UX Design for Online Video Music Platform

The UX design for the now defunct AltarTV combined the functionality of searching/discovering new and upcoming artists, highlighting recent shows, interviews and bands.

Project completed while working for Buzzhoney as Creative Director.
Responsibilities: Persona Deck, User Journey Development, Layout + Design Concepts, Final Design Assets, Creative Direction

Overview

Project
UX design of an online destination for up and coming music, venues and musicians. The primary target was Millennials. Those who came of age in a post-Internet world, who could sniff the hard sell, and won’t buy it. To win over these digital natives — was to add value, provide utility, entertain, acknowledge their individuality and to get their friends involved. Most importantly, be mobile.

We focused on four personas:
1. Rex, 30 years old: “I’m on the cutting edge of technology, music, arts and culture. The club scene connects me with my friends and helps me wind down from a long day of work. I don’t limit myself to one type of music or even one type of food. I’m always up on fashion, music and business news.”

2. Sasha, 17 years old: “I’m into live bands and having out with my friends. My boyfriend is in a band and loves metalcore. I go to a concert at least once a week and I am constantly creating iTunes playlists to share with friends. Sometimes I have a drink or a smoke at a concert, but it’s no big deal.”

3. Chloe, 23 years old: “I’m into art and music on a budget. I like to go out and see new, independent bands, usually at small, local venues. These and the art openings and exhibits we go to inspire me with my own art.

4. Ian, 20 years old: “I drink with my friends at the pub. We listen to a lot of metalcore. We share new stuff we learn about in magazines and internet downloads. I don’t go out much at night since I get up early for my construction job, but I like to meet friends at the pub after work for a couple drinks and go out on weekends.

Idea
The goal was to create a bleeding edge destination of curated content for a wide spectrum of music lovers — but especially those that seek to satisfy their hunger for new and non-mainstream musicians. These folks embed the latest technology into their daily lives like breathing air. They seek new art and cultural activities. And they are always on the go.

Analysis
The website contained a diverse set of functionality that let users quickly view featured videos, highlighted, relevant content, upcoming events, as well as the ability to sort and search for specific artists and bands.

User Interface Design
The look and feel broke the mold regarding the appearances of websites of the day. The layout, design and typography was bold, modular and structured around a clear navigation. Eye-catching visuals, including specific channel logos/bugs, helped support the vast musical styles and content within the online format.

The featured band’s video or related interview was streamed automatically on page load, full screen until a user-initiated action was taken.

Clear and solid typography made the information scannable and legible. Filtering functionality was prominent and helped the user sort content quickly. The search field was easily found on the top of the screen.

Wrap

The team at Buzzhoney was lean and very scrappy. And although I didn’t do all of the research around the use cases, copywriting, development, nor the site architecture, I was heavily involved in all those aspects since I was the Creative Director. Daily check-in sessions with the team and weekly meetings with the AltarTV team kept me in the loop and I was able to contribute to the team effort, as well as make the necessary visual design and functionality decisions.

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