On this page the following entries were made in the “Musicbank Portfolio” category.
Archive for “Musicbank Portfolio”
Musicbank: A New Mental Model
Musicbank’s first experience was a simple list and play interface. When it came time to add features, we used a more user-centered design process and started with a new mental model making a distinction between the user who preferred a simple list-and-play experience vs. the more sophisticated user requiring advanced sorting and playlist creation capabilities. Along with a basic wireframe that logically divided all the site and application navigation and content areas, I sketched a rough design that correlated to our existing look and feel to help everyone get a feel for the new concepts.
(This is a pdf)
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Musicbank: Library Status Icons
Musicbank required the user to validate her CDs using a Windows application called Bank-It. If the CD was valid, it would be added to the library where the user could view and play music on the web. I documented the different states of valid/blocked/unrecognized CDs and Tracks with rationale behind the choices, basic graphic explorations, and recommendations for placement.
(This is a pdf)
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Musicbank: Subscription Upsell Entrypoints
Musicbank needed to provide hooks in the user experience to bring people to the point of purchase. The service enabled a free trial which moved to a stream-time-based structure. This document describes where and how user’s would be prompted so signup, along with describing fun edge cases like “What happens if your clock runs out in the middle of a track?”
(This is a pdf)
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Musicbank: Subscription Payment Model
Musicbank was in a highly limited alpha, but we would have to charge for the service once we went public. We were given one week to design and implement an interface that allowed the user to choose from a variety of service plans, enter payment information, preview their order, process the order, and provide a receipt for the interaction.
(This is a pdf)
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Musicbank: Library Sorting
Musicbank’s first iteration was a very simple interface that sorted albums by album name. We obviously needed different ways to navigate the system. The first feature upgrade allowed the user to sort the entire collection based on either artist or genre, with various display bells and whistles.
(This is a pdf)
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Musicbank: Scanning CDs
Musicbank allowed user’s access to streamed tracks after they scanned their CDs using a simple Windows application. When the user inserted a CD the application would identify the CD by comparing it;s table of contents to cddb.com. At this early stage of online music access there severa issues we needed to address:
The legal quagmire surrounding internet media distribution meant that none, some, or possibly all the tracks on any given CD could be “blocked” by the publisher.
A CD may or may not be recognizable
A CD might be recognized, but we didn’t have the CD encoded yet.
Etc…
When we figured out those issues, I made a recommendation on error messaging that would help set expectations for the user.
(This is a pdf)
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Musicbank: Music Shopping Cart
In Musicbank’s quest for cash, our executives asked us to demonstrate a shopping cart to potential investors. “Chimay” was an internal tool used by our developers to search the music library and add item’s to a test account. I did a quick and dirty recommendation for redesigning the tool to integrate it in the existing application flow and make it appear more consumer friendly for the demo.
(This is a pdf)
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