Harmonie App Design:
Adobe Creative Jam
In early August, myself and two friends joined the Adobe Creative Jam, a 72 hour design challenge hosted by Adobe and The Creative Collective.
Our goal was to develop an app that would empower and lift under-represented voices. My group chose to tackle sexism and misogyny within the local music scene and to lift the voices of women and those who identify as female.
72 Hour Design Challenge
3 Person Team
Adobe XD
Pen & Paper
My Role
I held numerous roles during this design jam. This included everything from Research, UI, and offering my own experience within the local music scene. Having played in multiple bands, I had womxn musicians I could reach out to and discuss their experiences.
Other responsibilities were:
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Conducted usability tests
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Assisted in drafting problem and solution statements.
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Sketched and Wireframed ideations, and designs.
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Upgraded multiple pages to high fidelity workable prototypes.
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Presented our app to the Creative Jam and Adobe teams
Defining A Problem
The music industry, both local and mainstream, is fraught with sexism, misogyny, and stereotypes. Womxn are often defined BY their gender in music. All too often terms like “girl guitarist”, “female vocalist”, or “female rapper” are thrown around to describe female-identifying musicians.
With only 72 hours to complete the design we decided to begin by looking up interviews from female-identifying musicians and learning about their experiences. Needless to say, there were countless accounts and interviews from current musicians.
We learned that there really isn't a lot of mentorship or community support being offered. And worse, womxn often are left out of the conversation when booking gigs, hiring talent, and having an expertise in their respective field. Womxn rightfully feel tokenized when they are simply booked because of their gender and not their musical prowess.
Below are two accounts we kept in mind while designing.
Yvette Young
Covet/Solo Artist
Guitarist/Pianist
"People try to say that I have what I have because I’m ... popular because I’m just a girl playing guitar, not because of the work I put into my craft or my rigorous upbringing. It feels a bit dismissive, having people reduce you to a stereotype and ignore your entire journey."
- Yvette Young
Jess Nyx
Mortality Rate
Vocalist
I decided to to check out the comments on a video of us and…uh… I was mad about one thing. I don’t care if people think I suck or if people think they [her bandmates] suck, or us as a collective….but um, 95 of the comments were about me, and I think its really weird that we haven’t gotten past this thing of ‘oh my god there’s a girl in the band!’. It’s really weird!
…It’s this weird fascination and obsession with a girl doing something completely normal.
… People think that by being like ‘I like female-fronted hardcore’ and ‘I love women in bands’ and ‘listen to these bands they have girls in them’. They put us in a group and the rest of hardcore is over there. We are still being separated from everybody.
- Jess Nyx
(watch the full video)
Problem Statement
Womxn in the music industry need a way to connect with each other for mentorship, support, and collaboration so that they can share/grow their authentic talent and find opportunities for work.
Competitors
After establishing our user base we began to do some research on similar apps. We not only wanted to learn what others were doing and succeeding with, but where we could innovate and improve on the idea.
We also knew we wanted it to be a multifunctional app. Although we enjoyed the community aspect of social apps, we wanted to offer more in regards too assisting musicians in growing their careers.
Features differed greatly from app to app. One thing we weren't seeing was an app that was utilizing both a social aspect as well as a job seeking aspect.
Personas
Our personas were developed to enhance our understanding of the user as well as the main personas we would use when presenting to the judges.
Design Process
We began the design process with a handful of design studios. Through these, we narrowed down how we wanted to proceed in our wireframes. Our processes needed to be quick and efficient. Time was counting down and we began to feel the pressure.
Sketches
For the layout, we decided on a kind of typical social media layout. There would be a main feed where users could see the most popular posts, posts their friends shared, and the most recent posts.
We also moved forward with combining the community aspect of a social media account with a job board. We wanted musicians to be able to share different gigs like: Opening for a band, a live show slot, producers, audio engineers, management and everything in-between that can be difficult to find on your own.
Main Profile Page
Newsfeed
Profile Expanded
Job Posting Page
Wireframes And Mock-ups
Once we had an idea of layout we began to build out our wireframes. Because of the short timeline, we began iterating and upgrading our wireframes right away.
Laura's Profile Screen Iterations
Laura's profile evolved quite a bit. We ended up going with a simple profile method. You have your profile picture, a small biography, and a list of "Tags" of your skills. Ex. Guitarist, Vocalist, Engineer...etc. We felt this style was well known enough that it would be easy for users to learn.
Profiles also have a card that slides up. This card is your "wall", where you can post videos, statuses, and even gigs you've hosting or playing. This way people can visit your profile and see when and where your next gig is!
Laura's Newsfeed Screen Iterations
Our Newsfeed features everyones posts but they are separated into the different groups mentioned above..
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"Following" is the posts of who you are following.
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"Amplified" is where you will see the most popular posts of the day.
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"Recent" is where you will see posts in chronological order of everyone on the site.
From the main newsfeed you can also post, message, and follow individuals.
Profile Screen Iterations
The "Gig" page is where artists and engineers can find jobs and gigs. This can range from joining a band, hiring a musician for a live performance, or even finding an engineer who understands what you are looking for.
The Gigs are separated into type and instrument like "Guitar Gigs", "Piano Gigs", or "Producer Gigs"
Bottom Navigation
Floating Post Button
Our Bottom Navigation contained quick ways to switch between a newsfeed, job postings (gigs), messages, notifications, and your profile.
A floating "Post" button appears just above the bottom navigation and to the right. This allows Laura to quickly post something from her newsfeed page.
All Screens Final - High Fidelity
We Placed!!
All of the hard work paid off. I presented our design to Adobe and The Creative Collective and they loved it! The feedback was positive and they loved our approach and style.
We ended up placing 5th out of 196 teams.
