— PROJECT NAME
Muse
— ROLE
Branding
UI Design
— DATE
2020
Thanks to music streaming, with a tap of your phone screen, you can listen to any song you could imagine. There are nearly 100 million to choose from. This means DJs, musicians, and taste makers can build their libraries and playlists with thousands of songs that inspire them, make them move, or please the crowd. Muse recognizes this opportunity and has developed their mobile app to provide a fun, curated experience to these users.
Objective: Create branding and user interface for a mobile app that focuses on curated music experiences.
Research
What are the users?
What do users expect?
To understand more about what users expectations would be in terms of look, feel, and overall experience, I conducted secondary research on some of Muse’s direct competitors, including Apple Music, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Tidal.
Patterns Found:
Branding
Taking consideration of current trends and competitor apps, I created a mood board for Muse that would encapsulate energy, sleekness, modern, and retro-futuristic themes.
Logo Design
Interface Design
I started by creating a few low-fidelity wireframes for a player page, playlist page, library page. For this project I am only creating a couple of pages, and chose those that are most essential.
Using Sketch, I made digital wireframes for the home page and player page. I made 3 different versions of the home page and 2 of the player page.
In my high-fidelity designs, I used Sketch to create a glass effect, which I continued onto every page of the app. I also played with gradients and contrasting colors. I implemented an overlay for more information on playlist and album pages.
After doing completing my first set of high-fidelity wireframes, I had the opportunity to revisit my design. While the glass effect on the previous design tested by technical capabilities as a designer, the clashing visual components somewhat failed to achieve a simple, sleek design.
Keeping the same wireframes for the most part, I redesigned the interface of the app with a simple and clean grid design. I also added a separate information page, which offers the opportunity for more details on playlists, albums, and artists. These changes makes the app less cluttered and easier to use.
