SYNOPSIS: SPONTANEOUS JAM SESSION MEMBER FINDER

(Changed to accompany new design details – 02/01/2017)

“This idea hopes to bring musicians together in an easy, approachable and establishing comfortability through the use of mobile tracking and sharing small profile cards of individual users upon passing one another on the streets. Users should be given the ability to list their musical talents, personal music tastes, a sample of their music playing and whether or not they are looking for a band or a band member.”

a. Recommendations

 

During the field study, we noticed a trend of lack of trust for people online. To address this issue, we recommend a primarily horizontal design direction for the next prototype, such that users will feel a sense of trust with other online users.  More specifically, we want to visually implement a proximity searching feature and a messaging feature. A proximity searching feature will allow users to find people who frequent similar establishments (for example, school, place of employment, church, etc) instead of complete strangers, thus creating a sense of closeness. A messaging feature will allow users to communicate with others before meeting and find out about the other. This feature is also essential for planning purposes. Furthermore, we will use personal cards in place of user profiles, which synergize better with our proximity searching feature. The prototype will vertically focus on personal card details to investigate the necessary information to establish trust and comfort. The inclusion of social media integration also may be an angle to tackle the problem. One possible use of social media are the mutual friends of the users. From the implementation in the matchmaker application Tinder, we suspect that having mutual friends will make the users less nervous about meeting each other, which we intend to find out through our prototype.

 



b. Updated task Examples

 

Summary of changes to task examples:

After completing the field study and running an analysis, specific themes emerged that we have incorporated in our task examples. After finding that many participants only asked their friends to jam, we included this into task example one. We also edited the first example to change Jeffery’s motivation to want to jam for fun, his desire to meet musicians of a similar skill level to his own, but at the moment is not actively looking for people to jam with.

Alexander, the subject in task example two, was changed to be motivated to find a jam partner for the purpose of improving his skill level. We also changed Alex’s comfortability to meet online if he knew he had mutual friends with the other person. Another incorporation that had emerged from our analysis was meeting musicians that played a similar genre and an instrument that would compliment their own.

Our third task example was focused on Sharon, where we changed her desire to meet people from school to jam for the purpose of having fun and her distaste for meeting people online. We also edited the task example to have Sharon search for musicians that play instruments that complement her own.

 

Task Examples:

TASK EXAMPLE 1:

 

Jeffrey is a 2nd year UBC student who loves to play music as a hobby, especially the guitar. He would like to play music for fun with new people and make new friends who also play music in the upcoming school year but is not actively looking. He didn’t make many new friends in his first year because he lacked time to join clubs and time to meet other new students. He mainly wants to meet other students on his own leisure and be notified when people around him are into music playing, like playing in a band, having small jam sessions, playing for fun, or playing in a 2 person band. He walks to UBC every weekday passing the same students and attends the same classes every day. He knows that some of the students he passes by, and sees in class multiple times a day must play music. Jeffrey knows there are multiple ways of meeting new people in a community like UBC but like 1st-year, he lacks time to commit himself to clubs and smaller communities within UBC. Jeffrey has talked to his friends from highschool, indicating his willingness to play in jam sessions without much preparation beforehand. However, he has not received any interest from his friends, because his friends, who live in different parts of the city, are either too busy or not willing to go out of their way to play at UBC. As he is a UBC student, Jeffery would like to pick and choose to meet other musically talented UBC students, people he would find trustful and similar to himself, in regards to personality and music skill level. Once Jeffery meets new people he wants to be able to carry on a conversation that isn’t awkward or non-lasting, getting to know the person beforehand in some way.

 

TASK EXAMPLE 2:

Alexander, a jazz bassist who is more on the introverted side, has had difficulty trying to find friends to jam with. He would love to jam with other musicians as he finds it is a great way to improve his skills, but he has asked around in his friend circle and unfortunately the only friend he knows that is a musician plays the clarinet. A major reason why he has trouble finding musicians is that he is very particular about playing jazz music with jazz musicians, all who have a similar style.  He has browsed sites such as Craigslist to connect with other like musicians but hasn’t been able to find jazz players in particular. Alex has thought about posting an ad on a classified website such as Craigslist, but he doesn’t feel comfortable talking to strangers online who he has no connection with. Alex has however used Tinder in the past and has met up with people who he had a handful of mutual friends with to help establish a personal connection first. Although he is shy and doesn’t reach out to strangers in public very often, once he feels comfortable with someone he can be quite social. Alex would really like a way to connect with other jazz musicians but doesn’t know how he can connect with similar musicians.

 

TASK EXAMPLE 3:

Sharon is a 4th-year SFU student majoring in chemistry who also loves to play music. She plays in small jam sessions casually with her roommates. She has always wanted to form a long-term band and perform at local coffee shops. Sharon can play a variety of instruments like electric guitar, electric bass, and a novice on drums, but she is most comfortable playing the piano as she has been playing piano for 10 years. Her 2 roommates are also excellent guitar players, varying from classical, acoustic, to electric. She is looking for a drummer for her new band, but she’s also open to other players that play different instruments as long as it’s different from what she and her roommates are playing. She does not like meeting new people online, so she is looking for someone who is from her school and who has at least played drums in a band before. Sharon knows that there are other alternatives of recruiting new band members such as asking friends and friends of friends. Unfortunately, she has had no luck finding a suitable drummer even with the other alternatives. Sharon wishes that there would be a better and comfortable way that helps musicians to connect with other musicians more easily and quickly.

