Earbuds Live Overhaul: Elevating the Home Experience
Project
Earbuds Live | Home Redesign
Role
Product Design | End-to-end Design, User Research, User Testing
Team
Me, Co-designer Pania, Product Manager
Tools
Figma, Miro, Notion, Maze, Play App, Zoom, Calendly
Summary
We tackled the challenge of redesigning Earbuds Live’s home screen to improve user engagement and satisfaction. Although this project was not implemented, through extensive research, design iterations, and user testing, we created a visually appealing and functional interface that resonated with our users.
85
%
Success Rate
20
%
Positive Feedback
12
%
Preference for Redesign
The Problem
Earbuds Live was losing ground in the competitive music app market due to a visually outdated and user-unfriendly interface. User feedback highlighted difficulties in navigation, music and host discovery, and lack of social features, which hampered community building.
Process
To kick off the redesign, we conducted user interviews to uncover the main pain points with the current app. These interviews revealed critical insights, such as frustrations with endless scrolling, difficulty discovering new music and hosts, and a lack of engaging social features. Armed with this knowledge, we set out to create a home screen that would address these issues while setting the stage for future scalability and enhancements. We iterated through digital drafts and prototypes, constantly refining our design based on user testing feedback.
Goals
- Refresh the home screen design to be more modern and visually appealing.
- Improve user engagement by enhancing navigation and discoverability.
- Create a scalable foundation for future features and updates.
- Incorporate elements of positive psychology to encourage user interaction.
- Foster affinity-based connections between users to build a stronger community.
Constraints
- Balancing the need for a familiar yet unique interface.
- Addressing user dissatisfaction with endless vertical scrolling.
- Adapting to a small team size with limited resources.
- Gathering sufficient user feedback within a tight timeframe.
Target Audience (if applicable)
Describe the intended users or audience for the project.
Pain Points
- List out user needs and pain points
Solution
We set out to completely revamp the Earbuds Live home screen with a fresh, engaging design that addressed user pain points and positioned Earbuds Live with a strong foundation for the app’s future development.
Here’s how we tackled the challenge:
Enhanced Navigation and Discoverability: Transitioned from a repetitive vertical scroll to distinct and visually rich content sections, allowing users to easily navigate and explore new music.
Personal Recommendations: Central to the redesign was a powerful, extensible recommendation engine for personalized music suggestions and promoted content, ready for future machine-learning enhancements.
Improved Social Features: Integrated features to encourage social interaction, enabling users to join live sessions, see friends’ listening activities, and explore music together, fostering a sense of community.
Advanced Tag Support: Enhanced tag support for playlists to improve visibility and recommendation accuracy, making it easier for users to discover new music based on their preferences.
Visual and Functional Refresh: Implemented a vibrant color palette and modern layout, with distinct content sections designed to be engaging and eliminate the repetitive feel of the old design.
User Testing and Feedback: We ensured all decisions were driven by data and feedback collected from our users. Being user-centric was crucial to validate our design direction.
Results & Impact
The redesign significantly impacted user satisfaction and engagement. Users appreciated the modern, visually appealing design and found it much easier to navigate and discover new music. The positive reception highlighted the success of our user-centered design approach.
0
%
Positive Feedback
Of users gave positive feedback on the high-fidelity prototypes.
0
%
Success Rate
Completed essential tasks like navigating sections in a usability test with 100 participants
0
%
Preferred Redesign
Of testers preferred the redesigned home screen over the current one.
0
Reusable Components
Created reusable components, enhancing design consistency and scalability.
0
Earbuds Live Users
Conducted user interviews with current Earbuds users, identifying key pain points and preferences in existing live music app.
What's Next...
Although the redesign was never implemented due to a strategic pivot, potential next steps would have included some exciting features like redesigning onboarding, adding scheduled events by collaborating with bands and creators, re-introduce live-streaming and adding player modes, and lastly marketing the rebranding of Earbuds highlighting new designs and features.
/Fin
This project was a labor of love that highlighted our team’s dedication to user-centered design and adaptability. Despite the redesign not being implemented due to a strategic pivot, the journey was incredibly rewarding and reinforced the importance of listening to user feedback. It taught me that even when business goals shift and projects get shelved, the effort and passion invested are never wasted. This experience deepened my commitment to creating meaningful user experiences and reminded me that every project contributes to my growth and resilience as a designer. If I were to go back knowing the outcome would be the same, I would still do it again because the skills and insights gained were invaluable.
