For my Interactive Design course at Oregon State University, 2017, I designed and prototyped an extensive social music app intended to bring a community together in their shared love for music, called Volyoume. Project requirements include: app must have common standard features (settings, customization, etc.); must be innovative enough as a new concept; and complete to act as a fully functional, navigational app. The class was initially divided into groups based on similar app concepts and set to work. Research, planning, and user-testing were the first steps of development. Sketching and flowcharts were thought out in groups, and once the concept and navigation was solidified, students split from groups to individually design their envisioned apps. Once constructed, user interfaces were applied into a prototyping website (Invisionapp.com) to test the app’s usability and logical outcomes on both a computer and mobile device.

Volyoume offers users a rich social experience and sense of community based on music tastes. Personal user profiles, called Studios, are customizable. Users can follow others, chat, comment on live streams, like, and can even add live DJ’d songs from other studios to their playlists. Each studio has full control of their live DJs and can choose from their own music lists what to play for others to tune in to. If the user has a Spotify account, music libraries can be synced to the app itself. Additionally, an Explore feature is offered where, by turning on their location, users can find their friends and what new events or performances are near them to attend.

Through this project I learned how to gather, analyze, and evaluate research information and data; storyboard blueprints and skeletal framework for UI/UX application design and user-testing; apply interface navigation and user experience into real world scenarios; and basic universal mobile app design standards and trends.

You can view and test the Volyoume app prototype here: https://invis.io/6X108DQNHKV9