AMOEBA: Creating a Nostalgic Experience on an Analog Level
CONCEPTUAL PROJECT PARAMETERS
TIME: 2 Week Design Sprint
MY ROLE: UX/UI Designer
TEAM: SOLO PROJECT: Allie Kent
TOOLS: Figma, Google Suite, Voice Memos
"I love music because it's an abstract thing that you can't see, but it's like magic; you can't see it"
- USER
"DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?": Music’s effects on humans.
According to one of our users, the magic of music is that it has a unique power to create experiences that transcend words, connecting people on an emotional level.
Amoeba music has the unique ability to immerse customers in a magic world of music through their vintage and nostalgic atmosphere, and I had the opportunity to work with this company to redesign their website.
WHERE DOES THE MAGIC COME FROM?: AMOEBA MUSIC
Amoeba Music brings in magic by prioritizing face-to-face customer interaction, curated inventory, and a unique personal brand that speaks to their customers, but their current websites fail to reflect this experience. My task was to enhance their e-commerce platforms to showcase their products while preserving their "small shop" charm, brand, and excellent customer service over the course of two weeks.
User Research: Initially, I set out to determine users’ relationship with music and behaviors around online shopping. I found key motivators for these elements:
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Music is an art and an experience.
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Music harnesses nostalgia for our users.
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Users like to support local businesses and artists.
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Users trust up-to-date websites.
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When users receive a package in the mail, like a vinyl, they feel like it’s Christmas morning.
BASED ON USER RESEARCH, NOSTALGIC NICK WAS BORN
Frustration: Nick loves shopping for vinyls but finds Amoeba’s physical store hard to visit due to distance and a busy schedule. Online shopping for vinyls lacks the personal, nostalgic experience he values and that Amoeba brings to the table.
THE PROBLEM: Amoeba Loses it’s Magic Online - Their Website is like Shopping Blindfolded
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How can I filter the genre or see it easier?
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Can I see the back or inside the album?
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What are the song tracks?
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What other artists does this artist sound like?
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What is the band, the Avett Brothers, like?
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How did they make this album?
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What do they sound like?
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Should I buy this without knowing anything about it? (NO)
WHAT NICK SEES ONLINE: MISSING INFORMATION
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WHAT DOES NICK NEED TO INFORM HIS DECISION TO PURCHASE AN ALBUM?
competitor: merchbar
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The competitive analysis informed us that Amoeba lacked access to more album art, lyrics, the ability to sample music, a recommended artist or similar artist section, an album description, and a track list in comparison to other major competitors.
Evidently, we understood Nick’s problem statement to be:
Nick needs descriptions of the qualities artists have so that he can connect with the music on an analog level through the sound, feel, and vision of the artist and their music.
"BRING THE BEAT IN": Answering "How Might We" make the search an analog experience?”
Just as Nick was in the process of adding a vinyl to the cart, we paused and considered: “How might we use the process of searching for music itself as an analog experience online?”
We implemented Crazy 8’s to brainstorm possible options to convey this idea:
We even considered partnering with NPR and created a mind map of “ NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts” to emulate their community feel.
DESIGN DECISIONS: Bring the magic back to meet Nick’s Needs
Out of all the ideas flying around, what would Nick want?
product listing page
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A sample vinyl music page with a spinning turntable and a scratchy vinyl sound overlay to mimic the real experience and immerse Nick in the online experience
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Album art and lyrics for Nick to leaf through to find the sound and feel of the artist
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Ability to view artists by year, through Amoeba’s Inventory Database for Nick to find his favorite oldies
product page
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Upcoming show and donation information on how to support the artist so Nick can feel part of the local Amoeba process
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Similar artist recommendations for Nick to discover more music
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Access to Amoeba’s podcast, “Earwax” that Nick never knew about, for a richer understanding of the music.
"AND ANOTHER ONE": Usability Test Findings Inform Iterations
USABILITY TESTING
USERS: 3 Participants
TEST PURPOSE: determine how users enjoyed the analog experience, if users understood how to assess for sounds of the artist, how users preferred to search for these sounds, if users felt that they supported the artist, and if users could successfully purchase the instructed item.
