Band Together is a concept mobile app that matches people to go to concerts together as a date or friends.
The Problem
Your favorite band is in town and you're dying to go to the concert. Problem is finding friends, family or significant others that are into the same music as you are is sometimes difficult. Furthermore, sharing live experiences is so much more powerful than going solo. This is a common music-lover's dilemma.
The Process
The app was designed in a 3 person team in 2 weeks. In order to find out if this product was worth building, as well as what features it needed, we started out by defining what our UX framework was going to be. We decided on 4 phases: research, interpreting findings, entering the design loop and finally launching.
Research
For the research phase we gathered data, did a competitive audit in and out of category, as well as social listening. Some of the apps we looked at were: Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid, Spotify, Pandora, SongKick, Bands in Town, and TasteBuds. We analyzed them with the following heuristics: personalization, discovery, minimalistic design and delightful interactions, and user control and freedom. We also conducted a survey that got over 70 responses. With the findings we were able to establish some important facts for the app.
Target Users
We established our target users as millennials for a few reasons. The survey showed that 76% were millennials and would use the app. We also know through Eventbrite that 80% of millennials will attend a live ticketed event this year. And finally because millennials are the age group that spends over 1o hours a week on dating apps according to The Independent.
“…we know that millennials value experiences over material things.”
A Market Need
We learned from our survey that 63% of users would pass on buying concert tickets if they had no one to go with.
“I didn’t go to a lot of concerts over many years because I didn’t have anybody to go with… And I regretted it each time”
The App Name
Our survey also informed us that 41% of users preferred the name Band Together.
Interpret
For the interpret phase we analyzed what we gathered from the research, and got to write our personas, problem statement, assumptions, and hypothesis. Finally we defined a UX strategy and conducted a user journey workshop that got us to our MVP.
UX Strategy
We came up with 3 pillars that became our guidelines for the product objectives.
Experiential Concerts are experiences. This is ultimately why users are enthused to use a digital product. To be able to connect and share their love of live music in real life.
Functional Our users are already familiar with the functionality of matching apps and are comfortable using them.
Engagement We want to be a platform where music lovers connect and socially engage.
User Journey Workshop, Heat Mapping & MVP
Based on Hyper Island's methodologies, we held a user journey workshop where we asked participants thought-starter questions for each section: find, match, contact/plan, buy and go! We got some great feature ideas from it as well as approval of the app's concept. From there we heat-mapped the most common feature ideas. Finally we conducted a MVP session where we were able to prioritize features by 1st, 2nd and 3rd release.
The Loop
For the loop phase, we designed, tested and re-designed. We started by sketching user flows. Afterwards, we were able to test wireframe and comp prototypes in 3 different user testing sessions.
Sketches
Initial sketches that determined the initial user flow for the app, as well as the base to start testing some assumptions in our first user testing session.
Iterations
This is one of the screens we iterated on the most because of user feedback. Users really enjoyed the bubbles for selecting genres, but in the end they would rather have a more effective process of connecting to their Spotify, Apple Music or Pandora account that automatically loads their genre and artist preferences. We selected those music app APIs because they were the most used according to the survey we conducted.
User Testing Sessions
For user test 1 we designed this wireframe prototype and went to test in a local community event. Overall the feedback was very positive and users said they would use the app. One comment that kept being brought up that we implemented for the next iteration was to move the main CTA buttons like continue to the right and back to the left.
For user test 2 we went to two concert lines: Dua Lipa and Royal Blood. Two very different audiences, but both music lovers nonetheless. This testing session proved that the closer you get to test your target audience the more valuable the feedback becomes. Parts we iterated on were the logo, adding the Spotify API integration for quicker access to artists the user likes, and the placement of the buy tickets button in the messaging screen.
For user test 3 we moved up the truth curve because we gained confidence and insights from the feedback we received from previous tests. We did a A/B test to see what information users wanted to see in match profile screens. Option A showed a visual on what concerts they matched on and Option B showed a more typical dating profile of what they do and where they went to school. Six out of 7 users preferred option A.
User Interface Design
The focus of the interface was to keep the app experiential and socially engaging. This was accomplished through the use of a simple and fun onboarding animation, pill shaped buttons that are easier on the eyes, cool color gradients that resemble concert lights, and big beautiful photos of potential matches.
For Onboarding we want to remind users of the value proposition of the app while delivering delightful interactions.
For the Onboarding Wizard we focused on forms best practices: give the user more benefit for little effort, one big CTA button on each screen, give the user control by always giving them a way back and knowing where they are in the process.
For the Match Feature we replicated the interactions users are already familiar with from dating apps: swipe right and left, big photos, and the messaging feature. The only difference is that people are matched not just by looks but by wanting to attend the same concert.
For the Buy Ticket Feature we integrated a Ticketmaster API so users can purchase tickets separately, but still seat together. A very important component users continuously voiced as important throughout testing sessions.
Launch
For the launch phase, besides designing the app, we also designed a one page website to show it off, promote it and sell it. We want users to subscribe to our mailing list so that they can find out about the latest added features as well as allowing them to give feedback.
