Sound Circle is a dynamic music platform designed to bring people together through their shared musical tastes. Whether you're passionate about discovering new artists, attending local events, or connecting with others who share your unique sound, Sound Circle provides a space for music lovers to build meaningful connections.
- Austin Kleinecke - Phase III Contributions: Introduction, Methods, Prototype: Feed, Artist page, Event page, Group page
- Dinh Thien Tu Tran - Phase III: Model Design, Prototyping Syncing and Useability, and Testing Moderation
- Cole Hanna - Phase III: Product Design, Analysis, Testing and Moderating of Prototype
Executive Summary
- Competative Analysis identified opportunities within the current social media landscape by addressing unmet customer needs:
- Very few platforms focus on the connecting of users based on shared music related interests.
- Most music based platforms emphasize the listening experience and don't consider social interaction.
- Heuristic Evaluation highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of competing social media platforms:
- Many features were overtly simplified, catering to a less tech-savvy audience.
- The UI elements for creating a new posts are inconsistent and contained several rarely used elements that were overly flashy and visually distracting.
- Personas and Scenarios helped provide insights into user(s) wants and needs:
- A platform that enables socialization with local users with similar interests.
- Straighforward discovery of similar music tastes, artists, and genres.
- Finding and hosting of music-based events and concerts.
- Sketches of MVP illustrate initial features:
- An expanding feed of user-generated posts.
- A search system with location-based filtering.
- Sidebar skeleton of future API calls for artists, friends, genres, and events.
Executive Summary
Phase 2 research and design focusing primarily on aligning design with desired functionality and expectations.
- Informal Feedback displayed current user stories align with user needs:
- Adjusted user story priorities to better serve development of functionality.
- New feature requests were added to user story board and adjusted based on importance.
- Development of Wireframes began in order to create usable designs for use by the development team:
- Current wireframes are finalized to meet current phase goals.
- Cognitive Walkthroughs revealed flaws within functionality and clarity of current Wireframes and desire for future features:
- External UX designers displayed concerns about SoundCircle being too similar to current social media products.
- Walkthroughs revealed need of additional clarity for existing functionality.
- Pre-existing wireframes were adjusted for clarity and desired functionality to reflect external feedback.
Executive Summary
Phase 3 centered on conducting usability tests to pinpoint key issues and improvement opportunities in our research.
- Creating Prototypes and Testing Protocols:
- Drafting an informed consent form to ensure tester are comfortorble and willing.
- Developed and utilized baseline and debrief questions to effectively engage users and gather insights.
- Conducting Usability Tests for Comprehensive Data Collection and Analysis with Real Users:
- Evaluated user interaction and procedural flows by testing users on pre-set tasks.
- Gathering both qualitative and quantitative data to capture a holistic view of user experience.
- Conclusions and Summaries:
- We identified both strengths and weaknesses, along with user preferences and aversions, and found the overall feedback to be predominantly positive.
- Addressing significant issues and areas needing improvement for future development.
- Incorporating user feedback to refine and enhance future designs and usability.