harmon.ious
Dash Challenge: Design an app to create playlists and share them with friends.
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Low on time or not much of a texter? View a summarized version here.
Overview
Hey Aaliyah, what’s new😊?
Hey😁! I actually just signed up for something super cool, do you want to hear about it?
Yes, of course!!
So, I signed up for the Dash Challenge (dash.careers) where you’re sent a design challenge to your email every 2 weeks. Once you submit your design, veteran designers and product managers review your work and provide you with feedback. From there the top designs are submitted to their network that may be hiring.
Wow that sounds super cool, what made you decide to sign up?
I felt this would be the perfect opportunity to receive a prompt from someone other than myself and a great opportunity for feedback, providing a more realistic experience. I also thought the deadline would reflect some constraints I could see in the real world.
That definitely sounds like a great experience. So how did you decide to tackle this project?
Research
For this project, due to the limited time frame & trying to juggle multiple projects with the same deadline, I chose to start off with some desk research and a competitive analysis.
And what did you find?
This research allowed me to get a better idea of the potential users of my app, what their current pain points are with competitors, as well as some of their positive experiences with those apps. These are some of my initial notes:
Was there anything from your research that surprised you?
Well, I was actually shocked to find that only 15% of users used Apple Music, while Spotify had 31% and Amazon Music had 13%. This is shocking because Apple makes up almost 50% of smartphone users but only a small percentage use its dedicated music service.
Oh wow, that is very interesting. So what did you do with the information from your desk research and competitive analysis?
From here I gathered the strengths and weaknesses from the top 2 apps (Apple Music and Spotify) and based on those I got better idea of some of the features that I could implement in my app design. Actually, take a look here, I was able to do this using figjam (click on images to expand):
Nice, so you were able to understand your users better and brainstorm for their needs, after that what came next?
Branding
Once I had a better understanding of what I was going to create, I started off with a bit of branding. I came up with the name harmon.ious for my app, which the word itself is pretty self explanatory. The “.io” is a reference to the connection of multiple users, all providing an input and output. Here is a simple logo I created as well:
I get it, nice play on words!! It definitely fits. So you did research, came up with some branding, what did you end up doing after this?
Ideate
Once I finished up with the branding, I was able to come up with some wireframes for a few different screens (which can be seen below). Here I had a few different ideas and used my roommate as a tester (as they fit the target demographic).
What did you have your roommate test?
Test
I had my roommate look for various things within the screens, for example creating a new playlist or leaving a comment on a playlist. I also had my roommate look at some of the variations of the music player and tell me which one she preferred best and why.
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What did you discover from this testing?
Well, I discovered that I didn’t include a search feature (which wouldn’t have been good). I also got feedback on which music player to move forward with. The option that was chosen was “easiest to navigate” and “similar to other music apps” so it was easy to pick up and use.
Cool, so once you received feedback, where did you go from there?
Final Design
From here I started to create my high fidelity wireframes taking in everything I learned from my limited but useful testing. At this point in the project, I had about 2 days until it was due and I finished up the day before to leave time to complete the presentation slides. Here’s what I was able to create:
Thats awesome!! So tell me, after creating your visual designs, how do you feel about harmon.ious?
I really enjoy how harmon.ious came out, but I do wish I had more of an opportunity to test and do research. Due to the timeframe and other constraints I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted, but I am working on another project that is allowing me to get that practice (All my Nintendo Lovers, be on the look out😊). I also look forward to hearing feedback from the senior designers working with Dash as it will only help me become a better UX Designer.
Definitely understandable, any other takeaways?
One thing I learned throughout this project is the importance of prioritizing. As mentioned, this project had the same deadline as other projects/assignments so for each one I worked on I had to prioritize and figure out what I had time for. I feel this will be very helpful for the times I may have to work on multiple projects at once.
Feedback
I'm not usually one to double text😆, but I actually just received feedback from one of the senior designers🤗!!!
That's great news!! What did you hear back?
I got this great feedback through Loom (which I recently started using and find super cool). One thing that was mentioned a lot was the structure of my slides, as they put more emphasis on the text rather than my visual designs. It was also mentioned that my version of the active state icons on the tab bars at the bottom can be refined by maybe making them one solid color rather than using 2. Other than that, they mentioned it was really cohesive and well put together but needed some small refinements.
That sounds like some great feedback, how do you plan on using this in the future?
I now know to put more emphasis on my design with my contextual callout slides next time. I also am more aware of some ways to make tab bars more efficient, which will be very useful as I do a lot of mobile designs. Overall, I'll be utilizing all this feedback for my next Dash Challenge and other upcoming projects! Talk to you soon!
Looking forward to seeing your growth! Until next time✌️.