Juke is an interactive platform connecting artists, venues, and listeners. Juke’s mission is to help artists better monetize their talents and connect with fans. The app is trusted by musicians of all kinds and venues across the country to monetize fan engagement and increase artist and venue profitability. Audiences have embraced the new interactivity that Juke has brought to shows across the country.
The initial concept won grand prize at the 2021 McCloskey New Venture Competition held at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.
I had several personal objectives with Juke. The first was brand building with extreme intentionality and meaning behind it. Facilitating a better user experience for all Juke users with a clear user interface was paramount. Finally, I set out to take full ownership of the roles necessary in creating a brand and designing a functional and effective product: User Researcher, User Experience Designer, Visual Designer, Product Designer, and Creative Director.
Background
My role as Creative Director began in September 2021 as the first official hire. I inherited a working prototype of the app used for demonstrative purposes in the McCloskey New Venture Competition.
As the sole member of the creative team, my priorities were to create and visually define the brand as well as build the product from concept to viable and profitable music tech platform. I set forward to design a product that encompasses all the needs of listeners and performers and becomes a seamless companion app to all future music performances.
The past year has brought rapid growth and development to the brand and product as Juke transformed from prototype to tech platform. Some of my key achievements with Juke are listed below:
Implemented a design process
Increased usability across platform
Established branding & voice
Created & managed a design system
Approach
Juke is a co-experience platform that aims to enrich live music for the artist, the audience, and the venue. Our assumption was that providing an intuitive and accessible channel of communication would allow passive live events to transform into fully-integrated, interactive experiences. This would ultimately bridge the gap between the artist and the listener.
The Double Diamond Theory and Lean UX frameworks were explored and incorporated in our foundation to frame the vision I was solving for and to drive discovery, definition, ideation, and implementation for the product. Rapid sketching, prototyping, user feedback, and design mockups were emphasized. This iterative process was beneficial because time and resources were limited; product development was limited to myself and our developer.
Emphasis was placed on designing for the actual experience being designed, rather than the deliverables. This allowed us to create MVPs earlier in the process to determine which ideas were valid.
Given the intricacies of live music events and the number of moving pieces involved, it was imperative for our product to integrate seamlessly into users’ patterns. I saw this as an incredible opportunity and challenge to fundamentally improve the live music experience through human-centered design.
Understanding the problem
In 2021 Juke won the McCloskey Business Plan Competition held at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. This gained the attention of Platform Venture Studio based in San Francisco and Juke was brought on board to turbocharge our velocity to success.
The UX for live music is obsolete
HCD process — conducted user research with musicians, bands, listeners, and venues. HCD process — conducted user research with musicians, bands, listeners, and venues.
Disconnect between artist & listener
HCD process — conducted user research with musicians, bands, listeners, and venues. HCD process — conducted user research with musicians, bands, listeners, and venues.
Tipping is difficult & inconvenient
HCD process — conducted user research with musicians, bands, listeners, and venues. HCD process — conducted user research with musicians, bands, listeners, and venues.
Audiences are craving to be a part of the show but it’s difficult because artists, venues, and listeners are disconnected.
User personas
Personas were used consistently to steer the direction of the product and for alignment with all stakeholders. Three key user types were identified through user research. Solving problems for these user types became the focus for the product. The listener persona took priority over the artist and venue for phase one because they had the greatest needs and were highly accessible. Artists and venues followed in phase two.
Listeners
Listeners made up the largest portion of our userbase and are the main source of revenue for the product. They enjoy live music when it is available and are generally appreciative of the efforts made by all artists. Most prefer to be spoon-fed music; others seek to curate the setlist through verbal requests. Audiences are craving to be a part of the show but it’s difficult because artists, venues, and listeners are disconnected.
Artists
Artists are consistently showing us that new methods of bringing in income are desired and welcomed. They are typically well-adept at networking and self-promoting but struggle with consistent fan engagement, resulting in smaller tips.
Venues
Venue managers are enthusiastic about new ways to keep their patrons engaged. Maintaining good relationships with bands and artists is also a priority. Taking the guesswork out of attendance and guaranteeing engagement improves the experience for all parties involved. Streamlining the booking process and providing digital tipping options made venues more attractive to both artists and listeners.
Several personas were created for each user type: Listeners, Artists, and Venues. Some examples can be seen below:
Discovery
User and market research was conducted to better understand both sides of our three-sided marketplace. Key insights and takeaways are below:
Primary segments of users prefer a passive approach to live music – sit back and enjoy the tunes.
Because of rising market costs, venues, promoters, and artists are taking on bigger risks to create live music experiences.
Artists and brands struggle to creatively differentiate themselves in this crowded marketplace. Both are seeking new revenue streams.
Audiences seek to have their voice heard and feel like they are influential in live performances by connecting with artists.
Vision
Our vision for Juke: provide a solution for artists to consolidate their tech stacks and connect with new, growing audiences. We set out to connect the artist to the venue, the brand, and the listener, allowing for booking, ticketing, interaction, and demand creation all in one place.
These differing usage contexts required me to develop a clear vision of the expectations of our users. Design principles and content prioritization framework enabled us to maintain understanding into my design decisions for the rest of the team. The direction of the aesthetic and brand voice was driven by these principles.
Design direction
The design direction started to materialize after rounds of sketching and prototyping. I decided to begin the navigation patterns at the point in which a user would scan an artist’s QR code at a show to either request a song, make a dedication, or simply send a digital tip.
A high-level design language began to take form at this point. UI elements evolving based on interactive behaviors
Storyboarding the primary pathways users would navigate through the app helped structure the different experiences. Several user journeys were created for each persona, clarifying complex interactions and functionality, as well as defining structure.
I chose a bright color palette that compliments the branding and provides an energetic and dynamic feel. It is well known that certain sounds and music may evoke experiences of color, something referred to as synesthesia. This correlation between music and color occurs because both follow a spectrum. I heavily considered this neurological phenomenon of synesthesia during the branding process.
It is interesting to note that both the Circle of Fifths and the Martian Musical Color Wheel are both divided into 12 increments (12 keys in music, 12 major hues in color) that cycle back to the beginning. Some of the messages interpreted from the color wheel used in Juke’s palette are Purity & Simplicity (grays, white), Love & Excitement (magentas, reds) , Peace & Intelligence (greens, blues), and Friendliness & Warmth (yellows, oranges).
Branding
As a platform that revolves around music, the name “Juke” (with ‘jukebox’ as its eponym) hits all the right notes. I decided to give the wordmark a streamlined, bold, clean, and clear feel. Accompanying the strong and sharp wordmark is a collection of amorphous and organic patterns, symbolizing the shifting landscape of music, with deep, underlying structure.
I enjoyed designing several logo lockups for offshoot Juke projects and internal materials. Several apparel items were created off these designs, including shirts, hats, and stickers.
Design system
Creating a design system in Figma allowed me to structurally organize and define the design principles and library for Juke. This was beneficial in keeping things organized and clear. It also served as a reference point for our developer and provided the visual guidance necessary for coding the product.
Colors
Responsive Typography Scale
The jukebox for live music.
Video
For a platform born from requesting live music, the name “Juke” (with ‘jukebox’ as its eponym) hits all the right notes. I decided to give the wordmark a streamlined, bold, clean, and clear feel. Accompanying the strong and sharp wordmark is a collection of amorphous and organic patterns, symbolizing the shifting landscape of music, with deep, underlying structure. A bright color palette compliments the branding and provides an energetic and dynamic feel.