This project aims to create a unique music app that blends streaming with community, connecting fans through live chats, concert updates, and shared experiences.
Problem Statement:
Music fans lack a platform to connect, share knowledge, and engage with others who love the same artists. Existing apps focus on streaming but miss opportunities for community-building, concert planning, and sharing experiences like concert footage.
Solution
Create a music app that connects fans of specific artists, allowing them to build friendships, share knowledge, and discuss new releases through live chats. The app will also feature sections for concerts, upcoming events, and a unique space for users to upload and share concert footage, fostering a vibrant fan community.
Competitor Analysis and Ideation
I created a mind map exploring various music app features to attract users. I identified a gap where fans lack platforms to connect, share knowledge, and meet others who love the same artist. To address this, I envisioned features like live chat for discussing artists and new releases, a concert section, and a unique option for users to upload concert footage, making the app stand out in the market.
I began the process with competitor analysis of music applications, focusing on Spotify and Apple Music. This helped me understand their strengths, weaknesses, and unique features, providing valuable insights to shape my app's design and functionality.
Design Process
After analyzing music apps, I brainstormed creative layouts to develop unique features like a community page for fans to connect, share interests, and upload concert videos. Other ideas included live chat, karaoke, info bubbles, and listening stats. The final design includes Home, Now Listening, Community, Library, and Artist pages, using rounded squares for album covers and circles for artist profiles for a clean, visually appealing interface.
I created lo-fi wireframes, refining the design from initial sketches. Adding section titles clarified categories, improving layout, navigation, and flow for a user-friendly experience. Inspired by Spotify and Apple Music, I designed cohesive icons for Library, Home, Community, and functional elements like play, heart, skip, and lyrics, ensuring consistency in the menu system.
Problem
A key challenge was creating a cohesive, interactive menu system. Feedback revealed the need to improve accessibility, so I moved the menu from the top to the bottom, enhancing usability and aligning with user-centered design principles.
After refining the concept, I named the music app "Groove" to make it more engaging and complete. The name reflects the app's theme of building a vibrant community of music fans, inspired by the phrase "getting into the groove," which signifies shared experiences and enjoyment. Its simplicity and memorability make it ideal for word-of-mouth growth while emphasising the app's focus on connecting fans and creating social interactions around music and artists.
I am very pleased with the design and outcome of my music app, Groove. I created a unique selling point where users can build a fan community, post videos, message, and make friends. The app’s design is cohesive across all pages, and I’m especially proud of the interactive menu system, which turned out well despite being the most challenging to develop. The icons, colour scheme, and typeface work harmoniously, and the logo and opening page tie everything together, giving the app a complete, branded feel.
