Choosing the Topic
While living in Iran during the pandemic, I collaborated with two other designers on a project. We all shared a passion for music. However, upon exploring available online options in the Persian market as an alternative to in-person classes that were not possible at the time, we discovered a lack of digital services connecting musical instrument enthusiasts with teachers. Only one platform existed functioning as a virtual music institute, where the platform itself selected teachers. This meant that the platform was "gatekeeping" who got to be a teacher there, limiting the number of music teachers available.
Consequently, we decided to focus on this topic:
“A two-sided marketplace facilitating the discovery of suitable music teachers for individuals interested in learning musical instruments.”
Role
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Advantages of a Two-sided Marketplace Over a Traditional Music Institute
Effortless Music Teacher Discovery
1
A vast number of teachers are offered in each musical category, making it easier for enthusiasts to find a suitable teacher by applying a couple of filters.
Connecting Teachers with More Students
2
The competition between music teachers means the prices of classes tend to remain competitive, which is an attractive value proposition for music enthusiasts. They have the opportunity to compare different prices different teachers offer and find the best one that suits them.
Affordable Music Education
3
If the service functions successfully, teachers will be able to find a lot more students through the platform than they would on their own.
Disclaimer
Our research was conducted in Farsi, but we designed the service in English as some of the designers in our team had plans of migrating to other countries and we wanted to ensure the project could serve as a portfolio case study for the international audience.
The tree-testing was done for the names of musical instruments, which mostly have the same English names in Farsi. Additionally, the needs and frustrations we discovered by interviewing target users were not limited to a particular regional demographic. That's why the service is adaptable to other nationalities and can function effectively in the English language.
However, there are some considerations to take into account, which I will explain in the interview and tree-testing sections.
Interviews and Findings
We realized early on in the research phase that we needed to listen to users' experiences. Due to the limited scope of the project, we concentrated more on one target group - music students. We wanted to know what helped build users’ trust towards such non-traditional class environments, what mattered the most to them while choosing a music teacher, and whether they needed a trial session before booking regular sessions.
That's why we conducted 11 interviews to acquire attitudinal and qualitative data. We then analyzed the collected data using affinity diagramming. Here are the main findings from these interviews:
Trust in the platform is influenced by the number of users, testimonials from learners, and their experiences using the platform.
Potential users prioritize understanding a teacher's experience (years teaching, university background, relevant degrees in music), reading other students' learning experiences, and watching videos of the teacher playing the instrument before booking a session.
Most of the users find it crucial to be able to book a trial session before committing to regular sessions, but the number of trial sessions needed varies from one user to another.
Personas
Based on the goals and frustrations we discovered, we came up with two main personas for our first target group - music students.
Busy Metropolitan Resident:
Aged in their 20s, this person resides in a bustling city, holding a demanding job. Owning a large musical instrument makes commuting to traditional institutes inconvenient. They seek a solution that allows them to learn without the hassle of transporting their instrument and without the time constraints of commuting to classes.
Parents in a Remote Town:
Living in a smaller city devoid of music schools or institutes, these parents face the challenge of finding music teachers for their daughter. Her interest in learning an instrument prompts their search for accessible and quality music education despite geographical limitations.
Information Architecture of Instruments
We initially formulated instrument grouping based on desk research and then validated it through tree testing with eight participants to match our users' mental models.
User Interface Design Decisions
When choosing our visual elements such as font, color, and icons, we considered the fact that the two main elements of our service are “music” and “learning”. Therefore, we aimed to create a design that conveys a sense of trust in the service, signifying that users can achieve their goals of learning a musical instrument through the platform. However, it is important to maintain a balance and not make the design too serious or formal, as it is related to the enjoyable experience of learning music.
Color
Our primary color is blue, which evokes a sense of trust and calmness. On the homepage, it is accompanied by two other colors: yellow and cyan, to enhance the overall friendliness and warmth of the design.
Font
We chose Nunito, a rounded and sans-serif font, to convey a sense of warmth and modernity. This font selection aligns with the overall design aesthetic and contributes to the user-friendly experience.
Icons
For consistency, we downloaded almost all the icons from the Material rounded series and maintained a uniform weight across the design. For the icons we could not find in the series, we adjusted their thickness adding a stroke with either the background color or the color of the icon.
The Prototype
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Reflection
In retrospect, I believe distributing a questionnaire would have been beneficial for gathering quantitative data about our target users. This approach would have complemented the qualitative data collected through other methods and provided a more comprehensive understanding of our user base.
Due to time constraints, we could not conduct elaborate usability tests on the current version of the service. To further pursue the project and prepare it for development, evaluating the website’s usability is necessary.