"The experience we are going for is a CELEBRATION OF UNIQUENESS & INDIVIDUALITY."
- Aziz Bey, PurpleThrone Founder & CEO
PROJECT SUMMARY
After managing a young, talented musician, PurpleThrone’s Founder and CEO, Aziz Bey, was discouraged with the challenges that up-and-coming artists face when trying to sign with major music industry labels. Aziz created PurpleThrone as a platform where independent artists could share their music, and where music fans could discover and directly support these artists without the confines of the major label industry.
Along with my agile teammates, Alex Orlov and Sean Ward, we set out to better understand this industry and take Aziz's vision to the next level - from alpha to beta. In a 2.5 week design sprint we would provide research for PurpleThrone, an area that had previously lacked, and use an evidence driven design strategy to formulate our design decisions.
OVERVIEW
PurpleThrone is an iOS music video streaming platform featuring unsigned independent musicians where fans are encouraged to support artists they like through micro-payments - where Soundcloud meets Kickstarter.
SCOPE
2.5 Week Sprint
TEAM
Andy Morris Alex Orlov Sean Ward
ROLE
Researcher, Copywriter, Interaction Designer, Content Strategist, Scrum
METHODS USED
Surveys, User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Competitive and Comparative Analysis, Affinity Mapping, Persona, Journey Mapping, Feature Prioritization, Sketching, Wireframes, Design Studio, Rapid Prototyping, Usability Testing
PROBLEM SPACE
How do music enthusiasts discover and support new talent in an already saturated market? Music enthusiasts need a way to discover new music and support the artists they love, while independent, unsigned artists need a platform to showcase their work and get paid.
How might we help music enthusiasts stay engaged, discover and support artists through the music discovery process on the PurpleThrone app?
ALIGNING SUCCESS & DEFINING GOALS
To help music fans discover independent artists and to encourage a line of direct support to these artists via PurpleThrone.
Leverage independent artists to monetize their brand without onerous contracts.
2. Ability for music enthusiasts to discover new [independent] music in a fun and engaging way.
Stakeholder Goals
Crowdfunding
Video Content
UX TEAM Goals
Foster Community Through Shared Experiences
Encourage Platform Engagement by Providing Value in Artists and Content
MUSIC INDUSTRY RESEARCH
Insights
Total revenues from music streaming up 43% to $5.7 billion market share
2017 made up 65% of total industry revenue
7 in 10 (71%) internet users consume licensed music with many engaging at multiple points of access
82% of YouTube users use it to stream music
Up to 93% are ages 16-24yo
2017 Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA Revenue Statistic, 2017 MusicWatch, Inc. Nielsen Music, 2017 Year-End Music Report U.S.
USER RESEACH
GOALS
Identify individuals who consider themselves trendsetters and who like being in-the-know when it comes to new music influence and what their music listening habits are.
Usability testing of current PurpleThrone iOS application and UX Team design iterations.
Results
Screener Survey resulted in 100 respondents
Interviews 7 Users
PurpleThrone Alpha App Usability Test 3 Users
Contextual Inquiry - Video Content Testing 2 Users
LoFi/MidFi Usability Testing 8 Users - 4 Users Each
Of music listeners support musicians by paying for streaming services.
Discover new music from streaming services.
Listen to music from their smartphone
PERSONA DEVELOPMENT
Through synthesis of our user research we discovered Jasmine, a young professional with an affinity for new music and being a trend-setter amongst her peers.
click to enlarge image
USER JOURNEY
Jasmine's journey takes us along on one of her daily commutes into the city while using the current PurpleThrone app. Here is where she spends most of her time discovering new music from independent artists, however, she encounters several usability obstacles and wants learn more about each artist and how she can support them.
click to enlarge image
DESIGN STRATEGY
Although PurpleThrone had 5,000 users at the time of this project, it was still in alpha form and those users needed a better way to understand and navigate the application. In addition, PurpleThrone was very interested in getting the payment feature off the ground - these two areas would become our primary focuses within this 2 week sprint.
1. Create an on-boarding experience for first time users and apply usability conventions for greater functionality.
2. Design and on-board a payment system for users to donate to artists they like.
WIREFRAMES & PROTOTYPE
Mid-Fidelity Onboarding
donation | support Feature
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
RECOMMENDATIONS
IMMEDIATE FOCUS
Continue Usability Testing of HiFidelity Prototype
Integrate Wallet Payment Feature
User Gratification and CTA Features
Explore PurpleThrone Concerts Feature
Future Areas of Exploration
News Section
In-App Fan Community Collaborations
Meet-Ups: Artist and Fan Connections, Meet 'n' Greets
NEXT STEPS
PurpleThrone is working with developers to deploy this beta redesign of the current iOS application with a goal of launching an Android version sometime in late 2018, early 2019. The UX Consulting Team will continue to support PT through research and usability testing as needed.