The Future is Bright
Creation Co.
My role
Product Designer
UI/UX Designer
Strategist
Timeline
3D design and animation Motion design Interactive design Experience design
UX Method
User Interview
User Flow
Competitive & Comparative Analysis
Heuristic Analysis
Information Architecture
Prototyping
Software used
"Our team worked tirelessly, but I think everyone here and the team at Square was very satisfied with the results." Annie Young Marketing Lead, Creation Co.
Let's start with a question…
Among one of my first projects at Square, this focused on positioning the brand for it's next phase - transitioning to Block. We worked with the incredible agency at Creation Co. to get this one launched and many of the challenges were in the scope of the work.
THE MUSICAL
INFUSION
Concept Thinking
Imagine an indie electronic song by The XX, infused with traditional Chinese martial arts (xianxia) melodies… How complex it will be of the compositing process for a non-professional music lover?
MAKE MUSIC COMPOSITION
ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE
ACROSS CULTURES
Motivation Behind the Scene
Current music streaming platforms including Spotify prioritize mainstream pop music over all other underrepresented music genres including regional music, classic music, experimental underground music, etc.
And therefore, one of the measures to protect music diversity and increase the impact of underrepresented music is to involve more enthusiasts in the creation.
Therefore, E-Sound aims to lower the threshold of music composition.
E-SOUND
DESIGN SYSTEM
Final Design
I adopted the gradient color patterns to envoke certain emotions and moods just like music does. Users can anticipate the rythm of the music from the color dynamics.
VIBES SETTING
Input the personal music preferences to better train the algorithm by creating personalized playlists and recommendations
PERSONALIZED ARCHIVE
Understand users' music preferences through the data sediment
MUSIC FILTERS
The ‘music filters’ works as combos of
different music effects including echo, reverb, distortion, or vocal tuning which can be applied to the original music clips with efficiency
MUSIC FILTERS
Part of the ‘music filters’ are derived from multiple famous movies so that users intuitively experience the rhythm of the music before even using the filter
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS
Find nearby listeners according by the musical compatibility, and therefore build up a tightly connected musical sharing community
The crucial challenges of overturning conventional music streaming
platforms like Spotify
Challenge
How to satisfy the needs when elders have specific preferences for traditional or classic music genres that may not be as readily available on some streaming services?
How to lower the threshold of music compositing?
How to ensure that the generated music sounds high-quality and professional?
How to ensure the generated music is unique and innovative?
Competitor Analysis
Research Process 1
01
Competitor's User Journey Auditing
First, in order to get a comprehensive picture of the product logic, users' friction, and painpoints, I conducted competitive user journeys toward Spotify, Audio Editor, and Splice to identify the market gaps and find opportunities.
02
Competitive Feature Analysis
For the second half of our research process, I did comparative research by comparing the top 3 music apps and describing their features in a tabular form.
User Research Insights
Research Process 2
To understand the user's needs and expectations, my research process included conducting in-person interviews and competitor analysis. This research provided me with a comprehensive view of the production environment which set a solid milestone for the final design.
03
Quantitative Analysis
The in-person interviews helped me measure the shift manner of the older adults' social perticipation, and made me realize the correlation between socially music composition and elders' mental health .
A shift age of older adults' social participation
Older adults value listening to tranditional / retro music which can be rarely find on conventional music streaming platform
04
User Painpoints Defined
I distilled the interviews into three distinctive personas with three main painpoints.
Insights
Conclusions
I synthesized the collected data from in-person interviews and competitive analysis into the below insights.
Tread 1: Audio Editing Workflow
INSIGHT1
A successful design should be inclusive and hierarchical, considering the needs and abilities of a diverse range of users. For example, we should provide both the audio templates and the adjustable variables to ensure the service meets the needs of all users.
INSIGHT2
The most important thing I have learned in the process of auditing Spotify's interaction logic is that we should design the site architecture and navigation system more flatly to reduce friction.
INSIGHT3
By reading Spotify's research and development log, I realized that the design of the entry point and the authentication section should be as concise as possible in order to improve user engagement. In the early steps, we shouldn't focus on setting up the preferences or going through other irrelevant procedures.
Tread 2: Elderlies Preference
INSIGHT1
Elderlies love traditional music and drama due to a range of reasons, including nostalgia, familiarity, and cultural connections.
INSIGHT2
The available music editing software may be too complex or difficult for elers to use effectively.
INSIGHT3
the communication needs of the elderly have often been overlooked.
Design Guidelines
Conceptualization and Low-fi sketching
Design Process
After identifying the pain points and the overall workflow of the app, I began sketching out the details and hierarchies of the key features for Home, Music Composition, Library&Social. Sketching is a useful technique for organizing and conceptualizing ideas assisting me to effectively visualize and plan the rough outline of the design as a whole.
01
Home
This system aims to assist you in familiarizing with / collecting the instruments and music effects commonly used in composition, thereby helping you in your own creative endeavors.
Unlike conventional music streaming platforms that solely offer recommended songs based on users' listening history, Based on your listening history, E-sound's homepage provides alternative open-source music clips and instrumental sounds that make up the compositions you enjoy.
02
Music Composition
This system aims to assist you in familiarizing with / collecting the instruments and music effects commonly used in composition, thereby helping you in your own creative endeavors.
Unlike conventional music streaming platforms that solely offer recommended songs based on users' listening history, E-sound's homepage provides alternative open-source music clips and instrumental sounds that make up the compositions you enjoy.
03
Social
In addition to offering a seamless music composition experience, E-Sound places a strong emphasis on social features that are often lacking in other streaming music platforms.
We have incorporated comment, love, and collect sections below each music clip, allowing users to interact with one another. These interactions serve as valuable data for music creators, helping them gauge the popularity of their creations.
This addresses one of the shortcomings I observed during my audit of Spotify's design. The interface lacks metadata that indicates the presence of social features as a means of reflecting the user-creator dynamic.
04
Library
Traditional or retro music encompasses various nuanced subcategories that are not adequately represented in existing music platforms. However, our system collects and categorizes these songs based on different regional styles and instrument types. This allows users to easily discover and explore lesser-known tracks that align with their preferences.
