Product Overview
Soundwavy is an innovative hybrid app. This product’s main goals are:
▷ Connecting musicians and fans in a more personal way that mainstream social media apps currently lack
▷ Enable fans to discover new artists they love
▷ Help up-and coming artists to be discovered by new fans

Role: Product Designer, UI/UX Designer
▷ Lead design for user interface and user experience by conducting market and user research
▷ Create a branding identity and design system
▷ Ideate product features and strategize to meet goals
▷ Lead junior designers to assist in completing the design, while maintaining consistency in branding/design system
▷ Develop an interactive prototype for testing and development
▷ Collaborate with developers for quality assurance of application
FREE UI/UX AUDIT
Problem
▷ This type of hybrid, social media/music streaming app has been attempted before, unsuccessfully
▷ Users need motivation to use SoundWavy. Why would they use it, when they're already using apps they love for social media/music streaming, separately?
▷ This app needs to be creative, innovative and bring something new, but useful to the table. We need to ideate features that push boundaries of innovation; without overdoing ourselves. We need to be strategic, and selective; yet innovative, with implementing features into the app
▷ App needs to have a great visual design, and intuitive user experience
Solution
▷ Conducted market & competitive research on other apps that have tried this, and failed; learning their pros and cons
▷ Carried put user research to learn about users from both target audiences; fans and musicians, focusing on their unmet needs first
▷ Ideated several potential features; then strategically selected which would make the MVP based on their usefulness, innovation and creativity
▷ Created a high-quality, modern branding identity for the UI, and an intuitive user experience that seamlessly combines both aspects of the app in a way that is beneficial, (and fun) for both types of users
How I solved these problems
The main issue was not UX; I'd worked on a few social apps before and shipped features with good UX; I knew what users expect in terms of design, processes, and patterns.
The main problem was ideating & strategizing which features would be useful, and engaging for users. The app needed to solve a problem(s) for both types of users, while being fun and different.​​​​​​​

My most valuable tools to help me solve these problems were:

Market Research: I studied startups that attempted to combine social media with music, using Google searches, reading music articles, downloading some of these apps, and reading countless good (and bad) reviews on the App Store. This helped me:
-Learn that many similar apps were not solving an actual problem for users; likely the cause of failure
-Discover a big, unmet need for an app where musicians can 1.) Post more personal content that helps fans feel more connected, 2.) Be discovered more easily by music fans
-Create a long list of possible features, and study which features were useful, which were not
Competitive Analysis: Leading on from market research, I studied products that were most similar, and focused on learning which features they had, and which they lacked
User Research & Interviews: I interviewed users from both target audiences; fans and musicians to learn what were some of their biggest problems on social media/music streaming apps, to learn firsthand from them, which features they needed.
Ideation: Armed with knowledge on users' problems, the market, competitors products, and a list of potential features, I strategically selected features which would be both useful and engaging for users; and created wireframes to layout the plan of an app combining social media/music streaming on a single interface, while remaining intuitive.
Key features
Social Media

•  Has all features a modern social media user needs: posting, liking, commenting, sharing, stories, and direct messaging 
•  Create your profile, display your favorite playlists, songs- even share reels
•  Link to other social profiles for easy login, connecting with friends, and transferring playlists
Music Streaming

•  Free, uninterrupted streaming! (Ad revenue comes from social media ads) 
•  All features a user needs for music streaming; create playlists, discover new music
•  Discover up-and-coming, or local artists
•  Get improved music recommendations we know you'll love with the help of AI
Unique Features

