VISUAL DESIGN DOCUMENTATION FOR Ultimate Ears App.
The UX project is HERE.
- INTRO -
MY ROLE
Project lead and Lead Visual UX. Help the team to explore the right look & feel for our software product.
CHALLENGES
The app’s old look & feel is neat and clean. However, regarding the brand characters (Alive, Irreverent, Creative, Playful, Authentic, Social), it cannot stand for who we are and what we believe in. In details,
- It lacks the energy from music.
- It’s over calm, lack of liveness, and not inviting.
STRATEGY
A vibrant look & feel to celebrate who we are, and to connect users in a deeper way. In details,
- Elevate the app’s energy through color enhancement.
- Explore a more approachable UI form.
- Add animated transitions to elevate the liveness.
- * Explore a more suitable typeface and typography.
- * Explore a more suitable iconography set.
PROCESS
V1 > V2 > PFE
V1
7 weeks. Present 3 visual directions to the stakeholders. Discuss, collect feedback, seek alignments.
V2
5 weeks. Deeper exploring the look & feel based on the feedback. By the end of V2, we have the final proposal to present.
PFE
7 weeks. Based on the aligned style, we flesh out all the screens for the app (iOS and Android). Get the approvals and hand off to the engineering team.
- DOCUMENTATION -
GET STARTED
I keep the fundamental considerations in my mind when I conceptualize the proposals.
INITIAL DIRECTIONS
In the beginning, I presented several quick concepts to figure out the design team’s appetite. Here are the 4 concepts I presented to our design team.
Music Is The Magic
Absolute
Illusiveness
Delightful Notes
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS
After showing the 3 initial directions to the team, the design director asked if we can keep a consistent concept across all the hardware and software products. And the design team disagrees with the current brand manifesto and brand guidelines. The director wants to present a provocation to push the BG to evolve the brand. At the same time, the brand team is planning the repositioning of the brand. The concept from the industrial design (ID) side is Inner Energy. He asked me to explore the Inner Energy for the digital side.
Inner Energy
UI Explorations
Based on the mood board, I explore the Inner Energy for the app. We have reviews inside the team design every week. Based on the feedback, I keep exploring. Here are the screens that I came up within the process.
V1 PROPOSAL
For our 1st formal presentation to the business group, I presented 3 concepts. Here is the hero one, Inner Energy.
Concept
Finally, we landed at somewhere we feel right. The concept is Inner Energy which is the consistent concept across the hardware and software.
Inner Energy
The design is trying to persuade that the energy is inside the power button. Press it. It will release the energy to empower users’ worlds with music. On the user interface, the energy lights up the screen.
Feedback
The stakeholders like the concept. But they don’t buy it as we can’t align on the foundation which is the brand guidelines. The major feedback is that the look & feel is a bit calm and quiet. It's not UE. It should be something bold and loud. So we come back to the brand guidelines. And we are going to explore the different loudness for the look & feel. However, it’s a good provocation. The team has planned to do the re-positioning next year. It will definitely be considered.
Keep these brand characters (keywords) in mind, I’ve explored the energy and loudness on different levels.
UI Explorations
Taking the feedback, I kept exploring the right look & feel for the app. Here are some screens that came from the process.
V2 PROPOSAL
For the 2nd formal presentation to the business group, I presented 3 concepts, too.
This Is Me, Ultimate Ears!
During the exploration phase, I notice that we have lost who we are. Dare to be ourselves. Even it is bold, controversial, cannot be accepted by majority ideology, and being unfairly considered as indelicate or unqualified. As long as it is what we believe in, we will just be ourselves, celebrate our weirdness, prove our power, and advocate our belief.
When I landed on this concept, my gut told me that this is the one.
Here are the other alternative concepts.
