iTunes Redesign Project
Tasks
- Competitive Analysis: An analysis of the affordances, feedback, visibility, consistency, constraints, and errors of iTunes through an extensive analysis process used to thoroughly understand and later used to help in the redesign process of our prototype media player.
- Contextual Interviews: Interviews were conducted of users while they were performing their general playlist and media player tasks. Ethnographic observations were taken, and questions were asked only to clarify intentions behind actions. Photos were taken for data.
- Affinity Diagramming: After interviewing our iTunes users, we created a diagram which separates user data based on various properties of the iTunes media player.
- Consolidated Models: Diagrams were created after generalizing the behaviors of our users in specific tasks. They incorporated the most common tasks performed by our users and the order with which they were performed, as well as what we believed was their cultural understanding of media players.
- Prototypes: We created a sample redesign of iTunes based on our user breakdowns and behavioral habits. These three modules serve different tasks based on user desires -- a Now Playing module as a general media player, a Limbo Music module for those who are uncertain whether to keep a certain song, and Data Tagging Module. All were designed to interact with one another.
Applied Methods
| Skills | Programs |
|---|---|
| contextual inquiry, user personas, taskflow analysis, information architecture, prototyping, project management, public speaking | Omnigraffle, Illustrator, Photoshop |
Project Overview
In collaboration with six other cognitive science students in 2006, our project sought out to investigate the music selection and playlist creation process of people specifically within iTunes and redesign a prototype media player which would address the breakdowns and issues that iTunes fails to address.
