MOJI
mood, opinion, judgment, intuition
π July 2024 - August 2024
π€ UX/UI Designer
β Personal Project
π§ Figma, Adobe Illustrator
OVERVIEW
Music is a personal experience.
Music is more than just soundβit's an emotional, spiritual, and spatial experience. Building playlists or picking what I listen to, is chosen with intention and guided by what I call, MOJI: mood, opinion, judgment, and intuition.
The current landscape of music-sharing apps often lacks this personal touch. While they rely on algorithms and data to suggest what we should listen to or share, they miss the emotional essence that makes music so special and personal. I want to change that.
I want to build a space where others could share music with depth, personality, and heart.
EMPATHIZE
Existing music x social apps fail to give users true personalization over how their music is shared, relying on data-driven algorithms rather than capturing the emotional connection that users have with their music. music heavily relies on emotion, and emotion is in the hand of the user.
Users need more than data.
USER RESEARCH
The current Spotify recommendation system needs improvement.
π‘ Since Apple offers fewer algorithmic playlists, I focused solely on Spotifyβs system for this study. I surveyed 10 people to gain insights on their current music-listening habits and behaviors. Here are some key results:
Q1: How often do you listen to music?
β‘ Avg Rating: 4.7
Q2: Does the music you listen to depend on your current mood?
Q3: How accurate would you say the βDiscover Weeklyβ playlist on Spotify suits your music taste?
π‘ Discover Weekly is a mixtape curated by Spotify every Monday, suggesting recommendations to users based on recent listening.
β‘ Avg Rating: 2.3 3 people answered N/A.
Q4: How accurate would you say the βSmart Recommendationsβ shuffle on Spotify suits your music taste?
π‘ Smart Recommendations provides personalized recommendations that are mixed into your playlists when shuffled.
β‘ Avg Rating: 2.9 3 people answered N/A.
Q5: Do you feel like a specific genre of music describes your taste? If so, what? If not, put βversatile.β
SOLUTION
MOJI empowers music enthusiasts to share music with greater personalization methods.
MOJI embodies the thinking process of mood, opinion, judgment, & intuition - the four subconscious pillars that guide us in creating music playlists and choosing the perfect song for any given moment.
Using the pillars to guide my product, MOJI creates a platform where music enthusiasts can personify their playlists and connect with others on a deeper level through the universal language of music.
Two key features to accomplish this are:
TAGS: users are able to use tag lines to personify/give emotion to their playlists & songs. the tag line serves as a βgenreβ now and users can explore different feelings through music β making it more personal.
PROFILE CUSTOMIZATION: users can choose three major tags to display on their profile. this allows users to visit other usersβ profiles and see what the general vibe of their music taste are.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
A personal touch is needed πͺ
bopdrop
A social music app, that aims to give a platform to like-minded people to converse about music and make friends.
PROS:
User-friendly feed and a clear βsocial mediaβ aspect
Has a chat feature, allowing users to connect
Allows for users to create a βbopdropβ playlist which gets connected to their spotify/apple music account
CONS:
Only allows users to post two songs a day (second song can only be posted 8+ hours later than the first)
Needs a specific page or forum for each genre so music is personalized to the user
Users can not select their favorite snippets of a song to share
π©βπ»: βI feel there needs to be more specific genres of music to search through to find people who may have the same taste as you; because βrockβ is too all-encompassingβ
stats.fm
An analytical app that allows you to view personalized Spotify stats and connect with friends.
PROS:
Provides a comprehensive analysis on a userβs listening on spotify
Has a feature for users to open a song they like and view the key, tempo, and scales! very creative and useful for those who are interested in making music
CONS:
Has a pay wall feature of βstats fm plusβ allowing most of the features to only be given to those who pay.
Consistent pop-up ads for free users.
Inaccurate pairings of βsoulmatesβ across users
π¨βπ»: βIβve noticed that the whole soulmate thing is a little scuffed like I get 90% taste matches with people who donβt listen to similar music at all.β
airbuds
A widget app that allows friends to share their listening activity in real-time.
PROS:
Strong social aspect between friends.
