CRAFTING THE PODCAST EXPERIENCE
Spring 2021
In an effort to expand Taptapes’ accessibility on web, I was put on the task to reimagine Taptapes as a podcast discovery web app that serves as a community. This project covers all the work I did for Eli and Erez, Taptapes’ awesome founders.
ROLE
Responsible for user personas, discovery and ideation, design, and prototype
TEAM
1 Designer
2 Co-founders
TOOL
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
DURATION
Jan 2021 - May 2021
View site here
Problem
Too many levels needed to get users to try our 30-second tapes of podcasts. Meaningful engagement in Discovery page was low—visitors weren’t doing much other than going through podcast clips. How could we design a landing page that immediately shows users what we do and why they should continue browsing our site?
After initial conversations with the two co-founders, we concluded that there are a few points that need to be included in the design thinking process.
01. Poor customizable experience
Taptapes needs more intuitive browsing experience that allows users to customize how they want to navigate within the app.
02. Interaction
Unlike mobile apps, initial interaction for websites is key. Our visitors should be able to browse content with less than 3 levels of actions. On a high level, we want to create some sort of interaction on home page to keep users engaged.
03. Young and cool
We are branding Taptapes as a stylish, young, and energetic platforms that is filled with creative minds and talents. We are a whole new way.
Our vision — Taptapes as a whole new way of podcast social network
USER RESEARCH
Our candidates include regular Taptapes users and new users who haven’t tried our product before. During the interviews, we asked them to walk us through how they use the mobile app and some of the problem and questions they have with our mobile features. We documented their user journey and found new users’ behaviors particularly interesting.
27 year-old podcast creator that needs a great platform to promote content
I am a content creator and I post my podcasts on platforms like Taptapes for exposure.
22 year-old college student who uses Taptapes for podcast listening.
I usually listen to podcasts while doing other stuff. I do love exploring new podcasts that fit my taste!
The above personas are created based on our user synthesis. As we went through our notes from user interviews, we realized there are two groups of people that stood out, the listeners and the creators.
OPPORTUNITIES
There’re many ways to position Taptapes as a web app but what it needs right now is specific: use us as the tool to discover your next favorite podcast or the talent promoting platform that gains followers, we are here to get you what you want! We are targeting both creators and listeners. Our approach to the app was a combination of opportunities identified in the research phase and vision from the two co-founders. I narrowed down to a few possibilities that are technically feasible and valuable to the first launch:
A discovery podcast player to initiate interaction with visitors and keep them engaged.
Ability to display customized playlists to provide intuitive and personal experience
Display new talents and episodes to promote Taptapes users
Bold and refreshing design to capture young users
Exploration and Iterations
The two co-founders were open to explore new combination of colors that can really bring the young vibe out of Taptapes. I experimented with different tones of yellow and green so the design would still be close to Taptapes’ original brand elements. I also explored different audio player concepts and formats. During my exploration process, I sketched out and designed all components/sections and discussed the pros and cons with Eli and Erez.
Some of the designs we eventually went with might not be the most intuitive, but the most technically executable ones. I focused most of my work on the Home page and podcast page as they make more impact on the user journey.
Color Guide
First Version
The final color guide we went with
Home Page Iterations
New requirements and technical limits were communicated throughout the process. The development team used Material-UI for frontend and it affected how much freedom I had on components. I explored different layouts and designs for home page as well as interactive components. Ultimately, I created two final versions based on phasing and technical constraints.
Audio Player Design and Interaction
Early on in the designing process, Eli and Erez encouraged me to come up with something bold that targets our need, so I decided that my audio player idea has to be visible on the landing page to maximize visitor engagement. I researched different formats and concepts of audio player and came up with a few designs that fits great into the initial browsing experience.
OUTCOME
This project involved months of creative work and I enjoyed every bit of it. Taptapes web app was deployed the end of spring 2021 and you can check it out here. Due to change of priorities, some of the features are delayed for sooner deployment. Still, I learned some takeaways that are important for my growth as an UX experience.
01. Design is about working under constraints, learn to define, question, and create around them.
02. Be comfortable with feedbacks. That is how you grow your craft.