Company
CUNY TechWorks Year
2019 Type
App Prototype |
NEXX TING Music App
How might we make new contemporary music from around the world more accessible?This project aims to create a mobile app that would make it easier for users to discover music and artists within their palette, from all around the world, based on curated playlists and AI-powered recommendations from non-mainstream artists/genres. Our mission is to increase diversification and introduce listeners to songs/compositions/beats they'll likely find palatable but wouldn't easily come across without being local to where in the world it's from or already knowing the artist. An app on which anyone in any corner of the world can have their finger on the music pulse and tune in.
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UX ChallengesFor new generations, music is used to soundtrack day-to-day activities (commuting, cooking, working out, etc.). Unlike older generations who were loyal to their traditional sounds, today's listeners are more flexible with diversification. There are over 3,000 genres of music around the globe, but the top 10 global recording artists are from US (8), the UK (1), and Canada (1). Despite 20+ years of the internet and the optimization of international travel, music isn't that "globalized". Users have unique habits towards music discovery.
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UX Goals and ObjectivesFrom our secondary research source findings, our goal will be to serve local superstars in underrepresented regions, immigrant communities in the U.S. and most importantly, society at large - strengthening our connections within the global community. After ideating features and putting them through a few different exercises, our prioritized feature, Heat Map, would address the most glaring pain point (poor music discovery options available) by tracking local hits in the world's largest music regions. Our Drop Of The Day feature includes daily releases from different artists/genres all around the world. The Stories feature would give the user insight on information regarding artists/genres and other relevant sources who'd appear in Heat Map and Drop Of The Day playlists.
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FindingsBased on primary and secondary research findings, we decided not to compete with major streaming services and instead integrate their API to give users the convenience of streaming and saving featured songs with their go-to music streaming service. We also decided to include easy and appealing sharing options so make it more accessible.
Playing around with the idea of predicting "the next big thing", we came across the definition of Nexting (uncountable) (psychology) The continual process of predicting what is likely to happen next, based on external stimuli. Nex'ting (patois) Next thing. |
Wireframes & Prototype
Knowing that the Heat Map feature would be the most novel to users, we kept the designs of our onboarding, daily drops, stories and playlists screens in line with similar flows on popular apps in order to minimize the learning curve of using NEXX TING. Users are able to access Drop Of The Day curated playlists from any region in the world and save favorites. We designed the Heat Map for those with and without geology knowledge. Users are able to pan the globe in any direction, zoom in on a region, and select it to access the playlist of what's trending there. Users can also access regional playlists in "List View" by scrolling through and selecting region and sub-region names.
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Next for NEXX TING
1. Conduct guerrilla testing of our prototype with at least 5 participants from our target audience.
2. Conduct card sorting exercises on Heat Map navigation and functionality. 3. Conduct visual design tests on product name, logo, colors, typography, and layout. 4. Ideate ways to capture those most inclined to passive music discovery. |