Blue Note's Logo
Summary: A music streaming app dedicated exclusively to jazz music.
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Roles and Responsibilities: I worked on this project as a UX/UI Researcher, visual designer, and as a frontend developer for the prototype.
Tools used include: Figma, Google Slides, Zoom, Paint
Deliverables included: Wireframes, Journey Map, Persona, Paper prototype, Clickable prototype
Problem: Jazz music fans had limited opportunities to enjoy commercial/ad free music or share their favorite songs and artists with friends.
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Audience: Jazz Music fans
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Solution: To create a Jazz music app that give users the ability to stream Jazz music and share songs with friends.
Process
Discovery and research
I interviewed music fans about their wants and needs for the apps that they use. I also did a competitive audit to see what popular options are available for Jazz music fans specifically. I assumed that freedom of control when listening to music was important for modern music fans. After conducting my research, I discovered that while this was true, the limited options for Jazz music fans to have that freedom was apparent.
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Some of the paint points I assessed were as follows:
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1. Jazz music fans, whether listening to the radio or using streaming aps, oftentimes have their listening experience interrupted by commercials and advertisements. I wanted to address this with Blue Note.
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2. Some of the more popular Jazz music apps are randomized, with the user having no ability to choose what song they want to listen to. I wanted users of Blue Note to be able to listen to whatever songs they wanted, whenever they wanted.
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3. Leading Jazz music applications don’t allow for fans to share music with others. I wanted to make sure this was addressed with Blue Note.
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4. Jazz fans are unable to favorite songs they like when listening to songs they like, instead having to hope they hear the song again, or do something unintuitive such as take a screen shot. I wanted to address this with Blue Note by making it so Jazz fans can favorite songs they like.
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Taking into the account the thoughts and feelings I gathered from Jazz fans, I developed two persona: Erykah and Coco.
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Information Architecture/User Flow
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I drew a user flow that illustrates how listening to, then sharing a song would go.
User Flow for listening to a song
Simplicity, but without sacrificing the features users need, was my focus when thinking of the site structure and flow. With that fleshed out, I then designed my wireframes - first paper, and then digital. I wanted to create an experience that was familiar to those with a history of music app use, essentially creating a modernized home for their favorite classic genre.
Prototyping
I completed a clickable, low fidelity prototype, which can be used here, then did a usability test session. I wanted to know how quickly users would be able to complete tasks such as "Share a song" and "Navigate to a track listing".
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Results were a mixed bag, but one thing was clear - massive changes were needed for the next iteration. Users found it difficult to navigate due to unresponsive buttons, many got stuck for nearly a minute because the lack of words made where to go next confusing, and pointed out that popular social platforms they would use to share songs in the real world were missing. I iterated with these critiques in mind and issued another round of testing, where results were markedly improved.
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Satisfied with how later rounds of testing went, I began work on a high fidelity mock up, which then became a prototype. While the initial name of the app was "Jazzed", it was at this point that I instead went with the name "Blue Note". The term Blue Note refers to a note that is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from the standard. Its origins can be traced back to African-American music at the time of slavery, and has become a mainstay in the genre of Jazz music. With the name change, I chose to use blue as the primary color of the application and for general branding along with white, black, and gray, representing the emotions that people have expressed Jazz music makes them feel.
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Quotes I gathered from interviewers with jazz fans.
Usability testing for the high fidelity prototype of Blue Note, which can be found here, went well. Users liked the layout, saying it felt familiar to what they were used to. Of the tasks given, all were completed within seconds without issue. Multiple users said they'd use the app in their regular lives. Overall, I was incredibly pleased to see the prototype received so positively.
Blue Note Tracklisting Page
Final Thoughts
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Jazz music fans were long overdue for an app dedicated to their favorite genre of music that is modernized in accordance with contemporary standards. With Blue Note, Jazz Music fans worldwide can enjoy and share their passion with others.
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Coming into this, I knew how passionate Jazz music fans were, but I didn’t know they had such limited options for enjoying their music in the modern world. It was a joy getting to know Jazz fans up close in person, learn a thing about the music myself, and contribute to making enjoying their passion easier.
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For next steps, I would like to investigate the merit of potentially adding a paid subscription. What benefits would be included? IE: enhanced sound quality. I also want to look into how we could program the algorithm to recognize the style of Jazz music users like and make stronger suggestions for the “Listen Now” section. Lastly, I want to develop a robust profile page where users can follow one another and see what songs they’re listening to and chat.
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