Rechords uses the connection between music and memories to give users a better way to remember.
Problem: Journaling is time-consuming, and photos only capture visual details.
Solution: Design an app that uses the connection between music and memories to give users a better way to remember fond memories.
UI/UX Designer
10 Weeks
Figma, Invision
In order to define a problem area that our app could solve, my team identified and interviewed four different people who were either very involved in recording their memories or were experts in the memory making process. We interviewed each person for 1-2 hours each in groups of 2 or 3 and recorded each conversation with consent of the interviewee, asking open-ended questions such as how they recorded their memories, their relationship with journaling, and how they deal with the emotions brought up from memories.
Using the recorded interviews, my team was able to find the main similarities between each of the interviewees. Using an empathy map, we were able to develop insights and identify needs of each of our interviewees to help move forward the design process and narrow down problem we wanted to solve with our app.
Here are some of the key insights we gained from conducting the empathy maps:
After conducting our interviews and reviewing our results, my team brainstormed 10-15 POV (Point of View) statements to try and define a problem that we could solve with an app. The initial POV that we were satisfied with moving on with is pictured below. Afterwards, we decided to interview three more people with the focus on memory loss and other ways people try to capture their memories.
My team conducted two more interviews, and then revised and came up with new POV statements. We picked the three best POV statements and developed 10-15 HMW (How Might We) statements for each POV statement. These HMW statements are starting off points for our ideation process and helps us further narrow down a problem area we would like to focus on for our app.
From the best three HMW statements (pictured above), we gave ourselves about 10 minutes to come up with 10-15 potential solutions for each of the how might we statements, quickly writing down any idea no matter how weird it was that came to mind. We then chose the best of those solutions for each HMW statement: 1) a time travel journal, 2) a place to collect music and memories, and 3) an intense tracking device that recorded all your memories through photos for you.
View full presentation of POVs and HMWsTo test the assumptions we made for each possible solution, we developed three lo-fi experience prototypes to gauge the effectiveness of each of our solutions and whether users were interested in our solutions. We tested the prototypes with seven different people (five at the Stanford Shopping Center and two in Stanford dormitories).
For each of the prototypes, we had one team member be in charge of running the prototype, one team member be in charge of taking notes, and one team member in charge of asking questions after the prototype was ran. From our post interviews with each user, we parsed out if are assumptions were correct and the pros and cons of each prototype.
After analyzing the data collected from our experience prototype, we decided to move forward with the Walking Down Memory Lane prototype and proceeded to brainstorm some ideas for how this prototype could become a reality.
View full write up of Experience PrototoypesWe initially brainstormed five different concept sketches to try out different design ideas for the app. Each of these concept sketches uses different input/output modalities that model three basic tasks that would be implemented in our final design to explore the different processes a user could take to complete those three tasks in our application.
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Concept Sketch 1: Headphones (Song Saver + Radio)
Concept Sketch 2: Droid Memory Projection
Concept Sketch 3: Mobile App Playlist
Concept Sketch 4: Shazam Glasses
Concept Sketch 5: Shazam Wearable
We decided that the Shazam Wearable and the Headphones concept sketches were the top two sketches. In order to narrow down the best idea, we created mobile app storyboards (pictures available in the full report above). Based off of those storyboards, we made pros and cons list for each idea and determined that the Shazam Wearable was the best idea, because we liked the range of options it provided the user when they wanted to record a memory.
We specified the exact tasks we wanted our users to be able to complete for our minimum vial product (MVP) and made task flows for each of those tasks based off of the Shazam Wearable mobile app storyboard and concept sketch.
From these storyboards, we were able to write down each screen we would need to design for the MVP and the functionality of each of those screens.
Using index cards and sticky notes, we created a low-fi prototype that was tested on three different participants (two through the app Nextdoor and one that was at Tresidder, a central eatery at Stanford). Each of the participants were either heavily invested in music making or enjoyed listening to music. Each of the test were recorded. One team member took notes on the completion of tasks and any issues users had with the prototype, one team member was in charge of running the prototype, and one team member was in charge of greeting, explaining the prototype, and administering the survey after the testing was complete.
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After testing, we gathered all the data, including how successful participants were at completing tasks, how long it took to complete each task, and suggestions made by participants, and found that:
Based off these key findings, we decided that we would make some of the following revisions when moving onto our Medium-Fi prototypes:
Based off of the previous testing, we decided to make some changes to the original low-fi prototype in a medium-fi prototype. This prototype was made using Figma and Invision so that the prototype was interactive.
Based off of the previous testing, we decided to make some changes to the original low-fi prototype in a medium-fi prototype. This prototype was made using Figma and Invision so that the prototype was interactive.
Four classmates from another team tested out the medium-fi prototype. They evaluated the usability of the design based off of 10 given heuristics, and if a heuristic was violated, the severity of violation was rated on a scale from 0 to 4 and the team member who noted the violation gave a detailed description of why it was a violation in a document reviewed by my team and our TA. We then as a team wrote down what we could do to fix each violation. We also did a heuristic evaluation for another team in the class.
After reviewing the results from the heuristic evaluation, my team built high-fi wireframes of each of the screens needed and finished building the MVP of the app over the course of three weeks. We then presented our app at a project demo expo.
As an important part of the design process is to test your designs and iterate, I would continue on with this project by testing out the design with real users in an alpha testing environment. I would put the alpha version of the app on an app store and would develop a small marketing plan to get users on the app and track their use of the app. Additionally, I would build an onboarding system that makes the core values of the app clear and gives users incentives to use the app.
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