Allows users to βreactβ to songs (through emojis)
Has a question forum where users can answer the prompt w/ a song
CONS:
Works best only for friends, not for general public as well
Often a delay in listening activity
βTune Twinsβ are often inaccurate
π¨βπ»: βThe app is a great idea but the interface is terrible. It takes so much time to scroll through the main feed. I wish it was a grid view so that I could very quickly see what people were listening to rather than have to look one at a time.β
IDEATION
KEY FEATURES TO INCORPORATE βοΈ
LO-FI
THE BARE BONES OF IT ALL π¦΄
Users can log-in with Spotify or Apple Music to automatically connect their account & playlists to MOJI!
splash screen
authorization
new user
2. Users are shown a feed of songs shared by others on the platform or by their friends. They can engage with posts by leaving comments or saving them.
home
clicked post
3. Users can explore various "emotion" playlists on the discover page and post their current "mood of the day."
discover
drafting post
4. Users can chat with one another and customize their profile with a biography, their top 3 tags, current favorite song, and playlists.
profile
chat
HI-FI
Letβs add some color! π
splash screen
new user
authorization
home
discover
drafting post
chat
profile
clicked post
ITERATION #1
Although usable, it needs some refining βοΈ
Home Page: The current home page is illogical and should follow a hierarchy of content - general to specific. Upon onboarding, new users should also be presented with a public feed first! Buttons should also be a gradient, keeping the style cohesive.
To enhance the app's social media experience, each post should display options for likes, comments, saves, and shares. Users should also have the ability to add captions to their posts.
before
after
Discover Page: The current grid style is bento box-esque, but not quite thereβ¦ a carousel would be more space-efficient and allows for user interaction! Visually, itβs appealing. Functionally, itβs accessible.
*I also added a grainy graident + stroke to make the playlists have more dimension ;)
before
after
Songs List: I got ahead of myself and skipped a necessary screen! In order to draft a post, users should be presented with a songs list to choose from.
Here is how the process would workβ¦
songs list
drafted post
ITERATION #2
Letβs fine-tune π€
Messages: Although the buttons indicating βall chatsβ, βgroupsβ, and βcontactsβ create clear distinctions of tabs, it is not necessarily effective. These tabs cause clutter and add multiple navigation options that should be intuitive to the user through visual indicators such as displaying a group chat with an icon that shows multiple people in the bubble.
before
after
Profile: More centralized information is needed! After removing the βcontactsβ tab from the messages screen, it would only make sense if there was a friends list in a userβs profile.
Further enhancing the social media experience, a userβs profile also displays the amount of followers and following they have.
before
after
ITERATION #3
The final stretch π€Έ
Home Page: Gradient on gradient is hard to look at - letβs not strain any eyes! Simplifying the buttons will also make the interface look a lot more modern and cohesive.
before
after
Song Selection: Users should be allowed to pick snippets of a song rather than using an auto-selector. This allows for more personalization and creative expression, (the whole purpose of this app <3). Posts will also be more intentional as users specifically choose which part of a song to share with their audience.
Here is a refined version of the processβ¦
snippet selection
songs list
Profile: Currently, the profile is looking a bit cluttered. everything is on one screen and is visually overwhelming. In this case, tabs would help! Users should also be able to look at all a userβs posts on their profile.
Unfortunately, I have to sacrifice a feature - βmy current favorite songβ in order to prioritize the added features. However, users would be able to post as many times as they want per day, showing no limitation to sharing current favorites!
before
after
playlists
friends
published
drafted post
DESIGN SYSTEM π¨
Although both users from Spotify & Apple Music are able to use MOJI, my intended target audience is primarily Spotify users. To make the design feel familiar, I opted for a dark-mode interface with purple accents, creating a distinct contrast with Spotify's green branding.
PROTOTYPE
Curious to see it all in full motion?
π Letβs set the mood firstβ¦.
π Log-In & Authorization Screen
Log-in to MOJI using Spotify or Apple Music to automatically connect your account.
Interact with others on the platform on the home page or explore music through emotion playlists.
π‘ π Home & Discovery Page
π Drafting & Posting
Share some of your current favorite tunes of the day at anytime, as often as you'd like!
Connect with others and create meaningful connections through music. Customize your profile with personalized tags that showcase your unique taste and style!
π¬π€ Chat & Profile
FINAL THOUGHTS
This project was my first experience in app design - what an incredibly rewarding and challenging experience. Throughout this whole process, self-discipline was essential in every step to bring my vision to life. However, what truly brought me to the end was passion. It is both an anchor and a driving force. Iβm so happy to share this project with you all & I hope you like it as well <3
Looking forward, I hope to gain more project experience with working in a cross-disciplinary team. Iβd love to learn from fellow designers, developers, and researchers to get the full process of how a product comes to fruition. With that, I am super excited to create more, learn more, and design with the intention of empathy in mind to enhance user experiences. ^_^
And of course, the sole reason why this passion project exists: