Artune | Sidney Yan

Generating business growth & conversion with unique media features for a better music experience

Enhancing the user experience for a music streaming media app with premium services to increase business revenue and improve customer retention

mobile design | conceptual | product strategy | media

Role

UX/UI Designer

Team

UX/UI Designer (Me)

Product Designer (Consulted)

Duration

4 weeks

Deliverables

Problem Statement

Heuristic Analysis

User Surveys (12 users)

Affinity Map

Ideation Diagram

User Flow Map

Wireframes

Guerilla Testing

Branding & UI Elements

Usability Testing (5 users)

Final UI Screens

High Fidelity Prototype

Responsibilies

UX/UI Design, Visual Design, User Research, Product Strategy

Impact

Highlighting business' branding with an overall improvement to user satisfaction by 10%.

OVERVIEW

Problem

A need for growth, expansion, and evolution.

A startup company launched a media product 2 years ago that provided free music streaming to its user base. However, the company is seeing stagnant growth amongst its current users due to minimal change in its user attraction for their products and services.

CHALLENGE

Enhance the startup company's brand image and revenue with a monthly subscription fee that would attract new consumers while retaining current ones.

Solution

Artune provides an opportunity for users to experience music a bit differently.

PROJECT PLAN & TIMELINE

To stay on track of tasks and business goals, I created a project plan to structure my tasks with the allocated 90 project hours.

Click on image for full view

RESEARCH

Heuristic Analysis

Competitors have had the time to perfect their products.

To learn more about the industry trends, I conducted a quick heuristic analysis with the issues of the company and allotted time in mind. My aim: observe which features and properties industry leaders succeed or lack in so that I can draw inspiration based on what I see. So, I analyzed the use and features of 3 different music streaming platforms as shown below:

Spotify

Pandora

YouTube

Spotify & Pandora:
Both industry leaders have more organized interfaces that made app navigation easier and more intuitive for users. From these two, there were unique traits that were influential to my plans for Artune, including:

Clear, well-defined features list for free plan vs. premium plans
Dark-color mode to stimulate an enigmatic sense of discovery
1 month trial version to entice users to try premium services while ensuring them that they can cancel anytime

User Surveys

Users agree that existing subscription plans often lack something.

To understand what media consumers feel about their subscriptions, I then conducted user surveys with 12 participants asking both quantitative and qualitative questions to learn about their experiences and frustrations with various subscriptions. Some questions included:

"Around how much do you pay for your subscription plans per month?"
"What factors/reasons/circumstances made you want to subscribe to these services?"
"Are there any subscription plans that you’ve cancelled or thought about cancelling?"
"Did you re-subscribe to any plans after you’ve cancelled them? If yes, what factors/reasons made you want to re-subscribe?"

While I expected answers to focus mainly on financial situations, I also found some unexpected insights:

Users highly value convenience (8 out of 12 votes), variety (6 out of 12 votes), and cost (3 out of 12 votes) of their subscription plans.

6 out of 12 participants cancelled subscription plans due to rising prices and lack of media available.

9 out of 12 participants do not re-subscribe after cancelling their subscription.

“Hulu- I didn’t think it was worth it; there’s not many shows that I would watch on here.”
— Participant 2

“Netflix - consistent cancellation of popular original shows, raising prices paired with new household member limit.”
— Participant 3

DESIGN DIRECTION

Design Thinking & Ideation

Introducing the karaoke feature with personal friends.

To upgrade users' music experience, I came up with the idea for a karaoke feature, allowing users to record their musical moments and send it to their selected friends. The goal: a personalized experience that boosts enjoyment, engagement, and interactivity without hindering music discovery.

Along with the karaoke feature, I also kept the following themes in mind when envisioning Artune as a music subscription mobile app:

Categorical catalog of different audios:
Creating a system that helps users organize the specific audio product they want to listen to.

Simple & intuitive features:
Keeping features of the app simple and intuitive is a key trait for the user experience for listeners.

