JAM
After watching my husband and friends play in multiple bands over the years, I was inspired to create an app where Musicians/Artists of all genres and skill levels could connect directly.
They would rotate and play in each other’s bands but in the same genre. When you’re in a local music scene, it seems tough to branch out and meet other artists in other genres different from yours. Instead of using Craigslist or word of mouth – enter JAM, the networking app for the music industry.
I had my own assumptions of who would use such an app based one the people around me. But I needed to find the rest. I started with a quick survey using survey monkey and sent it off into the world via Twitter and Facebook. This was used to find people with varying musical experience as well as those open to a more in depth interview.
I created a research plan and used the KWHL chart to further narrow down the user types.
Research Plan
KWHL Chart
JAM started as “ensemble”. I decided this did not flow as well and reminded me more of a choral group. JAM made much more sense regarding people looking to connect and play music together.
The next step in the research process was creating the user interview script and consent form. I formed questions I knew I wanted to ask regarding their music experience and how they searched for bands to play with in the past. This served as a great foundation to be prepared and then see where the interview would take me.
From the interviews I was able to create the three personas I would use to stay on track for the customer who would use this app. I created a list of MVP’s after talking to them to make sure I include those items in the app.
The three most common users for this type of app that I saw were brand new users, users who have used it before (tech savvy) and are actively looking to be in a band and the pro user(very tech savvy) seeking out talent as well as communicating with venues. Their musical experience ranged from just starting out, played in multiple bands for years and played as well a produced.
A few of the people I interviewed were older and grew up playing in bands in the 80s before technology could connect us so well. They were not entirely sure they would use the app to connect with people to play with but were open to the idea of sharing their info to venues directly and following other artists to see what is going on in the scene. It was important to keep this in mind since music has no specific age range.
Thinking in terms of the personas, I needed to develop the most important steps the user of JAM will want to make within the app. I created a list of MVP’s and Empathy maps for all three Personas to develop the UI components.
original color palette
Prior to developing the chosen color palette – there was a completely different color palette. Researching other similar apps, they were all very dark – black and white or black and red. It seemed like anything music related had black in it or pops of red. It made it feel more like a sports related app to me.
In my initial thinking, I took inspiration from a photo of a woman playing a keyboard with the room darkened and light reflecting off different things in the room when shone on her. The dark greens and black for that mood and then the pops of pink and orange for those reflections. I also wanted it to be gender neutral – attractive colors to the eye but not directing towards any one gender.
Coming full circle, I really wanted to differentiate from the black in all the other music apps. Teal and yellow are colors that have no gender assignment and compliment each other. The teal for the moody saturation and the yellow for the pops of light like my initial thinking when someone is on stage.
Top: menu navigation icons
bottom: background illustrations
The icons and illustrations were hand drawn on paper and then traced and edited in photoshop. They are personalized, fun and funky for that energy of music.
final style tile
different screens of jam
Click the button below to visit the XD prototype and click through the app yourself!