 



c. Prioritized List of Requirements

 

Absolutely Must Include

1. Private messaging – this is the medium where the musicians communicate with each other
2. Proximity (radius) setting – this provides the commonality between the users, and to build trust by knowing where the other users locate
3. User information – a list of user information that our participants have requested as “must have” before meeting another musician:
   • Name
   • what instrument they play (drummer would almost never want to bring his/her drum-set elsewhere)
   • skill level (How well they play an instrument)
   • Level of professionalism (playing for money vs playing for fun)
   • what genre they play, and would play
   • who they are looking to jam with? (musicians of different purpose would handle jamming very differently)
4. Blocking other users – this allows the user to eliminate unwanted advertising or spamming from specific users

 

Should Include

1. Filtering (on user info searches) – this allows users to find other musicians easily
2. Sample music [share music taste, and see skill level in more details]
3. User information – a list of user information that facilitates in building trust among the users:
   1. User photo / profile picture
4. Level of connection matched (based on criteria such as the number of times users passed by) – this facilitates the potential musicians the user could connect, and build a new relationship
5. Display existing mutual friends (on other social medial platforms, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, twitter) – this helps in building trust with other users
6. Grouping (e.g. band) – this is to show how different users are connected, and potential to form groups with same music interest

 

Could Include

1. Scheduler (e.g. setting up jam session) – this easier to look up and book for locations, and share meeting available time]
2. User information – the list of information that our participant thinks that it’s “nice to have”:
   1. Age
   2. Gender
   3. Race
   4. Reason why they play music
3. Sharing prep-work / jam-work (e.g. music sheets, song files) – this allows the users who would like to prepare before the jam session to store their files, and share with their friends

 

Could Exclude

1. Broadcasting announcements (e.g. looking for a new band member, sharing events) – share more new experiences with other users.
2. Display mutual friends within the app [build trust with other users]
3. Contact sharing within the app  – this allows users to refer each other if they are looking for specific type of musician, but this is required to build a jam session (our app encourages members meeting spontaneity)
4. Photo gallery – this is to integrate our app as a social media site, where we could share similar music experiences (e.g. music festival photos)
5. List of experiences or achievements – our participants indicate that they are less likely to meet musicians who are way above their level

 

User to be Included

Our application will focus on supporting users who enjoy playing music, and are into music; this covers all different kinds of musicians.

• Users who play music
• Extroverted/Introverted music players, who are outgoing and carefree
• Carefree users who are not looking to play professionally, but for fun
• Users who listen to music and play music
• Professional music players who are looking for permanent players

 

User to be Excluded

We do not intend to support users who are not interested in music, or playing music; our minimum requirement for using our application is to have passion and play music.  

• Users who listen to music, but do not play music (unless they want to learn how to play music)
• Users who are interested in music, but do not create music
• Users who are not interested in music



d. Design Alternatives

 

Competing Interface 1:

Using a map interface to indicate people’s location around the user, giving a bird’s eye view on what type of instruments musicians play around them as icons on the map (Sort of like Pokemon Go). You would need to approach individuals/icons on the map, such that you are in the same location as the individual/icon on the map. After being in the same location, you will be provided more information about the individual and can choose to catch, so that you can message them, or ignore them.

 

Below are the listed pros and cons for competing interface 1:

Pros:	Cons:
Fun and interactive Provides user a sense of personal choice, they are specifically going to search for these individuals. Provides users with a visual map of where musicians are located Not restricted to specific radius location, but can pan out to the whole city.	Too much heavy reliance on user interaction Requires users attentiveness, when searching for new musicians to play with Must approach individuals before knowing their personal details Lacks catalog of the people around you. NO history of the people you did not catch or meet.

Photo taken by Edward Lee
Photo created by Edward Lee
Photo produced by Edward Lee

Competing Interface 2:

A Tinder-style matching system where you say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to other musicians profiles. Users complete a portfolio that includes basic information about themselves and musical interests for jamming purposes. They then view other user’s profiles within a fixed radius (Ex. 10km) and either swipe ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If both parties have said ‘yes’ to each other, then you will be matched and able to message each other to organize a meetup to jam.

 

Below are the listed pros and cons for competing interface 2:

 

Pros:	Cons:
Simplistic, easy to understand interface Transfer effects from popular apps such as Tinder Able to search for musicians from home without having to go out	Does not focus on establishing a personal connection with the other individual via close proximity Possibility of matches not being within a reasonable distance for jamming Does not emphasize matching based on similar locations visited

Photo taken by Michael Williams
Photo created by Michael Williams
Photo produced by Michael Williams