Anoosha Baxi

Monitoring

This project began by tracking my media usage during my morning routine to identify areas of opportunity for an interaction design project.

Track the media that I use on my phone from the time I wake up to 11:15

Assign a numerical value (between 1 and 10) to how I feel before and after each interaction

Note down any moments of delight or frustration.

Analysis

Now that I had the raw data, I had to analyze it. I sketched different ways of representing the data that may reveal insights.

The process of coding the data visualization using javascript helped manipulate the data in different ways to explore additional trends and insights. Watch the video below or play with the visualization here: http://homepages.uc.edu/~baxiah/2018-10-08-4_information-visualization/.

Insights from
Data Visualization & Tracking

Through analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data, key insights emerged. It became clear that organizing my aural media was an area of opportunity.

My mood improved after interactions that involved a stronger personal connection.

Music and podcasts are important to my daily routine. 

My mood is negatively impacted by pausing podcasts.

User Interviews

I asked others about their relationships with music and podcasts to better understand the problems and opportunities for organization.

• Do you listen to music? Podcasts?

• Which apps do you use for music? Podcasts? Why?

• When do you listen to music? Podcasts?

• How do you determine which you listen to when?

• Do you listen to the radio? When? Why?

• What is the average length of the podcast(s) you listen to? Do you generally listen to them in one go or split them into chunks?

Insights from
User Interviews

The three insights I got from user research were the following:

Most people say that they use Spotify as their primary music app and a native podcasts app (Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts) as their primary podcast app.

People say that they are starting to explore to Spotify to listen to podcasts.

People say that they often switch between music and podcasts while working, commuting via public transportation, and walking. They say that they are less likely to switch while exercising and driving because it requires them to pause their activity.

Personas &
Journey Maps

I used the insights from tracking and user research to create the following personas and journey maps.

Juhi is a college student without a car on campus, so walking is her primary mode of transportation. She walks to class in the morning, to get to meetings, and to other engagements throughout her day. She usually listens to music, podcasts, or a combination of the two during her commute. Juhi has trouble curating a selection of material that suits the amount of time she spends commuting. Often when she reaches class, she is in the middle of a podcast and is forced to pause it.

Jimmy is a professional who takes the train to downtown for work every morning. He has two children, who he often has to pick up from school and their extra-curricular activities. Jimmy loves listening to a variety of podcasts, ranging from the news to nonfiction material. Sometimes, Jimmy falls behind on his podcasts and ends up with daily news episodes that are over two weeks old. Every few weeks, Jimmy has to go through his podcasts and delete the episodes that were time sensitive and no longer relevant.

Jada is a financial consultant, which allows her flexible work hours. She keeps active lists of the work she needs to get done (work, chores, errands, etc), and keeps her calendar up to date with her daughter’s extra-curricular activities. Between giving her daughter rides and driving to meet her various clients, Jada spends a lot of time driving. She likes to listen to family-friendly music when she’s with her daughter in the car, and prefers podcasts and more popular tunes when she’s driving to and from work.

Defining the Project

By synthesizing the insights from my tracking, data visualization, user research, personas, and journey, I defined the project that I wanted to pursue.

Insights from Usability Testing with 5 People

• 5/5 people said “add to playlist” should be in this order: 

  • add title 

  • priority 

  • time sensitivity

• 4/5 people find it confusing that podcasts and songs look the same.

• 2/5 people want a way to save their spot while listening to a podcast and see the amount of time left.

• 5/5 people don’t understand the distinction between content that will be played in the set duration and content that will not be played in the set duration.

• 2/5 people want to be able to add multiple podcasts at once without subscribing.

Opportunities / Next steps

• Switch order of “add to playlist” to the following:

  • add title 

  • priority 

  • time sensitivity

• Differentiate between songs and podcasts

• Visually show what playlist content will be played in set duration

• Show time remaining in a podcast

• Add a flow that allows people to add multiple podcasts at once without subscribing

Insights from Usability Testing with 5 People

• 4/5 people expected to see recommended songs and podcasts separate.

• 4/5 people expected to see all of a playlist’s contents, regardless of whether it will be played or not.

• 5/5 people expect to see cover art when browsing podcasts.

• 4/5 people identify podcasts by the cover art.

• 1/5 people identify songs by the cover art.

• 1/5 people expect to see cover art when browsing music.

Opportunities / Next Steps

• Show a distinction between what will be played and what will not 

• Display cover art for podcasts but not songs

• Communicate the history of played content

  • Books remain on a bookshelf after they’ve been read 

• Find a way to visualize time

  • Time left

  • % of set duration for each piece of content

  • Songs vs podcasts

  • Priority