Music Master

Project Brief

To create an app for kids that encourages them to practice music theory in between instrumental lessons. The app should allow students and music tutors to track their progress.

The Problem

As a piano tutor I find that my students are not progressing as much as they could because they are not consolidating what they have learnt in between lessons. I set them theory and practical tasks to complete at home and they never seem to get done. 

How might we design a fun music theory app to encourage kids to practice in between lessons?

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Objectives:

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• It should be engaging and fun for young children

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• It should be educational 

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• Music teachers should be able to track the progress of their students through the app

Design Process

For this project I will be using the Double Diamond approach. The Double Diamond technique is iterative rather than linear and allows the researcher to repeat the process until the desired outcome is achieved.

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• Discover

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• Define

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• Develop 

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• Deliver

Discover

In the first phase of this process I will conduct research in order to understand what kind of product I am building and what problem I am trying to solve.

Competitor Analysis​

Duolingo - Indirect competitor, language learning app, target market: all ages

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Mussila - Direct competitor, music learning app, target market: children

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Rhythm Cat - Direct competitor, music theory learning app: target market: adults and children

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ClassDojo - Indirect competitor, educational app, target market: children

Define

It is important to define what the user needs in order to create a user centred app. Problem statements provide clarity about your users’ goals, it also helps UX designers identify constraints that prevent users from meeting those goals.

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Problem Statement: Maya is a music student who needs to practice music theory in between her piano lessons so that she can make more progress with her piano skills.

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Hypothesis Statement: We believe that a music theory app for children will allow Maya to make good progress at home in between her piano lessons.

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Personas

Develop

Ideation, Wireframing, Prototyping

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Following on from the research my next step is to start developing the app. I decided to write a goal statement to describe the product and its benefits for the user.

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Goal Statement: Our Music Master app will let users learn music theory in a fun but educational way. Music teachers will be able to monitor the progress of their students, set tasks and reward their students with points. This will encourage kids to learn music theory in between instrumental lessons and improve their knowledge of music theory. We will measure the effectiveness by reading user reviews and conducting interviews with app users.

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Using the Goal Statement the next step is to map out the user flow and the user journey. A user journey is a tool that visualises how a user interacts with a product and allows designers to see a product from a user’s point of view.

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User Flow — the path taken by a typical user on an app or a website.

Wireframes

Deliver