Encore
Because listening once, only to digital, is not enough.
Scope
This is a music app, inclined to be used by the general public. The project scope is to design a feature that allows the pre-purchase of an album.
Team
Alexandru Matei - UX Designer
Also thank you to all the people that participated in the research.
The Problem
Most of the pre-order features nowadays are separated from the ecosystem that we use. Take for example Spotify or Deezer, a place where you constantly listen to music but do not offer features to preorder albums to support the artists.
The Goal
Implement features in a portable streaming app so that you can benefit from ordering physical albums from the artist you love.
My Role
Conduct research for the app feature
Responsabilities
All the things that follow my role: research, user flows, prototyping, designing wireframes and high fidelity prototypes, testing and so on.
Research summary
The research was interesting. Gathering data from the users helped me focus on user pain points and goals that users have in mind when approaching a product.
Primary and secondary research played an important role. Since the project is focused on the music of a Japanese artist, I had to take a look also on some statistics. I looked at the Japanese culture of music listening and was quite impressed that they purchase music (70% of the listeners in 2020) while only 15% go for streaming media like Spotify or Amazon Music.
From the primary research point of view, few listeners nowadays go for physical materials, comparing Europeans with Japanese people, since streaming services are much more at hand, and the only thing you need is a smartphone to enjoy the music.
I had the assumption that the whole market shifted to streaming media and apparently it applies to different regions around the globe differently. Certain markets like to buy physical products to support artists, others prefer the superior quality of the cd & vinyl (but are smaller in number).
One of the biggest things discovered during the research is the poor quality of the products that people are most afraid of.
User Story
Pain Points
Delay of the release date
Paying and receiving something broken, of poor quality or not receiving anything at all
Low-quality music content
Payment is usually made difficult since you have to type in a lot of information, then go through a lot of confirmation screens
User journey map—Amane
Goal: Pre-order album as physical product
User journey map—Cristian
Goal: Pre-order album with the power-user in mind
Paper Wireframes
The goal was to not reinvent the design that so many people are used to use when using their favorite music apps. The layout was kept simple just like Spotify’, Deezer’ and Tidal’.
Open prototype in new window — Encore.Wireframes
Wireframes
Usability testing findings
Missing "cancel" feature for purchases
"I have 3 items in the cart but on purchases I see only 1 then I tap on an item"
Notification if you follow an artist if a new album is ready for pre-order
CTA for preorder makes me think I have to push it
Change + with cart icon so I know I add it there.
Display VAT for products to make sure I have the price with taxes or not
When add to cart, show shipping rates
Make the cart more visible as a function
Pre-order takes money already not on the launch date
The payment menu is too big
Buy with existing info instead of being payment method unselected - default payment method
take me directly to cart from added to cart modal
view past purchases from cart section
Hi-Fi Prototype
Open Prototype in new window — Encore.APP
Accessibility Considerations
Create minimum hit zones for items 44x44px so it's easy to tap the features.
Add text to icons where needed.
Use increased contrast throughout the app.
What's next
Test the app with users, and create monthly forms for reviews.
Check for unused features if they need further development, or need to be taken out.
Find out if there are still usability issues with the interface and improve the components.
