HallPass
Social Audio apps are really interesting, but also… kind of confusing.
Since the rise of Clubhouse, seemingly everyone has been trying to get in on that sweet, sweet audio-only socialization train.
Our goal was to identify what the future of social audio looks like, what problems exist now, and how we can solve them with an elegant, intuitive design solution
Tools
• Figma
• Miro
• Adobe Creative Cloud
Roles
• UX Design
• Visual Design
• Brand Strategy
Research
Since there are several other big social audio apps in the market, we wanted to talk to people about their experiences with the offerings that are currently available so that we can understand the challenges users face. Several problems became apparent as we started talking to people who had used other social audio platforms.
There seemed to be a lot of excitement at the idea of the app, but a lot of confusion emerged as users actually engaged with the platforms. It became evident that users were unclear about how the product actually fit into their lives, and that they didn’t fully understand the ideal use case or user for these apps.
Discovery
Competitive Analysis
A lot of the people we spoke with expressed confusion about what they might like to use the app for from the very beginning of using it. They had a general idea of how to use this sort of app (audio only rooms), but they weren’t sure how it might apply to them.
Other social audio apps started by giving first-time users an immense number of choices (147 for Clubhouse and 218 for Greenroom) that caused them to feel overwhelmed and intimidated.
Insights
Design Requirements
Keep It Simple
Complexity dampened the experience for many users, so we need it to be simple and intuitive.
Clarify Audience Participation
Audience participation can vary depending on the room, so we need a way to set expectations for creators and users alike.
Make It Easy to Create
The app needs to let creators communicate expectations for their room to users so everyone’s on the same page.
Keep It Multifaceted
Some users want to be able to socialize, while others primarily want a passive listening experience. We need to be able to facilitate both.
Ideation
The Challenge
How do we create a simple audio experience that facilitates different use cases and creators?
Using quick hand drawn wireframes, I explored a variety of design solutions and features, informed by the research we had conducted, especially on our competitors and user’s experiences with them.
We then created low-fidelity prototypes to figure out the flow and features that made sense, as well as simplified the design. This gave us a lot of clarity in figuring out what to include and what not to, as we followed the flow of potential users to weed out unnecessary features, simplify the app, and provide utility.
Solution
Curation - Featured Events
Since finding quality content was a problem, one way to fix this is to address it head on - with HallPass sourced featured events.
This not only allows us to insure that interesting content is the first thing our users see when logging in, but also lets us curate interesting content from the outset, combating potential network effects from competitors.
Content Tags
A lot of the people we spoke with expressed confusion about what they might like to use the app for from the very beginning of using it.
They had a general idea of how to use this sort of app (audio only rooms), but they weren’t sure how it might apply to them.
Room Creation
A lot of the people we spoke with expressed confusion about what they might like to use the app for from the very beginning of using it.
They had a general idea of how to use this sort of app (audio only rooms), but they weren’t sure how it might apply to them.
Hallpass was a huge learning experience for me in product strategy and overcoming user problems through design. It really illustrates how much a user’s experience is affected by the various stages of design and how critical that process can be to the success and utility of a product.
It was extremely insightful to be able to hear the challenges current users had and explore ways to address their concerns. There were plenty of bad ideas, but it took exploring many options to get to a good result that resonated with people, but the exploration along the way was a fun and informative journey.