Music App Redesign with a New Feature
KEXP
Overview
KEXP is a nonprofit public radio station located in Seattle. Listeners love this station because of its specialty in alternative and indie rock programmed by its own disc jockeys and its emphasis on new music and emerging artists. This uniqueness has allow KEXP to reach over 200,000 global listeners each week.
As the solo UX/UI designer, I developed a new feature and re-designed the KEXP mobile app to improve user satisfaction. I conducted the full scope of the UX process from user research to high-fidelity mockups.
My Role
UX/UI Designer,
Project Manager
User Research, Wireframing, Interface design, Prototyping,
Art direction
Timeline
10 Weeks
Tools
Figma, Figma Mirror, Photoshop, Illustrator
IDENTIFY
CHALLENGES • GOAL • AUDIENCE
CHALLENGES
Loving KEXP Doesn’t Equal
Loving its App
Considering support from the listeners is a huge part of KEXP operation, it is important the KEXP mobile app increases regular users. However, there are many strong competitors in the market, such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Compared to its competitors, the KEXP app fails to meet users needs such as a customizable playlists and share features. Its user flows are also difficult to follow which could discourage users from coming back.
Goal
Make the journey fun & simple
How might we make the journey of finding and enjoying music fun and simple so KEXP app can increase the regular users? Here are the solutions:
• Provide clear navigation
• Add new sharable playlists feature
• Create a more intuitive user flow
Audience
Seeking Richer Music Experience
There are a wide range of music lovers in and outside of Seattle. Devoted fans listen to music on the KEXP app in order to seek new songs, which commercial radio stations don’t offer, while casual listeners enjoy using it as background music while multi-tasking.
Persona
In order to better empathize with the users, I created this unique persona of a potential user.
User Scenario
As a music lover, I want to discover other people’s song selections so that I can find new songs I may like.”
RESEARCH
USER RESEARCH
User Research
What Users Expect in Music Apps
To discover user pain points and what is expected in music apps, I conducted user interviews with six users, asking them ten questions each.
● All the users said they were confused with some links which didn’t lead anywhere.
● Five out of the six users mentioned that they expected the favorite feature would be playable, but KEXP app is missing the feature.
● All the interviewees regularly listen to their favorites while multitasking. This requires music apps to stream music without frequent screen tapping. Users do not have this with the KEXP non-playable playlist.
● Four out of the six users mentioned they refer to reviews in order to find new songs and it would be great to have a share feature within an app.
● It’s not easy to access the donation page.
Key findings:
DESIGN
IDEATION • RECOMMENDATION • USER FLOW • WIREFRAME
IDEATION
Some Possible Suggestions
After evaluating the user research results and brainstorming possible solutions, I came up with these four suggestions:
Possible suggestions:
1. Allow Favorites to be playable.
All the interviewees said they were confused with "Favorites" as they couldn’t play songs from the lists, so allowing users’ "Favorites" to be playable would meet users’ assumptions.
2. Add shareable/playable playlists.
With shareable/playable playlists, users can not only keep listening to their favorites but also collaborate on playlists with other users.
3. Add a donation button in the more visible spot.
By putting the donation button in a visible position, users can access the donation page without making extra taps.
4. Bottom navigation.
For clear navigation and user flows, using bottom navigation instead of a hamburger button would be more user-friendly.
RECOMMENDATION
The Happiest Solution
Playable/shareable playlist was the most desired feature in the user research. This feature allows people not only to share their playlists but also to communicate with other users within the app, so it would create more opportunity to be exposed and get people coming back.
Playable playlists would also give users more satisfaction as they can play music without tapping their phone as frequently.
USER FLOW
An Easy Way to Find New Music
I created the user flow by thinking through choices and actions the user must take in order to find a new song and add it to the playlist.
Wireframe
Less Tapping, More Listening
My main concern was how to simplify the steps to complete the task. Here is my low-fidelity wireframe with a clear user-motivated flow.
BRAND EXPRESSION
MOOD BORAD • DESIGN SYSTEM
MOOD BOARD
The Feeling of a Live Music Scene
Grunge, alive and unique are the three key attributes I chose to describe KEXP culture. With these three words in my mind, I created a mood board which was inspired by local live music scenes.
Design System
Building a Library
To prevent inconsistencies, I created a library of design patterns, rules, and UX guidelines.
FINAL DESIGN
NEW LOOK
New Look
How the Problems are solved
Adding My Playlist
When Music-seeker Mike likes the song from the live stream, tap the “Add to Playlist” button. The song will be added with an easy flow.
Share Comments
Music-seeker Mike can go to the Comment page by tapping the comment icon to find out what other users say about the playlist. If he likes the playlist, he can easily add playlists to his library. Tagging the genres and categories while adding to his library let him micro-categorize his library.
Live Stream
Bottom navigation bar was added, which allows Music-seeker Mike to change between menus with only one tap. By tapping the arrow, Music-seeker Mike can find the playlist of the live stream.
Library
On the Library page, Music-seeker Mike can switch between My List and Browse with the tab.
The new Like feature lets him know which the more popular playlists are. He can look for new songs from the lists of genres, categories, top picks, and users he follows.
RESULT
Feedback from User Testing
“
I would totally come back to this app as I would be curious if I get replies to comments I made to somebody’s playlist.
— Craig B.
“
In the current design, I often end up on the wrong page when I try to switch from playlists to live-stream. However, with bottom navigation, it requires only one tap. Easy!
— Mary H.
LEARNING & REFLECTION
Every Step is a Chance to Learn
The new design with the new playable/shareable playlist feature received great feedback from test users. There was one problem the research interviewees pointed out, but I couldn’t cover due to schedule, which was the Favorite feature. If I could continue on this project, I would make it searchable and sortable by genre, DJ, and categories, and make songs in the lists playable.
Conducting user research during this pandemic was a challenge. It was conducted by sending out questionnaires because in-person research was not available due to Covid-19. I realized later that screen sharing would be another option which would be much more effective. Decided that next time, I would conduct user research with online interviews.