•  Like and comment directly on songs, albums, and playlists
•  Discover music events near you
•  Advanced search features powered by AI
•  & more awesome features we can't give away just yet
FREE UI/UX AUDIT
DISCOVERY SESSION
My goals for this session were to:
▷ Understand what problem(s) this app will solve and how?
▷ For who will it solve these problems? 
▷ And understanding the business goals of this product
I began by conducting a short interview of my client, (and later user interviews) to understand these concepts.
Problems artists experience: I learned that unknown artists often struggle to market their music & make new fans. While there are multiple ways of sharing music, through YouTube, SoundCloud, Instagram, Spotify, etc., artists have to pay saturated markets to promote their music & reach a wider audience than their existing fans Many resort to spamming for free self-promotion & can get lost in the void of social media.
Problems music fans experience: fans already have a multitude of apps to listen to & discover new music, but lack one with social features such as posting or sharing their songs, playlists, while connecting with their favorite artists. I realized early on, that the app would have to appeal to music fans & create a compelling reason(s) for many of them, to join this app. These interviews confirmed a need for the app. 
Our business goals were to: design & develop a hybrid app that connects artists & music fans in a new way. It will help artists reach new fans, while helping music fans discover new artists, share music & connect with their friends & favorite artists.
IDENTIFYING OBJECTIVES for M & CR
My first step to conducting a successful market research & competitive analysis is identifying a list of objectives we expect to learn from this session, which are:

▷ Identify existing/past apps with the same goal
▷ Identify existing apps that share similarities & what similarities/differences do these apps have?
▷ How are they solving/not solving these same problems for users?
▷ What other things are our competitors doing well?
▷ What are our competitors lacking, & how can we capitalize off that?​​​​​​​
MARKET RESEARCH
I discovered a handful of existing apps with the similar goals. Although many apps focus mainly on music playing & minimal sharing such as Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube and probably dozens others, only a handful attempted to mix more social features. Since this is a unique hybrid app, it was important ensure there already aren't apps out there doing the exact same thing, and if there are similar apps out there, what exactly are their goals, and how are they achieving them? We validated a need for the product, and understanding the market & possible competitors helps me create a unique, innovative product that helps users fill an unmet need. These were a couple interesting articles I read and saved for reference.
Why can’t anyone figure out how to make a social music app? 
https://www.tubefilter.com/2018/05/15/how-to-make-a-social-music-app/ “[music apps have] always been more about search than sharing & talking”

