Overview

Earlier this year, my friends and I spontaneously went to karaoke after dinner in Koreatown, Los Angeles, I uploaded an Instagram Story of our karaoke session and my friend, Eugenia, instantly texted me. Eugenia lives in the Bay Area and though she couldn’t be there in person, she requested a song and joined in on the fun. When her song came on, we FaceTimed her and sang the song with her. It almost felt as if she was there with us.

SingSing is a mobile application that brings karaoke to you. It’s a fun and unique experience you can share with friends and family in the comfort of your own home. The goal of SingSing is to create an engaging way to socialize outside of texting and sharing photos. It’s a safe place to sing your favorite karaoke songs and connect.

People Problem

“As a 25 year old living in Los Angeles, I find it hard to keep in touch with my two best friends who live in the Bay Area. Because we only talk through text and FaceTime once in awhile, it makes me feel like I’m missing out on their lives. I want a way to hang out with them and do things we would typically do if we were together in the same city.”

Brainstorming broad and bold ideas:

I started brainstorming by finding ways to help solve the People Problem.

1. An entertainment app that connects users with their friends and family

   • Something like Overwatch, Fortnight, Tetris and etc.

   • No matter how far you are, there’s always a way to connect and have fun

2. Karaoke (NRB) is a fun way to hang out with friends

   • App needs to have lyrics, music recorded songs, ability to lower and higher octaves and room to sing with friends/family

Some questions to think about:

1. Why do people like karaoke?

2. What part of the karaoke makes the experience memorable?

3. What makes SingSing different from other karaoke mobile applications?

Competitive Analysis

I wanted to find and observe the other karaoke apps that were already out. What were the features that users liked and disliked? 

• Most reviews had a common negative feature which was to pay to have more access as a “VIP” player

• Without being a “VIP” player, you were limited on songs you can sing and cannot make your own duet room 

• Most of the apps had a mandatory sign in or sign up policy 

• There were a lot of songs available for users to sing to 

• Each app was easy to navigate 

Narrowing and combining ideas:

Ideas:

• Sessions to include features:

  • lyrics

  • instrumental music of the song

  • lower and higher pitch

  • score

  • reserve songs

  • songs from Korea, America, etc.

Who is the User?

Singers are really people who love to sing and know how to have fun in the comfort of their home. They can use this app to plug away from the world and relieve some of their stress. These singers know how to entertain themselves and other people in the virtual room.

I started to place all the important features for the user together to create an optimal SingSing singer. By creating a persona, it will help me visualize the user flow.

SingSing Singer

Meet SooYoung, 26 year old Grad student who needs a way to relieve her stress

Wireframes

I started my wireframes with a pen and paper to do a quick sketch. I added some comments to remind myself on what each button was and any functions I wanted to include on my next sketch.

Design v1

I started off by using Sketch to create a wireframe and explore the flow of my design. I wanted to explore with various colors on each screen. But there was no focus point and started to look disorganized.

Design v2

Minimize the color usage from v1 and added any necessary screens that were missing from v1. However, after discussing my design flow with another designer. It came to my attention that some of the screens were taking away the purpose of SingSing. For example, the messaging was unnecessary because SingSing encourages users to engage ways to socialize outside of texting. The search bar wasn’t easily accessible because it was three clicks away. There were still some iterations that needed to be made for SingSing.

Design v3

There were some screens that I wanted to revisit to make some changes. Entering the app and having the first screen ask for microphone permission seemed too aggressive. This screen needed to be moved to an appropriate place. 

Another change needed was when switching from Solo to Multi Session, the call to action (CTA) was different. Adding the search bar, it shifted the image and CTA down. I needed a consistent CTA button for the user. 

There were a few screens that were missing and necessary to add. The missing screens included the notification that users were getting once invited and how to add songs during the session.

High Fidelity Design

Multi-Person Session

It was important to have the Multi-Person Session option for users because SingSing strongly encourages friends and family to connect by singing together. The room creator will find a song that they want to sing and then send out invitations to some friends. You are able to find your friends and family through your contacts. “How do I know who the room creator is?” you may ask. The room creator will have a crown on the top right of their video.

Green Room

As you’re waiting for your friends to join in, you’ll be placed in a GreenRoom. You may ask, “How do I know who’s in the GreenRoom?” As friends start to join in their pictures will change into video screens. The room creator can wait for everyone to join in or can just start the session without everyone being in the room. It’s up to the room creator when to start. Once everyone is ready, enjoy your JAM session!

Menu

The menu button found on the top right corner allows users to search for songs during the session to avoid any pauses in-between songs. While listening to the music some people tend to enjoy hearing the bass more than the treble. SingSing gives you the option to change the sound levels to your liking. Are you a boom boom person or la la la person?

Notification

If you already have the SingSing app downloaded then you can simply enter the room by pressing join. If you don’t have the SingSing app then your invitation will be sent via text message. Followed by your invitation, you’ll be given the link to the app that you can download. To join the room, you’ll have to download the SingSing app.

Solo Session

Occasionally, you just want to practice to show off at your next Multi-Person Session. In order for you to have an opportunity to practice, SingSing offers a Solo Session option. Remember, practice makes perfect!

Takeaways

Some challenges I faced were finding interactive ways to connect people aside from texting and sharing photos. I really wanted a form of entertainment that allowed the users to unplug and spend time with their friends and family. Future steps for this project were: 

1. Finding how often the songs need to be updated and what kind of songs people enjoy singing 

2. Revisiting the design and understanding what I can do better to empathize with the user