PROJECT
GUITARTUNA
CLIENT
YOUSICIAN
ROLE
DESIGN CONSULTANT
CONTRIBUTION
DESIGN DIRECTION
PRODUCT DESIGN
VISUAL IDENTITY
PROTOTYPING
DESIGN AUDIT
DESIGN SYSTEM
DESIGN GUIDELINES
YEAR
2022
INDUSTRY
EDUCATION
World’s number 1 tuner app with extended features such as songbooks and an extensive chord library catered to independent players. The most downloaded tuning app in the world, with over 100 million downloads.
01.
Context
Yousician understands its brand well but needs clarity in translating it into its products for a unified presence across the diverse portfolio. There's a business need to refine how the brand manifests in its products, adding personality to unique features, improving the user experience and unlocking new features while crafting a polished user interface. The main challenge is harmonising a shared brand essence with distinctive product features, and the goal is to address this in a startup-style manner. Research indicates that a majority of users primarily utilise the tuner feature, overlooking additional features like songbooks and chord libraries. There are business and users need to explore the interaction and experience of these features to increase user retention.
02.
Approach
Workshop with the team to explore the product's unique attributes, personality, features and past successes. Pinpoint key moments in the product journey to elevate its identity and consider feature development. Translate these moments into engaging user experience and interface designs, carefully integrating art direction and copywriting. Validate the design direction and new features through user testing to ensure they meet user needs and expectations. Analyse and unpack Yousician's brand values, identity, and product portfolio to understand and strategise how to balance their products and visual identity with value for users based on user research.
03.
Outcome
Three design directions are crafted for testing and validation. They share a common concept but with distinct design elements and features. By bridging the gap between brand and user experience, we transform the product from a simple guitar tuner into a valuable music-playing companion with added user value on unique features that are now easier to find in the product’s journey. Resonance testing finds that GuitarTuna is preferred 9 out of 10 times over its competitors.
90%
Users prefer GuitarTuna over main competitors.
+12%
User retention increase for features other than tuner.
+16%
Increase on activation success first impression.
PROJECT CASE STUDY
⸺ Simple, practical, cool and quirky. A powerful companion digital product for everyone who enjoys playing music. There are thousands of reasons to play music but only one matters: you want to.
05.
Design Direction
GuitarTuna's identity leverages Yousician's brand values and combines them with the product's value proposition. Selected design elements are used to convey brand and product feelings across selected moments in the product experience. This is achieved by bringing design and art direction together with a focus on craft and content. The goal is to enhance the product's main features, adding value for the users while improving conversion. Designed for simplicity by removing excess elements. Authentic art direction that inspires users and unites the Yousician brand with the product's value proposition. Based on market research for key features, it balances design trends and user value. Reducing distractions puts the content and functionality in focus, enabling a better user experience and encouraging return visits. This transforms GuitarTuna into a valuable companion for music enthusiasts.
⸺ Music is part of life and the most human form of expressing emotions. All people are born musical, everyone can play. Playing unlocks the full potential of music. Through it, we can express how we truly feel. Music is a lifelong journey.
06.
Strategy
Transform GuitarTuna into a product that boosts user retention. Evolve from a mere guitar tuner app to a dynamic music companion that encourages users to enjoy playing and return regularly. Focus on iterative enhancements, particularly refining the Onboarding, Songs, Tools, and Chord Library features. Communicate how the product can become a meaningful addition to the user's life. The scope includes establishing a design direction, incorporating art direction for imagery, defining the voice and tone for copywriting, developing a visual design system with guidelines, and creating key designs for product journey testing and validation.
07.
Testing
An end-to-end user journey is the basis for testing the product identity and updated features built on the new design principles, which translate Yousician's brand values into the user experience. Two main competitors are used for validation. Users include basic, intermediate, and advanced players, aged 22-41, both male and female. In qualitative resonance testing, the new product identity and experience outperform competitors, with GuitarTuna being preferred 90% of the time. Quantitative data from Apple's App Store conversion confirms the efficacy of the new product identity and experience, showing a 10% increase in downloads. The product's first impression boosts activation success rates by 16%. Additionally, user retention for features other than the tuner increases by 12%. Adjectives used to describe the product include modern, welcoming, approachable, fun, visually appealing, exciting, supportive, empowering, and simple. Key insights from GuitarTuna's user testing are:
▲ Preferred over competitors
▲ First impression is positive
▲ Design is sleek, clean, and modern
▲ Copy and messaging is clear
▲ Tone of voice make users feel welcome
▲ Tuna fish mascot adds fun to the experience
▲ Users are interested in statistics and tracking features
Designed for simplicity by removing excess elements. Authentic art direction that inspires users and unites the Yousician brand with the product's value proposition. Based on market research for key features, it balances design trends and user value. Reducing distractions puts the content and functionality in focus, enabling a better user experience and encouraging return visits. This transforms GuitarTuna into a valuable companion for music enthusiasts ●
Credits
Samuel Viani ⸺ Design Consultant (Product Design & Design Direction)
﹢Cross-functional team
Anna Kalme ⸺ Product Director
Jieshu Hu ⸺ Lead Product Designer
Jukka Onnela ⸺ Senior Agile Coach
Juho Kinnunen ⸺ Product Manager
Sofie Lahtinen ⸺ Senior UX Writer
Valeria Goryachaya ⸺ Product Designer
© All illustrations rights reserved
Petra Eriksson, Malika Favre
Duration
8 weeks
Client
Yousician
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