DELIVERABLES
TEAMS (of UX designers)
Haruka Sawa
Ivy Wei
Jennie Kan
Juliette Hall
Marcela Perez
PROTOTYPE
Transforming virtual concerts into an immersive and interactive experience
Blind Chihuahua is a concert live-streaming production company and PPV platform. They are developing a virtual concert/social platform, with an immersive audience-driven experience in a multi-player game environment. This is the story of how I made a positive impact on people’s lives during the lockdown.
I was part of the UX team and responsible for the research analysis, experience strategy and design of the platform.
How can we design an experience that stimulates all the senses?
The challenge
In 2020, COVID-19 turned the world upside down, everything and everyone has been impacted. During this challenging time, social distancing requirements dramatically increased virtual concerts' popularity. However, current live-streaming services are passive and lack important aspects of in-person events. How might we design an immersive and interactive experience that can let users feel the excitement that adequately reflects the real thing, closing the gap between live vs. virtual?
Our client approached us with two primary objectives - to understand the experiences and behaviours of users in both live and virtual events, and their attitudes towards the high-fidelity prototype we were tasked to deliver.
The approach
Empathise the users
Who is the target audience? Everybody who attends live/virtual concerts.
By empathising with the pain points of attending virtual gigs, we can recognise uncovered opportunities. We also want to understand the essentials of a live experience, so we can recreate those positive emotions in a virtual setting.
Here's what we've learnt:
Early insights from the survey
We surveyed 100+ participants within the target audience, uncovering the highlights and lowlights of users with both live and virtual gigs, shown in the diagram below. In a live-stream concert, users can't replicate the atmosphere of a large audience - the hype, energy, engagement, etc. and tend to miss the social elements and physical connections that people get from a live event.
Deeper insights
“Live experience is like going to a new country. Every event has its own culture, and when you're in that shared space, you get the full experience of the culture and feel a sense of belonging and connectedness.”
We asked 1:1 interview participants what they found unique and special about live events, and along with survey results, found some key themes that were universal amongst users.
We kept these themes in mind throughout the project, as a reminder of the type of experience we were aiming to replicate in a virtual setting.
Define the problem
Through careful analysis of our research, we identified two archetypes - introverted and extroverted, which we used to facilitate discussions about our user's needs, desires and pain points.
We chose to use archetypes/user groups, instead of personas, to recognise that people can interchange between the two archetypes that we developed, depending on their age, the kind of event, who they are going with, and how much interest they have in the artist.
Visualising the End-to-End
When analysing both archetypes, we wanted to really understand their behaviours during all stages of attending a live stream, especially paying great attention to their pain points, with the intention to turn those frustrations into opportunities and then potential design solutions.
Pain points for the Introverts
- Onboarding experience
- No sense of connection with the performer
- Lack of Spotify connectivity
- No post-event archive or next music event suggestions
Pain points for the Extroverts
- Missing the shared experience with friends
- Lack of atmosphere
- No social elements and sense of community
- Fear of missing out
- Lack of connection with the artist
The vision
HMW stimulate all of the users' senses, so they can fully immerse themselves in the experience of a virtual event?
- Build connections with the performers
- Create an interactive space for a sense of community
- Evoke live event atmosphere in a virtual setting
Ideation
Using HMW statements as a guide, we brainstormed features and potential solutions to the final problem statement. Below are three main stages:
Minimum viable product
User flows
Wireframes
MVP
We put all the ideas into an MVP framework, to decide which were the most valuable and achievable for the prototypes.
- Linking to Spotify/Apple Music and social media
- Countdown to the event
- Personalised profiles and onboarding experience
- Adjustable graphic levels
- Archives of gigs
User flows
We created a user flow to map out the most crucial experience from the MVPs.
Wireframes
Wireframe sketch: Main virtual event page
Wireframe sketch: Food and drink order page
Concept design
We set on the idea of providing a realistic experience, as realistic as possible - a key finding from our user research. We explored the idea of using 3D realistic renders and animations - so that users can be guided throughout the event, creating a sense of being there in real-time.
The main venue
Camera mode - stage
- Introduction animation of the live stream, setting the mood and creating a sense of excitement.
- Live 5-second countdown before the start of the performance, creating a sense of anticipation.
- Animated close-up to the venue when you attend the live stream as if you were walking into the event, creating a sense of discovery.
- 3D renders of the venue to show different zones and angles, creating a sense of exploration.
- Close-ups of performers on stage, creating a sense of connection and intimacy with the artists.
- Lighting effects, fireworks and large screens, creating an immersive atmosphere; views of the crowd from different angles, creating a sense of community.
Food truck
Interactive 3D realistic renders of food trucks and drinks areas, and the merchandising stores, allowing users to view the merchandise in 3D.
Avatar
Creative avatar UI, with the use of semi-realistic rendering technologies, for personal customisations.
Hifi prototype
User testing
We conducted 11 one-on-one user testing sessions with the prototype. Along with positive testing feedback, we also provided Blind Chihuahua with suggestions for changes to the prototype, based on any critical feedback.
Live event onboarding
- Welcome page
- Set up a GIGME
- Webcam and mic check
- Live countdown
Live in progress
Live Chat - comment on the gig in real-time and see others’ comments
Proximity chat - hear users close to you in the event and voice chat with them
Friends online - see who’s online, which zone they’re in and call, message or teleport to their zone
Immersion features - camera mode, take a selfie, buy merch, sing-along, lights
Explore other venues
- Dance floor
- Mosh pit
- Chill zone
- Bar
Food & drinks
Partnered with online food ordering and delivery services, e.g. Uber Eats
- Bar/drinks
- Food
- Dessert
Profile page
- Customised GIGME
- Music interest
- Calendar
- Following + followers
- Friends
- Archived streams
The impact
In the next 7 months after our involvement in the project, Blind Chihuahua continued to evolve and polish the visual design, as well as optimising the functional details as the platform was being built. Even though I was not part of the remaining process, it was very exciting to see that most of my work has been brought to life.