faro –
Music live sharing experience.
Challenge
Designing a social music experience for adolescents in Berlin by challenging physical experiences.
Field of the Project
Connected Living
Methodology
Strategic Design, CX, User Experience, User Interface Design
Extent of the Project
April - July 2017 / 12 weeks - Part time
DISCOVER THE PROJECT Faro is born from the intention of being curious about the played music from unknown music listeners within physical surroundings.
Experiencing faro enables music lovers collectively to identify, share and explore music with people nearby.
The personalized experience which faro creates, is primarily defined by three moments of discovery; First, the physical space, second, the person-to-person interaction with another music lover, and third, the valuable meaning behind the music itself.
The project faro illustrates the forgotten potential of physical experience within a world where digital spheres start to outperform the way in which people relate to each other and towards their environment.
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EXPLORE THE PROCESS
The series of project’s milestones and the insightful gainings obtained can be seen in the following illustrative project’s journey.
The
initial idea started with the vision of a digital application that allows the
user to tune into the played music of other people in their physical
surroundings. By exploring this thought throughout an iterative process, I challenged the initial concept and revised it to be fully adapted to the user’s needs. As a final result, I designed a digital application that cannot be fully used without the requirement of real physical interaction and therefore challenges the need of interpersonal relationships in its full potential.
Expert Interviews
The research process involved conducting expert interviews in order to obtain first hand knowledge and perspectives from professionals related to fields of the music industry, digital consumption and data privacy.
The saturation process allowed me to gather their answers and decipher insightful information from their deepest thoughts.
The research process involved conducting expert interviews in order to obtain first hand knowledge and perspectives from professionals related to fields of the music industry, digital consumption and data privacy.
The saturation process allowed me to gather their answers and decipher insightful information from their deepest thoughts.
“The great potential is within interpersonal and not in the digitalization.”
“Consuming music in current times can be contrasted in a way with the information consumption.”
“The implementation of physical experiences in digital applications might be one of the first steps to overcome the fast food information consumption.”
User Interviews
Exploring the initial solution led to the decision to focus on the target group Generation Z living in Berlin. Selected potential users shared their opinions and stories with relation to music and their environment. Within this observation, my objective was to test particular hypotheses that combine the most essential findings of the prior developed research.
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Image, Detail of User Saturation
Exploring the initial solution led to the decision to focus on the target group Generation Z living in Berlin. Selected potential users shared their opinions and stories with relation to music and their environment. Within this observation, my objective was to test particular hypotheses that combine the most essential findings of the prior developed research.
“Meeting a stranger is like a waking up call.”
“I have already seen people in public transportation and was curious to know what music they were listening to.”
Prototyping & Testing
The qualitative extended research explored the intertwinements of the digital and physical spheres from an empathic perspective. The results show that being completely digital is problematic by own nature and its side effects increasingly occur. Considering the findings, the following thesis’ objective is to merge the positive qualities of the digital world, such as easy interaction and organisational matters, with the pyhscial context.
This idea was then prototyped during the Early Prototyping phase in the form of paper App Dummys to be tested with users. Their feedback was used for iterative steps, as a way of improving the interface for the definite concept in a digital form. After iterating, specific users were again tested to compare answers and validate the potential of the offered service.
Iteration
After several testing sessions, recorded user feedback was helpful in allowing me to reflect upon current achievements and potential future changes and/or improvements.
After several testing sessions, recorded user feedback was helpful in allowing me to reflect upon current achievements and potential future changes and/or improvements.
Zoom in Design Concept
Initially, the idea was to design a logo with a double/multiple interpretation. Thereby, the progress was inspired by post-it’s visualizations from the research process.
The finalized logo consists of an eye (discover) and at the same time, musical note with an implied second one that forms the complete logo. As a double meaning, the note can also be seen as a headphone. It was important to design an obvious element that implies the physical necessity within the application.
Initially, the idea was to design a logo with a double/multiple interpretation. Thereby, the progress was inspired by post-it’s visualizations from the research process.
The finalized logo consists of an eye (discover) and at the same time, musical note with an implied second one that forms the complete logo. As a double meaning, the note can also be seen as a headphone. It was important to design an obvious element that implies the physical necessity within the application.
Strategic Design at design akademie berlin. It has been supported by M.A. Joost Alleblas and Prof. Katrin Androschin.