Why did the Instagram of music fail?
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/17/17242288/whyd-you-push-that-button-music-spotify-cymbal-streaming “Music actually is everywhere in social networking… there hasn’t been a combination of a really fun experience, where people feel excited to share… that’s also listenable.”
“The advice that I would give to the next person who works on this is, every great app..has to start from a place of real need.”
“music discovery is…not a core problem…That being said, I think everybody is thrilled by the experience of hearing something new that they love.”
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
For a deeper competitive analysis, I focused on comparing the two existing products which were most similar to our goals: SoundCloud & Geojam are mainly music playing & sharing apps, but do have some features you'd expect on a social media app- such as ability to have conversations & build a very basic user profile. 
The competitive analysis is particularly important for this project due to the uniqueness of the product & the way that music listening/sharing & social media acts function currently. I discovered that there are dozens of music playing apps, & a couple of apps that somewhat combine the social/music aspects. However, it's been well-documented that no app has been able to successfully mesh a social media/music app before, so I wanted to learn as much as I could about both industries & how they intersect- & have intersected before.​​​​​​​
Below, I compare more similarities, differences, problems they solve/don't solve, what they're doing well, & what our 2 main competitors, lack. Although their goals are not exactly on the same wave as SoundWavy, we can still learn very useful things from them- what they are doing well, what they aren't, what users may expect, how to differentiate ourselves & appeal to users while solving their problems innovative, unfulfilled ways, & more. 
Competitor #1 Pros & Cons:
PROS: 
-Had some social features such as liking, commenting, sharing & profile. Most apps lack this feature allowing users to share music & talk about it on the same app. These basic social features area must for SoundWavy, because allowing users to have ways to connect & communicate with artists, & other users, as well as share music- is great. This makes the app exciting & fun for users, while increasing engagement for artists.
CONS:
-Not enough social features, such as direct messaging. I've been watching them for a while & they've added more over time, but they may be too late...
-Users must pay to stop ads. This is a pain point for users. Users have many different options when it comes to playing music for free, and due to their various options they have high expectations of their overall music-listening experience.
-Bugs, crashes & other general crashes reported.
Competitor #2 Pros & Cons:
PROS:
-Also had social features such as creating profiles, & ability to comment & connect with other fans under shareable playlists. This social feature make the app exciting for fans, while increasing artist's reach.
-Unique feature rewarding fans with items such as merch, based on listening time. While this is a way to trick fans into using the app more, it's a decent way of making it more exciting for them.
-Can connect with Spotify & AppleMusic.
-Feature which allows you to discover music events & communities.
CONS:
-No feature to post like social media apps, which would further help engagement, music sharing, conversation, & make the app exciting for users.
-Users claimed it was difficult to earn enough points to claim rewards.
-Users need a premium Apple/Spotify account to use this app. 
User Research
USER PERSONAS
To define the research into quantifiable data I could use to help me design an app that will achieve ours & the users goals, I moved onto the next steps: defining the User Personas & the User Pain Points. 
Based on our previous research, it solidified the original expectation of 2 key user personas we will be solving problems for. It is useful to learn about them in depth & study their habits, expectations, & problems as users. Based on 2 very real but anonymous people, these are the 2 main user personas that I discovered:
-Music fans looking to discover new music & keep up with their favorite artists.
-Musicians looking to make new fans, collaborate with other artists, learn & improve their skills.
USER PAIN POINTS
After studying the users & their goals, this gave us a better idea of their pain points, and how our design & features can solve them. Since there are two different types of user accounts, this involves considering pain points for both groups of users. 
The pain points for music fans were ad interruption during free music play, music recommended is too "mainstream" or they've already heard it, & music sharing not being normalized as social media/music apps have not been successfully done before.
The major pain point for artists was pretty obvious- they want to get their music out there, reach a wider audience. And they want to be able to do this without spending a bunch on  Some of the issues they run into however, is expensive paid promotion on apps like Instagram or Facebook, as well as saturation. We're talking about apps with artists spamming comment sections for free promo who mostly get ignored. Another issue when they're using other apps (such as SoundCloud) is not enough music fans, and mainly other artists. 
Ideation
PROBLEMS THIS APP WILL SOLVE (AND HOW)
For music fans:
-Find music that is sonically similar to music they are listening to. We will do this through AI- there are many products that can do this, I believe a great way to find out which AI software is the best for this, is to test users using different AI. I'd ask users to play a few of their favorite songs, have the software recommend new music for them (both music that is popular enough they may already know, as well as artists they likely have never heard before,) and at the end simply rate how well they liked the songs recommended to them. Then we select the most successful software. Of course, this could be done later on with more time & resources- for the beginning, we could do research on them & make an educated guess on which could be best. Of course, hiring someone with experience in the music app AI technology area would help.
-No ads that interrupt music play: I ran some brainstorming sessions, & to solve this issue while helping the app reach it's goals, I developed some solutions. A feature that encourages users to interact with musicians, by the more they like, comment, or share music, a point system rewards them. on a few different levels, the highest of the three allowing them to listen to music uninterrupted. There are also paid options to increase revenue for the app. These paid options will be similar to current apps but more rewarding, because the product provides users with music mainstream apps may not recommend
-Users can play music straight from the music playing screen. They can see likes, comments & even share music straight from there. This encourages fans to increase engagement for musicians when they find music they love!
-Connect fans to musicians by giving a similar point system to musicians, for engaging with fans. This encourages musicians to connect more personally with fans, giving them a unique experience other apps lack.
-Giving users a "point system" will have other benefits for users, & musicians. It will also make the app more interesting, fun & interactive than other apps. Other apps mainly have "likes," comments, reactions, messages & other ways of validation/dopamine. My goal for SoundWavy is to explore new ways of that.
-An event page for fans: local shows, concerts, music festivals & other music-related events near them. 
-Allow users to find top local artists
-Other ways of persuading music fans to use the app that entertain them make it interesting, or solve their problems:
For musicians:
-Increase engagement: as mentioned above, by giving users a point system & making it easy or them to share artists' music & engage with them, this helps naturally increase musicians 
-Reduce ad cost: by giving them free or reduced ad spend as they build more points for engaging with fans. Yes, we are persuading fans & musicians to use the app & engage with it more, but they'll love it!
-Increasing their live engagement + connecting with fans. Artists can update their daily statuses, which users can see on their feed or on their music playing screen when playing that artist. This helps them connect with fans more personally, as well as let fans know when they're having events, or even what they're up to.
-An event page for artists: local shows, rap battles, concerts, learning opportunities etc.
-Connecting with & standing out to more fans through top artists' feature
DESIGN IDEATION
Now I have a clear understanding of the app's goal, the market, our competitors, user personas & their pain points, and a very clear vision of how to begin tackling them. This information helps me begin creating a flow. I start off with asking "what are the main pages I need for an MVP?" 
-A news feed where users can share music & view artists' updates 
-A search/explore page for users to explore artists/news, events & artists to find other artists 
-Messaging feature of course 
-Profile page (with differences based on musician/fan account
-& a music play/share page integrated with the social pages of the app, & that links to other apps

