SoundShare

Discover. Rent. Plug in.

Project Overview

Project: End-To-End Application

My Role: UX/UI Researcher and Designer

Duration: 12 Weeks

Tools: Figma, Figjam, Zoom

Background

Musicians, bands, DJ’s, and other music industry professionals may find it highly convenient and desirable to rent equipment and gear rather than purchasing it. They want streamlined accessibility and flexibility to be able to rent from a broad selection of music-related equipment and gear used for activities ranging from recording sessions and live shows to practice sessions, or even just casually experimenting with a specific type of musical instrument or electronic equipment.

The Challenge

Musicians, DJs, artists, event organizers, and other music industry professionals face multiple challenges in accessing and renting music/audio-visual equipment efficiently. The current rental process is often inconvenient and time-consuming, involving multiple platforms, vendors, and fragmented workflows. Similarly, equipment owners struggle to monetize their assets effectively when renting them out to fellow musicians.

The Solution

A seamless and effective platform that facilitates equipment rentals for users, while also enabling them to earn income by renting out their own equipment.

This platform offers an economical and affordable alternative option, allowing users to access equipment without the financial constraints of making their own purchases, all while supporting their local community of fellow musicians and music industry professionals.

Discover

The Research Objective

Learn & understand the needs, preferences, motivations, and pain points of musicians, recording professionals, and music enthusiasts in the context of renting music/audio equipment, in order to help inform the design of an intuitive and user-centered app that enhances the rental experience, fosters trust, and maximizes value for both equipment owners and renters.

  • Context of Use: Learn and evaluate each user's individual use cases for rentals.  

  • Learning user habits and routines for searching for and renting equipment. 

  • Understand the pain points and challenges users currently have in the rental process for equipment and studios. 

  • Learn more about competitor apps, what they offer, and how they function.

Goals

Competitive Analysis

What do equipment rental apps look like, how do they function, and what features do they have?

Takeaways

The majority of these applications appear to have a limited user base, which can result in a limited inventory of items.

This tells me that all of these apps face the challenge of user retention.

The UI is lacking in most of these applications.

  • I recognized the importance of understanding the unique perspectives and experiences of potential users. My primary concern for an app like this would be insurance and liability risks.

  • To get some insights into the world of equipment rentals and identify the unmet needs of both experienced and novice musicians, I conducted interviews with 6 participants. Consisting of both those who had experience renting music and audio equipment and those who had not.

Conducting Interviews

Define

Interview insights

  • The data offered a better understanding of the needs, preferences, and challenges that musicians, producers, and audio enthusiasts face in the realm of equipment rentals.

  • Initially, this project began with the aim of creating a platform for both equipment and physical space rentals. However, I soon realized that it may not be ideal to integrate the two for a minimum viable product.

  • One of the main things I learned from the interviews was that instead of merging together equipment and studio spaces, I should concentrate on developing the platform solely for music and audio equipment to keep it within a niche realm. Because of this, I decided to cut out the studio aspect of this project and instead focus on only music and audio equipment so I would not dilute the platform’s intention and purpose.

Research Findings

Convenience: Users are highly motivated by convenience. They seek streamlined, user-friendly rental platforms with flexible booking choices. The appeal of renting out costly equipment extends beyond music and audio gear to camera equipment due to its costliness.

Community Building and Support: Users value networking, collaboration, and gig opportunities within the platform. Fostering a sense of community can enhance user engagement and satisfaction, especially when users are renting from and supporting a creative community they are a part of.

Rating and Reviews: All of the participants mentioned the importance and significance of reviews in the context of renting or booking services, emphasizing their universal relevance as a crucial factor in decision-making processes.

Affinity Map

Following the interviews, I combined all of the research findings and data into 4 different categories to identify insights and patterns

Impact vs Effort Matrix

Before moving into ideation, I wanted to create an effort x impact matrix to focus on a specific problem that would require the least amount of effort and the highest impact.

User Persona

I came up with 2 personas that would best reflect the insights from research and the common users of an app like this.

  • Persona 1: A musician primarily focused on performing live and recording at home.

  • Persona 2: A DJ and music enthusiast who is focused on trying out equipment and renting gear they do not want to purchase.

What relates these 2 two personas together is the desire for connection and supporting their local community while also having access to the convenience that this platform would provide.

