the icon and clicking elsewhere to access menu items. In the post-task feedback questions, the user seemed satisfied with the website as a whole. He noted that he enjoyed how simple the product was compared to other music learning platforms. Further research is needed on participants with varying technological experience. [Read More...]
My qualitative user research aimed to investigate how users interact with music-making products to learn music. In this study, I hoped to further understand how a pianist learns music through digital applications and the piano instrument.
The observation method utilized in this study was participatory observation. The study was conducted in the user’s music practice space. This is a quiet apartment room with a piano, located in Los Angeles. Data was collected by hand notes and video recording via Zoom. [Read More...]
UX storytelling allows creators and designers to consider the perspectives of different users. This was important for designing my interface because it brought forward potential pain points, and inspired improvements that appeal to the broad span of target users. [Read More...]
With research and storytelling complete, I created a low-fidelity prototype that integrates the features of my product idea. The wireframes and wire flow demonstrated the functionality and flow of features utilized in envisioned tasks. I then conducted wireflow testing for further insight. My wireflow is displayed below. Read more to view usage scenarios and wireflow testing. [Read More...]
I used Figma to convert the low-fidelity wireframes into digitized designs that would later be transformed into an interactive prototype. My design process involved testing different typography, shape, and color variations for the app’s main “Lessons” page. After completion of the design, I ran two impression tests to further assist my process. An accessibility test was also ran to check for proper design. [Read More...]
To bring my idea to life, I created an interactive prototype for TuneMate. The prototype presents a thorough demonstration of the design and functionality of the mobile application. I used Figma to create my prototype while following my prior-created wireframes and wireflow. I then conducted a cognitive walkthrough and usability testing to get feedback on the design. [Read More...]
The prototype appeared to run smoothly. There are some functional edits needed, as noted above in my observations. Moving forward, I believe this application should focus on either the social media aspect, or the educational aspect; not both. I think the most valuable use for this application would be from the social media side, because it would provide a unique way for musicians to connect. I plan to conduct more user testing and continue to refine my prototype, as many design edits are still needed. If I had more time, I would create more renditions of interface designs.