LOW-FIDELITY WIREFRAMES (SKETCHES)
From ideating a design layout I can begin sketching low-fidelity wireframes & ordering pages in a logical architecture users are familiar with, merging elements from social media & music apps. Design architecture:

-I set the home page on the bottom left tab, as that is the way users expect a social media app.
-Search page is usually the second one in order from left to right
-Messaging for fans, & musicians to all connect with each other (placed on top right)
-Profile with different features based on account type (top left)
-Music play page on far left where it makes the most sense. This page will kind of be a pop up, the home & other tabs will just barely minimize either in size or opacity
SITEMAPPING 
Although I have the login process & basic 5-7 screens, these are just the parent pages, from which many other pages will come from. 
I created a sitemap based on my previous market research of social media & music apps. More user research was conducted to ensure we had a lean & viable solution to solve user's problems and meet our business goals, while providing users what they'd expect from social media & music apps. Some of the UX research methods I employed were:
-User Interviews
-A/B Testing
-Card Sorting
This helped me learn in-depth about user's needs & expectations for a hybrid app like this, and helped me come up with this sitemap:
Style Guide
After UI style guide, which will dictate and maintain the consistency of the branding style across all assets- color template, character styles, icons, buttons and cards.
I wanted to implement a design that follows modern UI/UX design trends for a clean modern look from the jump that conveys to users  high-quality & unique. Here are the color template, character style, icons & other components.
Hi-fidelity Wireframes & Prototypes
Prototyping is one of my favorite steps in the UI/UX design process, because this is where we get to experience the product. How it is actually going to look, feel, & how users will interact with it. You can interact with my prototype here: ​​​​​​​
https://www.figma.com/proto/Jo1FtlPOzilQVx0QFOsBlJ/SoundWavy?node-id=4%3A4&scaling=scale-down&page-id=0%3A1&starting-point-node-id=4%3A4

After initial research, user testing, ideating & iterating I created high-fidelity screens (with color & first "final" design,) as well as prototypes. Below are some of the main pages: the login, connect, homepage, music play, search, notifications & messaging screens.
User Research
Prototypes are meant to be tested, with real users. 
I initially conducted interviews with local artists to learn some of their pain points, as well as music fans & learn about their less obvious unmet needs. I ran some usability testing, to make sure users understood how to use the app, the features & how to post, send messages, create playlists etc. I gave users tasks & observed them to see if they got stuck at any points. 
These are some of the things I learned: as mentioned at the beginning of the project, music artists struggle to successfully market their music & gain fans on socials. Music fans don't usually have trouble finding music they like, but they tend to not trust random artists online. I learned that some of the older users didn't immediately understand some features of the music play page- the play/next buttons were obvious, but when it came to creating playlists or queuing music some struggled initially. I solved this issue by re-designing some of the icons, then testing them with the same group who had issues & having them guess what each icon meant. The icon with the most & quickest guesses became part of the app. I also tried re-arranging the layout of certain icons in a more intuitive way. 
Thankfully, after conducting UX Research most users responded very well to the app & not too many other changes were made.
Reflection
I learned that even though you may connect with a project on a personal level & feel you understand what it (and what your users need,) it's always important to listen to users as they will always give great insight & feedback. They may confirm your initial hypothesis, giving you solid data to move forward with your plans; or they may also challenge your assumptions, giving you useful feedback & new ideas. 

And more importantly, what is the future for SoundWavy? This is a thorough, but in reality, a quick dive into what SoundWavy may be, intended for a Beta version launch of the app. I believe, that the success of SoundWavy largely depends on continuing to learn more about users & their needs through user research, keeping up with trends, and continually updating the product to match users needs, & provide users with ways to connect, share, & entertain users in ways other similar (social, or music apps) cannot.
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