Local Niños: Mobile App

Introduction

This project is the third in a series of four adaptive experiences. I chose a particular topic, which was local music and a band called The Niños. I created content about this topic, and began adapting it and optimizing it for various platforms. The breakdown of the project phases is shown below.

Phase 1: Podcast

Phase 2: Social Media

Phase 3: Mobile App

Phase 4: Another Platform of Choice

When ideating at the beginning of the semester, I knew the mobile app phase would be my biggest challenge. Since The Niños are a party band, my first thought was to have an app where individuals could view the band’s content, book them for events, and message with them. I then put myself in the shoes of a user and asked myself, “Would I be willing to download an app for that purpose?” and the answer was no. I’d much rather do that on a website, instead of downloading app for what would probably be one-time thing. I also realized that almost no one would want to download an app about a band, perhaps unless it was a very famous band. That’s definitely not the case here, so I began thinking through other options!

The Niños are comprised of a few different artists who have music and shows of their own: Le Dad, Detzany, and Terrell Thomas. The local music community is a strong one; the artists are incredibly supportive of one another. For the podcast phase of the project, the podcast was hosted by The Niños, but had a large focus on showcasing local artists and their music. I decided I would have a similar focus for the app and make it a place to discover local artists and music. I call this app ‘Local Niños’; it incorporates The Niños, but makes it about discovering other local artists.

Audience:

This app is more informative and explorative. Musicians, music-lovers searching for new tunes, and locals looking for a fun night out would download this. It’s an app I would genuinely love to have and would use weekly. It’s the type of app my friends and family would download and utilize too!

Sketches

I got out my iPad and began sketching the ideas I had for wireframes. I imagined that there would be three main pages on the app: artists, new releases, and calendar. With this idea, the artist page would have an image of the artist, artist name, and genre of music. It would automatically be sorted by recently added or updated artists. Users could tap on a specific artist to view more pictures and a description of them, links to their social media and music, and upcoming events. On the calendar, local concerts and other music events could be found. The user could see which dates have events by the dots under the number, then be able to tap on a specific day to view details such as artist, venue, price, and time. The new releases page would show the most recent music being released by local artists, with the ability to view singles or albums.

Wireframes

Next, I took my sketches and brought them into Adobe XD as black and white wireframes. I have learned the value of determining the structure and framework of a design before jumping into the styling.

I thought it may be important to include an account, settings, or contact us page.

Surface Comps

I was able to bust out the wireframes pretty quickly, but the surface comps took a bit longer. It was very important that I maintained the same look and feel as was used with the podcast and Instagram content. I utilized the same orange color I had used previously. I added in images, colors, and styling, including the same font (Whomp) I used for The Niños. I also added in some icons. On the specific artist page, I wanted to make sure there were links to both the artist’s social media and music. My goal was to keep things simple; I didn’t want to use unnecessary colors and embellishments.

Prototype

I continued using Adobe XD for the prototyping portion of the project. I made sure to make my top and bottom navigation bars remain fixed while scrolling. I also enlarged some of the hotspot areas to be more easily tappable by a finger. I tested my prototype on both my laptop and phone to ensure each page of the prototype was properly working.

You can view and interact with the prototype here:

https://xd.adobe.com/view/6b1cc52f-03c5-4b12-bda2-2a902736e877-3e4f/

Conclusion

I had been dreading this phase of the project, but I ended up feeling like I’d come up with a solid idea and enjoyed designing it. I wanted to go so much more in-depth with the prototype, but couldn’t prototype the entire app with the time constraints. I would consider app design one of my weaker areas, so it was nice to have the opportunity to improve those skills. Overall, I feel great about what I was able to create and think it coincides nicely with the content on the other platforms.