Reasonable subscription pricing:
Maintaining a fair fee that users feel comfortable paying.

Increase shareability:
Allowing users to expand and interact with others allows for better user satisfaction.

User Flow Map

Inspired by leaders.

To bring the karaoke feature to life, I mapped out user flows with inspiration from industry leaders like Spotify and Pandora to visualize how users interact with the app from start to finish. Some key actions in the flow are:

Account sign-in/registration
Onboarding process
Music discovery & playing
Music library & personalization

View User Flow Map

Seeing and defining user needs.

Based on the research done so far, I've gathered the following:

Users assess how convenient a service is by its simplicity, shareability, and impact
Users value both the amount of different products available & products that can keep them interested
Users balance the worth & affordability of the subscription plan before deciding to cancel

U
With this, I wanted to focus on what a potential customer would want to experience with this product. To capture this thought and bring more life into it, I created affinity and empathy maps to guide my design decisions.

View Affinity & Empathy Maps

Affinity & Empathy Mapping

DESIGN

Wireframing & Guerilla Testing

Turning ideas into a reality.

Following the user flow map, I created mid-fidelity wireframes to visualize the app layout while being mindful of the limited time I had. I applied commonly existing design elements from industry leaders while focusing on the key features of this app.

I then conducted a round of guerrilla testing to receive initial feedback on what users liked about the designs and which aspects needed improvement. From this, I noticed that:

Certain icons were slightly confusing as they were not intuitive enough for users to know
Irrelevant information caused greater confusion and friction points for users

Branding & UI Elements

Harmonizing what users hear with what they see.

Origin of "Artune."
When creating the name for the app, I chose Artune because of its similarity to the word “attuned,” which symbolizes harmony, and how it also sounds like “our tune,” which can be interpreted to promote shareability and connection with others.

Seeing is believing.
I chose a pastel blue and purple as the primary and secondary colors in order to compliment each other and the dark color mode of the app. Blending these shades elicit feelings of tranquility, calm, and creativity while softening the presentation of the brand.

A recognizable symbol.
As for the logo, I wanted to utilize a musical symbol in a creative manner so that users can easily recognize the purpose of the app in an interesting way, thus the choice to use the joined 8th note as part of the app logo.

TESTING & PROTOTYPING

Usability Testing & Iterations

“Very straight-forward, nice, and interactive.”

With a high-fidelity prototype of Artune, I conducted usability testing with 5 music media consumers to validate whether this new premium feature met their needs as a paying consumer. Participants were asked to complete several tasks (i.e. signing in, searching for a track, exploring premium features, and accessing user library and profile).

From this second round of testing, I discovered that:

Users noticed content inconsistencies when reviewing subscription plans during the onboarding process
Some UI & layout elements required slight modifications in certain areas for optimal presentation

All 5 participants completed the tasks with relative ease and praised the branding and interactions of the prototype. Taking what I learned from this round of testing, I made some iterations:

Free vs. premium plans.

3 out of 5 participants felt slightly misled about the premium services being for free, especially when they did not take the time to read through the page.

Removing confusion from the start.

Removing "for free" at the beginning gives users easy access to scan & understand the purpose of the page.

Making better decisions.

Including 2 features for the free plan on the chart allows users a better sense of what is being offered to them.

Refining the message.
Replacing "only $11.99 a month" to "up to $11.99 a month" better reflects the respective premium plan that the user might choose.

RESULTS

Prototype

View High-Fidelity Screens

Results

The karaoke feature scored a 10/10, showing high levels of interest and user satisfaction.

The karaoke feature for Artune received a 10/10 satisfaction score from participants, with users appreciating the interactive and engaging aspects of the app, stating that they enhanced their overall app experience. Ultimately, users felt a greater interest and sense of worth from the provided services that they are supposedly paying for.

"I love how easy the app is to use, and it has a lot of good icons... I think it's pretty cute and cool, it makes me feel like paying $7.99 is kind of worth it."
- Usability Test Participant 5

10%

Increase in user satisfaction & engagement*

*Based on comparison between both rounds of user testing

REFLECTIONS & NEXT STEPS

Final Thoughts & Takeaways

A taste of working with constraints and business goals.