How might we help the user?

  1. How might we improve the rental process for individuals interested in experimenting with and trying out equipment before committing to purchasing that equipment as their own?

  2. How might we ensure trust and confidence for users when renting out their equipment to others, creating a secure and transparent rental environment?

  3. How might we create an effective platform that facilitates music and audio equipment rentals for users while also enabling them to earn income by renting out their own equipment?

Ideation

To begin the development and design stage, I went ahead and completed divergent thinking exercises to brainstorm and generate ideas based on the 3 How Might We Statements. Some of which I decided to focus on in the sitemap and task flows, which include the 6 below.

  • Customizable Notifications

  • Ability to flag an account 

  • Verification process for users

  • Collections for saving listings

  • Recommendation engine. 

  • Archive Listings

Summary

While brainstorming, I needed to narrow things down and choose areas of importance to focus on going into the development stage to build a foundation for this MVP.

Throughout this stage I thought it was important to stop and ask “How does this platform bring value to its users?”

How does this platform bring value?

1. Centralized Equipment Rental: Easily find and rent equipment in one place.

2. Community Engagement: Foster collaboration and networking among users.

3. Monetization Opportunity: Users can earn income by renting out their equipment.

4. Convenient Delivery: Get equipment delivered to your doorstep or exact location.

5. Supporting the Community: Choose a community-based alternative over commercial warehouses.

Develop

Sitemap

The sitemap helped me determine how to start the development stage by organizing the structure and hierarchy of the content for this app concept.

Task Flows

I began creating task flows based on the research, and the users would interact with them the most, which are below.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

Sketching out initial ideas for each of the primary pages helped me better understand where all of the key elements and components should be in relation to the task flows. Carefully considering the actions a user would take in order to complete a specific task, as well as casually browsing equipment without a goal in mind.

Mid Fidelity Wireframes

Before considering any visual design, I wanted to put attention towards building the hierarchy, structure, and functional layouts of every page. This involved evaluating the various flows and interactions users will have.

Branding & UI Kit

Because people tend to be apprehensive about lending out their personal equipment to strangers, I wanted to choose a color that encouraged trust while also bringing a calm state, hence the blue.

  • The Logo design was inspired from the name of the app, "SoundShare,” by creating the visual representation of an audio jack cable forming the letter 'S.'

  • I felt it captured the idea of interconnectivity and the exchange of sound among musicians and other users.

  • I wanted to incorporate gear that is familiar to most people, serving as a universal symbol of music and audio.

High Fidelity Wireframes

After the branding was established, I translated everything into high-fidelity wireframes, adding images and colors throughout all of the pages.

Deliver

Usability test

For the tasks that I chose, I was interested in learning more about how people navigate through the app to search and locate equipment, filter the search results, rent equipment, and manage their own listings as owners. I was specifically focused on ease of use, navigation, accessibility, pain points, and the time it took to complete a task.

Iterations & Revisions

Results

Summary


Overall, from the usability tests, it seems like all of the tasks were straightforward and easy, with the participants stating they saw value in the app. There were not too many difficulties within the flows, but rather a few edits suggested by the participants, such as rewording, adding search filter options and rearranging some components.

Key Takeaways

  • The majority of the participants really value the search filters ability to narrow down and help them find exactly what they are looking for, as well as browse items that would fit their needs and personal requirements, such as delivery and hourly minimums.

  • One of the primary concerns that I learned from research and the usability tests with an app like this was the insurance and liability-related aspects. Especially as an owner with their own equipment renting it out to strangers. This would be one of the most important aspects I would focus on if I were to develop this platform.

Prototype

Next Steps

Future Direction

Further research

I think developing a platform like this would be a constant iterative process, requiring continuous improvement and changes to meet the needs of the users. Because of this, I would prioritize conducting more research, specifically interviews and usability tests.

Building Trust

Given that trust is such a crucial aspect of this platform, I would spend more time expanding on it by exploring additional features and strategies to improve the overall user experience. The objective is to create as many robust systems and features within the platform as possible to ensure trust, security, and protection for all users.

Community

Implementing a community feature to the platform could be very beneficial for growing the overall user retention and engagement. Nothing specific is in mind, but creating some sort of feed for users to engage with and interact is an example.