Tidal tuneup

Tidal is a paid music streaming service created by Jay-Z and backed by multiple famous artists. The goal was to create a new feature for the existing Tidal music app called TuneUp. This project was created as a Designlab capstone project.

Client: designlab
my Roles: user research ● ux strategy ● interaction design ● prototyping ● user testing ● UI DESIGN
tidal tuneup

The Problem

People enjoy finding new music from friends. People need a way to collaborate on playlists together for parties, road trips and work spaces. People want to listen to music together to connect them when apart. People want to follow what their artists are listening to

The Solution

Create a feature that allows multiple users to create playlists and simultaneously listen together on different smartphones from anywhere in the world.

The Process

Stage 1: research

First I learned the existing Tidal app inside and out because I needed to make sure the new feature would integrate seamlessly. I then conducted some competitor analysis to see what features they had and if they had any similar features. I also wanted to get a sense of their UX and see how we could do better.
I created a research plan and interview guide and found 3 different types of music listeners to interview. The first was an average listener who currently uses Spotify. I learned about his music listening patterns and found some ways that the new feature could benefit him. The next two interviewees were more avid listeners. They described themselves as the “giver” of music to their friends. They expressed their desire to find others that would share music with them. This type of person is the ideal user for the new feature.

After hundreds of post-it notes were made with quotes from the interviews, I created an affinity diagram to try to see the bigger picture and gain empathy.

I also created an online survey to gain more quantitive data and get some quick insight on user’s pain points. I received over 95 responses.
The insights I found for moving forward included creating a simple interface, compatible for car usage, mobile first design, having pre-made playlists and having a search button always present.

pov statement

The user needs a better way to share songs because people enjoy listening to their friend's music.

Stage 2: Strategy

I created a UX strategy blueprint to focus the insight from the research and to steer the direction of the project moving forward. I brainstormed to find the potential scenarios where this feature could be used and created a product roadmap including features for three versions of the app.

Stage 3: interaction design

First, I created an app map of the existing structure of the Tidal app and tried to find the best way to introduce the new feature into the flow.

Then, after sketching some first drafts, I moved onto higher fidelity digital wireframes. Below are a few of the first versions of the wireframes before testing and iterations.

my tuneupsbrowse tuneupsCreate tuenuptuneup screen

I then made a user flow to show how a user would navigate through the app to create a new TuneUp playlist. While creating this I was able to find some gaps and add the necessary steps to ensure a smooth flow.

Stage 4: Prototyping and testing

I created two prototypes using Flinto and Marvel. The Flinto prototype was higher fidelity and included more detailed interactions but I could not have remote users test it out, so I created the Marvel prototype to allow for remote testing.
My objectives were to find out if the interface was intuitive, if people understood the feature fully and how users would choose to add new songs to their playlists.
Testing was conducted with 5 people. They had to complete 4 tasks. I found patterns in areas where users had confusion and could not complete the task without error. I found that adding songs from within the playlist was crucial and that I had to add a way to do that. I also found some areas where their was confusion with the wording.
I revised my wireframes and tested again and got better results.

Stage 5: Ui Design

I created a style tile based on the existing Tidal branding and moved onto creating new icons for the feature.

Final app Designs

my tuneupsbrowse tuneupsdashboard menucreate newcreated notificationnew playlistsearchplaylistchat
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