Thinking outside the box:
Creating Artune was quite challenging since I had to think outside of the box and consider unique features that haven't been done with existing apps and address user needs or frustrations. It is nice to hear that participants say they would realistically use Artune in some capacity.

Working realistically:
Working within various constraints such as deadlines, balancing business goals with user needs, and making strategic decisions was invaluable in this project. For future projects, I hope to be more mindful of which features that clients and stakeholders are asking for would fit users' needs and wants.

Next Steps for Future Projects

More time, more updates.

Advanced settings:
1 usability participant questioned the possibility of choosing specific singing parts of a song when using the karaoke version with friends. Considering how preferable this could be for most users, I would explore this feature in future versions of Artune with further rounds of usability testing.

Iterative Design:
Since the existing customer base of the app may be sensitive to the introduction of premium services and new features, I would consider using more iterative design practices like A/B testing to receive constant user input and refine usability for user needs.

Sidney Yan

Enhancing the user experience for a music streaming media app with premium services to increase business revenue and improve customer retention

mobile design | conceptual | product strategy | media

OVERVIEW

Problem

A need for growth, expansion, and evolution.

A startup company launched a media product 2 years ago that provided free music streaming to its user base. However, the company is seeing stagnant growth amongst its current users due to minimal change in its user attraction for their products and services.

CHALLENGE

Enhance the startup company's brand image and revenue with a monthly subscription fee that would attract new consumers while retaining current ones.

Solution

Artune provides an opportunity for users to experience music a bit differently.

PROJECT PLAN & TIMELINE

To stay on track of tasks and business goals, I created a project plan to structure my tasks with the allocated 90 project hours.

Click on image for full view

RESEARCH

Heuristic Analysis

Competitors have had the time to perfect their products.

Spotify

Pandora

YouTube

Spotify & Pandora: Both industry leaders have more organized interfaces that made app navigation easier and more intuitive for users. From these two, there were unique traits that were influential to my plans for Artune, including:

User Surveys

Users agree that existing subscription plans often lack something.

To understand what media consumers feel about their subscriptions, I then conducted user surveys with 12 participants asking both quantitative and qualitative questions to learn about their experiences and frustrations with various subscriptions. Some questions included:

While I expected answers to focus mainly on financial situations, I also found some unexpected insights:

DESIGN DIRECTION

Design Thinking & Ideation

Introducing the karaoke feature with personal friends.

Categorical catalog of different audios: Creating a system that helps users organize the specific audio product they want to listen to.

Simple & intuitive features: Keeping features of the app simple and intuitive is a key trait for the user experience for listeners.

Reasonable subscription pricing: Maintaining a fair fee that users feel comfortable paying.

Increase shareability: Allowing users to expand and interact with others allows for better user satisfaction.

User Flow Map

Inspired by leaders.

To bring the karaoke feature to life, I mapped out user flows with inspiration from industry leaders like Spotify and Pandora to visualize how users interact with the app from start to finish. Some key actions in the flow are:

​

Account sign-in/registration

Onboarding process

Music discovery & playing

Music library & personalization

Seeing and defining user needs.

Based on the research done so far, I've gathered the following:

​

Users assess how convenient a service is by its simplicity, shareability, and impact

Users value both the amount of different products available & products that can keep them interested

Users balance the worth & affordability of the subscription plan before deciding to cancel​

U With this, I wanted to focus on what a potential customer would want to experience with this product. To capture this thought and bring more life into it, I created affinity and empathy maps to guide my design decisions.

Affinity & Empathy Mapping

DESIGN

Wireframing & Guerilla Testing

Turning ideas into a reality.

Following the user flow map, I created mid-fidelity wireframes to visualize the app layout while being mindful of the limited time I had. I applied commonly existing design elements from industry leaders while focusing on the key features of this app.

