Overview
Sound Alliance is my dissertation from 2018. Sound Alliance is an online platform where it can facilitate amateur musicians on how they can collaborate with one another, synchronously and asynchronously using the internet. I have many friends that make music in their spare time and I was very surprised when some of them said they have some sort of connection with other artists from overseas, however sometimes it can be frustrating when there is no response because of spam users e.g email or social media accounts. Sound Alliance is a platform where amateur musicians can sign up, login and collaborate with each other synchronously and asynchronously and send files.
*** Even though this was my final year project in 2018, a famous musician (Drake) used an app called Connect Unit (which wasn't around at the time of my final year project), which allowed him to share and receive sound in real-time. More can be found in the links below. ***
***To view my final year project appendix, please click here***
My Role
UX/UI Designer & Researcher
Time Frame
1 Month
The Problem
The problem they were facing was that there is no platform for specific users (amateur musicians) where they could collaborate synchronously and asynchronously using the web and send files. There are many forums available, however they are not tailored to a specific target audience, it’s more open to anyone.
Design Process
Competitor Analysis
The first phase is to understand more about web forums and how users communicate using both synchronous and asynchronous tools on platforms. A competitor analysis was carried out to find more about web forums and what they do best and what they don’t do best. Websites such as Reddit, Rate Your Music, OkayPlayer and KanyeToThe were looked at during this process.
Competitor Analysis Findings
• Websites tend to have more engagement when there are files uploaded, this shows higher interaction with users.
• There seems to be a huge return of users, when websites offer more than just forum boards. Other elements related to the website, brings the llllusers back.
• Users are communicating with each other using only asynchronous tools - there is no evidence that they are communicating using synchronous lllltools.
• There seems to be a huge return of users, when websites offer more than just forum boards. Other elements related to the website, brings the llllusers back.
• Users are communicating with each other using only asynchronous tools - there is no evidence that they are communicating using synchronous lllltools.
• File uploads are limited. Users can only send images and gifs only - however it still shows engagement - this will be incorporated.
Interviews
I wanted some in-depth information on how the target audience communicate and collaborate using the web and what the important steps are when it comes to collaboration, so interviews were conducted.
Interview Findings
• “Social media is a powerful platform, it allows me to communicate with a lot of people”
• “A lot of music files a transferred all the time, it’s just easier so we can hear the progress”
• “I instant direct message a lot, just so I can receive responses quick and privately ”
• “I have met some talented people just by using social media. People commenting on other peoples posts, its highly engaging”
• “A platform for us musicians would be a huge help. Do you know how many talented people are in this world? It would bring us closer together, one lllllstep at a time.”
• “A lot of music files a transferred all the time, it’s just easier so we can hear the progress”
• “I instant direct message a lot, just so I can receive responses quick and privately ”
• “I have met some talented people just by using social media. People commenting on other peoples posts, its highly engaging”
• “A platform for us musicians would be a huge help. Do you know how many talented people are in this world? It would bring us closer together, one lllllstep at a time.”
User Persona
Once I gathered all the data together from my research, I was then ready to create the persona. The persona phase will help to solve the problem for the targeted audience.
Marvin Smith is a full time student, who studies music and works part time, he is highly motivated when he is collaborating socially that is related to his hobbies. He uses social media a lot and is never afraid of trying something new.
Marvin is frustrated that he has to click on external links when he wants to hear snippets of music from other users, sometimes it may waste time and the link may be harmful, as well as not having a platform available for amateur musicians.
Task Flow
At third phase of the double diamond, it was time to start ideating. To start off the third phase, a task flow was created to get a clear structure on how the users would communicate using both collaboration tools. The primary focus of the task flow, is to understand what steps the users would take, to complete specific tasks. In this case, it would be to communicate via the forum or live messaging.
Crazy 8s
Once I had completed the task flows, the crazy 8s would be next. I wanted to sketch them by hand, just to see what ideas I come up with. I tried to implement what already exists in the forums that I researched and then add tools/features that is tailored to the users. The annotations shows me what I need to focus on so it makes it easier during the design process.
Wireframes
I then translated the crazy 8 sketches into wireframes which made the designs and the vision clearer.
Visual Designs
Once the medium fidelity wireframes are, it was time to put everything together visually.
Testing
For the testing part, I initially wanted to carry out a guerrilla testing but unfortunately I couldn't. The guerrilla testing would have allowed me to watch how users would test the visual designs, functionality and its overall purpose for the targeted audience. Instead I left a comment section for the users to post their responses. Improvements are always good to consider so the user's feel like they have their feedback has been received and implemented.
Reflection
Throughout this project, I learnt a lot about the whole process of design thinking from user research, synthesising insights, coming up with problem statements, to "how might we" and hypothesis. Using the double diamond has helped me a lot for its divergent and convergent thinking. There is one thing I will never underestimate and that is the develop phase. The creativity part may take longer than you think.
Sound Alliance is my dissertation from my university project in 2018. It took me 9 months to complete this project for my studies (user requirements, user research, task flows, wireframe etc). I needed an idea for a case study and Sound Alliance was the perfect project, this is because I already had the research and the user requirements, I just had to put it all together - visually.
Thank you for taking your time and looking through this project. It really does mean a lot!
