Emotional Biome
About the Project
We have observed that users of music streaming apps tend to listen to a mix of pre-made playlists as well as ones they create themselves, but are not completely satisfied with pre-made playlists. Users would like a music selection catered more specifically to their taste and mood, so that they can save time and effort in selecting each song.
Emotional Biome is a mobile app that quantitatively and qualitatively analyzes a user’s mood to create playlists for them. It supplements a user’s music-streaming app of choice, pulling music history and assigning moods to songs to create a curated playlist.
Emotional Biome Splash Page
Team
Nathaniel
Rachel
Swathi
Tools
Figma
Miro
Trello
Discover Phase
Research Plan & Interviews
To start our research, we developed our research plan, including an interview comprising of several questions that explore the relationship between mood and music. We had both 1-1 interviews and Google Survey participants with over 20 users. After the interviews, we sorted the qualitative data into what we saw as the most important categories to get a better understanding of how people currently associate mood with music (and vice versa).
Google Survey Results for User Interviews
Affinity Diagram
We organized the user insights into an affinity diagram, focusing on three main categories:
Music and mood
Playlist preferences
Data sharing
Affinity Diagram
User Persona
Our user persona is Parker Willy, a self-proclaimed music snob that enjoys a curated playlist for his music needs. However, it is too much work for him to keep creating playlists to fit his mood, but premade playlists just don’t hit the spot. We created this user persona so that we can find a solution for him and others like him.
User Persona - Parker Willy
Define Phase
Competitor Analysis
We focused on Spotify and Pandora and direct competitors, seeing as both are giants in the music-streaming business. Sona is a music-curating company that composes anxiety-relieving music, certified by leading neuroscientists. We chose Sona as an indirect competitor, as they connect mood with music, but only in terms of stress relief.
Competitor Analysis
Brainstorming - Voting on Top Ideas
This technique of prioritizing solution features helped us realize that music and mood are much more complexly related than we expected. To keep our focus clear, we each voted (using emojis) on our top 5 most important features to include in this solution.
Brainstorming Activity - Voting for Top 5
I Like, I Wish, What If Method
We explored ideas with a brainstorming technique. We focused on the question, how might we take the time and effort away from creating a playlist that matches my mood?
I Like, I Wish, What If Method
Feature Prioritization
Based on the ideas that received votes, we charted a feature prioritization matrix. We focused on the level of complexity for the developers and the impact/priority of the feature for users.
Feature Prioritization Matrix
User Task Flow
We developed a task flow of how a user can travel through the app, given specific tasks like the onboarding process and creating a playlist. Since emotions can change, the app asks occasionally if the user is still feeling a certain way or if they want to update their preferences. Because of this, there are a handful loops in our user task flows.
User Task Flow Diagram - Onboarding Process
User Task Flow Diagram - Creating a Playlist
Develop Phase
Information Architecture - Card Sorting
We completed a card sorting activity by writing all the potential app pages on sticky notes in Miro, then arranging them based on information architecture principles. This structure is intuitive for users interfacing with the mobile app for the first time.
Card-Sorting Activity
Sketches & Lo-Fi Wireframes
While developing the prototype, each team member either sketched or wireframed on Adobe XD. We combined favorite features from each design into the hi-fi prototype.
Initial Sketches by Swathi
Initial Wireframes by Nathaniel
Hi-Fi Prototype
Below is the hi-fi prototype of the Music Player page and Mood Playlist page. The first screen shows the current mood in the middle of the screen and the goal mood behind the music player at the bottom. The mood playlists are made from the user’s music library from another app.
Music Player Page
Mood Playlists Page
Information Architecture - Sitemap
From the card sorting, we organized this site architecture onto a sitemap.
Information Architecture - Sitemap
Usability Tests
We conducted several usability tests to ensure that the app was usable. Key user insights include:
Add main screen to choose between setting mood or choosing goal mood
More clarity on walkthrough portion of onboarding
More info on how to navigate through app
Can I skip through the walkthrough?
Pretty colors
Not possible to choose goal mood
UI Style Guide
We developed a UI Style Guide at the very beginning of the hi-fi prototyping process, so that we can define and swiftly grab elements as they’re needed.
Emotional Biome UI Style Guide
Delivery
The video shows a demo of the Emotional Biome hi-fi prototype. After several iterations, we developed a mood-based music app that is both beautiful and functional in developing playlists for a user.
Future Opportunities
More moods or emotions captured
Live moods changing as physical aspects of mood change (heart rate, BP)
