Timeline
June 2023 - August 2023 (12 Weeks)
My Role
I developed Soundie as my first solo student project for Google’s UI/UX Professional Certificate
Musicians have to spend more time promoting themselves than creating music
Problem
Growing up, I had numerous friends who were passionate about music. Many of them aspired to become famous musicians but got burnt out from spending so much time branding and promoting themselves across multiple social media platforms and never realized their dream of fame. This raised the question: Why is there no platform where musicians can post music AND build a following?
A music sharing app that aims to connect fans and musicians
The Solution
Competitive Analysis + The Gap
The competition had either/or
The competition does a great job at either streaming music or connecting artists with fans, never both at the same time. This means that there is a gap that we can bridge for both fans and musicians.
Test findings
Usability Tests
User Persona
The Final Screens
The Final Product
Created with Figma
The Style Guide
Link to the full Figma work here.
Conclusion + Lessons Learned
What I’d do differently next time
This was my first-ever UX project! While I’m proud of Soundie’s outcome, the most exciting part of this project was being able to go through the entire UX process and see how it’s actually done! On that note, here are a few things I learned and need to improve on:
Feedback is your friend. To be 100 percent honest, getting feedback was challenging at first. Any critiques of my design felt almost personal. Throughout the process, I learned two things that I will remind myself of going forward: you are designing for the user's benefit, and that critique doesn’t equal failure, it equals redirection.
WCAG Standards. This entire project was designed without WCAG standards in mind. I didn’t realize how much accessibility plays a part in the choice of branding and colors, not to mention overall design. Going forward I will develop a color palette based on WCAG standards before starting the project.
Iterate as much as you can. I felt challenged to make any major changes between my low-fidelity prototype and my high-fidelity prototype because I didn’t quite have the skills needed to utilize user interviews and usability testing effectively. As I grow my skills and knowledge of UX/UI design, I believe I’ll be better able to derive major insights from my testing.
Components are cool but confusing. Since this was my first time using Figma, I was still developing a grasp on how components work and how to best utilize them. After working with them, I can tell that they have the potential to elevate my prototypes, and I will take time to learn how to create and utilize them.
More Projects:
PlanetPal
A social media and marketplace that aims to put the ability is sustainability.
Soundie Web
A music streaming site that aims to create centralized space for fan interactions