TASK: to find and buy a gift of vinyl for a friend who’s a big fan of the sounds of Nelly, Usher, Ashanti, and Alicia Keys.
"THIS IS HOW WE DO IT": Creating High Fidelity to Recapture Amoeba's Magic
The High Fidelity was a crucial piece to bringing Amoeba’s magic to life. It had to mimic Amoeba’s alternative, old-school charm, yet adopt it to a less cluttered and cleaner design than the initial.
Attempt #1 Vintage Lens: Too Outdated, Tacky.
Attempt #2 Modern Lens: Clean, but lacking Amoeba's Vintage Vibe.
I ultimately blended modern organization with retro elements like a textured, tan background, electric flourishes and pops of their color palette, and specific band poster typefaces to balance a contemporary feel with Amoeba’s vintage and counterculture essence.
original home page
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Cluttered / Busy
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Many Images
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Too many options
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Heuristic Violation: Learnability and Efficiency, Memorability
high fidelity home page
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Added "Peace Through Music" to address usability testing
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Restructured Information Architecture based on card sort to engage users like Nick through video, top sellers, and getting to know artists.
product listing page
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Spinning turn table to sample music
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Access to genre based on usability test findings
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Access to vinyl art and lyrics as if Nick was in the store
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Access to similar artists as if Nick was in the store
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Iterated "Drag to Choose Year" based on usability testing findings
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Button changed to "Purchase Vinyl" due to usability test findings
product page
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"Also Featured On" gives access to podcast and artist interview page links in
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"Why You'll Love It" offers descriptions of music, album, and art for Nick
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Ability to sample music on this page
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Access to similar artists as if Nick was in the store
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Iterated "Support for Artist" through "Upcoming Shows" and numerical donation information
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"Similar Sounds" offered to gain a sense of the music and find more artists like this one.
Now, how would Nick Feel? Nostalgic. Engaged. Like Magic.
Ultimately, the redesign allows Nick to test the music, understand the sound, feel, and vision of the music, learn more about the history and process of the artist, and support the artist, all while maintaining Amoeba’s independent music store signature image. Nick can now confidently purchase and expand records for his collection from the comfort of his house, so that he can his listening parties with friends, bringing together .
"THE NEXT EPISODE": Next Steps and Reflections
While the app did not launch, to track success and impact, I would have monitored the following:
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Elevated purchases and positive reviews, indicating users found the website enjoyable and helpful to make informed purchasing decisions. This would be a leading indicator that these features were useful and would enable us to gauge user satisfaction through their responses.
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Increased website traffic and increased traffic on the vinyl page to determine if the clearer flow was successful
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Growth in Amoeba online accounts for more users to feel comfortable making purchases online
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Lowered Click-Through Rate to determine if the new user flow made it easier for users to purchase items
NEXT STEPS FOR AMOEBA'S WEBSITE
I would provide an even better experience for users like Nick by clarifying the donation process and investigating how users prefer to support artists directly. Understanding these preferences, especially since Amoeba sometimes acts as an intermediary, will help ensure user satisfaction in purchasing records.
explore a secondary persona–due to the 2 week time limit and bandwidth, we did not have time to develop our secondary persona–a sale shopper/starving artist; to meet their needs, build a sales section that speaks to this persona in a similar process, by installing elements of Amoeba’s in store sale section to life.
REFLECTIONS
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I learned how to refine my problem statement crafting skills through specifying and clarifying what our users truly needed, and through deep questioning, feedback, and refinement of UX Copy.
Simultaneously, I learned that specifying a journey map for the user persona truly helps reveal powerful pain points.
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While diverging in ideation, Crazy 8’s and mind maps helped me expand creativity to bring to life what could be possible, to set viable options before settling on one final idea.
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By seeking materials and guidelines to match brand identity, I became resourceful to help design something that successfully maintained company style.
Ultimately, UX design is like music: it may seem invisible and magical, but when brought to life, it reveals a world of sounds, visions, and emotions. Just as music helps Nick discover these elements, UX design guides users to experience and connect with them in meaningful ways.