I then conducted a round of guerrilla testing to receive initial feedback on what users liked about the designs and which aspects needed improvement. From this, I noticed that:

​

Certain icons were slightly confusing as they were not intuitive enough for users to know

Irrelevant information caused greater confusion and friction points for users

Branding & UI Elements

Harmonizing what users hear with what they see.

Origin of "Artune." When creating the name for the app, I chose Artune because of its similarity to the word “attuned,” which symbolizes harmony, and how it also sounds like “our tune,” which can be interpreted to promote shareability and connection with others.

Seeing is believing. I chose a pastel blue and purple as the primary and secondary colors in order to compliment each other and the dark color mode of the app. Blending these shades elicit feelings of tranquility, calm, and creativity while softening the presentation of the brand.

A recognizable symbol. As for the logo, I wanted to utilize a musical symbol in a creative manner so that users can easily recognize the purpose of the app in an interesting way, thus the choice to use the joined 8th note as part of the app logo.

TESTING & PROTOTYPING

Usability Testing & Iterations

“Very straight-forward, nice, and interactive.”

Users noticed content inconsistencies when reviewing subscription plans during the onboarding process

Some UI & layout elements required slight modifications in certain areas for optimal presentation

​

All 5 participants completed the tasks with relative ease and praised the branding and interactions of the prototype. Taking what I learned from this round of testing, I made some iterations:

Free vs. premium plans.

3 out of 5 participants felt slightly misled about the premium services being for free, especially when they did not take the time to read through the page.

Removing confusion from the start.

Removing "for free" at the beginning gives users easy access to scan & understand the purpose of the page.

Making better decisions.

Including 2 features for the free plan on the chart allows users a better sense of what is being offered to them.

Refining the message. Replacing "only $11.99 a month" to "up to $11.99 a month" better reflects the respective premium plan that the user might choose.

RESULTS

Prototype

Results

The karaoke feature scored a 10/10, showing high levels of interest and user satisfaction.

"I love how easy the app is to use, and it has a lot of good icons... I think it's pretty cute and cool, it makes me feel like paying $7.99 is kind of worth it." - Usability Test Participant 5

Spotify & Pandora:
Both industry leaders have more organized interfaces that made app navigation easier and more intuitive for users. From these two, there were unique traits that were influential to my plans for Artune, including:

Categorical catalog of different audios:
Creating a system that helps users organize the specific audio product they want to listen to.

Simple & intuitive features:
Keeping features of the app simple and intuitive is a key trait for the user experience for listeners.

Reasonable subscription pricing:
Maintaining a fair fee that users feel comfortable paying.

Increase shareability:
Allowing users to expand and interact with others allows for better user satisfaction.

Users balance the worth & affordability of the subscription plan before deciding to cancel

U
With this, I wanted to focus on what a potential customer would want to experience with this product. To capture this thought and bring more life into it, I created affinity and empathy maps to guide my design decisions.

Origin of "Artune."
When creating the name for the app, I chose Artune because of its similarity to the word “attuned,” which symbolizes harmony, and how it also sounds like “our tune,” which can be interpreted to promote shareability and connection with others.

Seeing is believing.
I chose a pastel blue and purple as the primary and secondary colors in order to compliment each other and the dark color mode of the app. Blending these shades elicit feelings of tranquility, calm, and creativity while softening the presentation of the brand.

A recognizable symbol.
As for the logo, I wanted to utilize a musical symbol in a creative manner so that users can easily recognize the purpose of the app in an interesting way, thus the choice to use the joined 8th note as part of the app logo.

Refining the message.
Replacing "only $11.99 a month" to "up to $11.99 a month" better reflects the respective premium plan that the user might choose.

"I love how easy the app is to use, and it has a lot of good icons... I think it's pretty cute and cool, it makes me feel like paying $7.99 is kind of worth it."
- Usability Test Participant 5

Iterative Design:
Since the existing customer base of the app may be sensitive to the introduction of premium services and new features, I would consider using more iterative design practices like A/B testing to receive constant user input and refine usability for user needs.