Indiloop | 2013

Role | UX UI IxD iA + Art Designer

Indiloop was a social platform intended to bring the audio production experience to everyone. Users could interact (follow one another, comment, like, share remixes) and could also play, view the "DNA" of, and remix each other's remixes.

Using a patented beat matching algorithm the BPM of instrument and vocal stems could be automatically synchronized to work together. The user could then adjust the master BPM pitch, audio pan, cut/copy/paste, and add filters to pieces of stems to create their own remix.

Goals

• Empower users to create their own music, using custom tracks or using music they know
• Facilitate the basic needs of more experienced users to have fun with the platform
• Create a space where experimentation and play is easy
• Optimize the information architecture, structure, and interactions to put the user's experience with the music and tools first, yet create a space to enable members to engage with one another
• Provide tools for listeners to discover and enjoy the remixes of others, providing a path to engage with music without having to make any
• Disrupt current music services and applications by providing a space for music makers to both freely create and engage with fans in one space
• Innovate music releases and engagement by working with players in the space to provide isolated stems and tracks of known songs
• Work with music companies to create cross promotions with unique assets, web pages, and stems

Approach

• Work closely with the tightly knit 5 member team to achieve our goals
• Research and use existing platforms (social platforms and music software) to determine what works, what doesn’t, and what we could carry across to an online platform
• Continuously pivot based on market and investor needs, and as determined by leadership
• Measure member satisfaction and success using analytics, user testing, user feedback, user interviews and discussions
• Experiment with flows and UI elements to identify a business model that could work for the platform
• Provide, build upon, and iterate the art direction and promotional material for the product
• Make use of Photoshop, Jira, Hangouts, Gmail, and Dropbox in order to communicate with team members and deliver designs
• Create an experience that was optimized for web, though worked well on mobile devices using PhoneGap
• Regularly create media, layouts, and emails using Mailchimp alongside social media and copy consultants
• Test and discuss with friends, family, and team members
• Created many, many, many custom instrument icons to represent each instrument in our library of stems with a consistent art direction

Outcome

Indiloop was exciting, had ups and downs, and was life-changing. I started at Indiloop as a very junior user experience designer fresh out of school (and the only design focused member of the team). Due to my lack of experience and insight I leaned heavily into iteration and trial and error (plenty of error). I could have done way more pre-production, research, rapid iteration, tested more often. Looking back, it would have been helpful to have spent more time testing ideas and experiments in order to get get quality feedback earlier and throughout the design process.

With our platform we were able to promote events such as the Vans Warped Tour, introduce new people to the joy of making music, and hear music that wouldn’t otherwise have been made. Satisfaction was high with sticky users and we iterated on the product many times based on feedback from our user base, experimentation, and guidance from consultants.

Indiloop didn’t end up working out in the long run but it sure was an adventure while it lasted. It also gave me a very strong appreciation of the challenges that face designers, developers, and teams during the creation of a product.