top of page
Before-After DMRC.jpg

YouTube music for Apple Watch

Project Type

Graduate Course Project
Human-Computer Interaction
UT Austin - Fall '22

Group

Amanda Guerrero
Dezman Thomas
Rishabh Soni
Sarth Khare

Tools

User Interviews
Figma

 

Project Duration

3 Months
DMRC

Overview

For this project, our focus was on elevating the UX for experiencing music on a secondary assistance device, specifically an Apple Watch, for people who wanted to stream music on-the-go.  We focused on the growing need to use watch interfaces to perform tasks independently of a phone.

 

Overview

The Problem

We observed that many native and third-party applications struggled with designing small watch interfaces and pulled out their apps from the App Store due to low active users. Users were often forced to use their phones instead of their watches because of inconsistency in the interface design.

We also found that users lacked a consistent experience between their watches, mobile devices, and computers. To identify the needs and aspirations of our target users, we conducted preliminary research on multiple users in our group. Ultimately, our goal was to propose a refreshed UI for the music feature of this product with new features and enhancements.

User Research

We started by conducting preliminary research on the experiences of multiple users falling under our user group in order to identify their needs and aspirations which, in turn, helped us identify needs for new features as well as feature enhancements. During the initial research, we also focused on User Experience across multiple music services to chart our project into a specific niche. Our end goal was to propose a refreshed UI for the music feature of this product.

During our interviews, along with asking them all these questions we also asked them to perform certain tasks to map their process/journeys with the watch. Further, we asked them clarifying questions and followed the ‘asking 5 whys’ method to get to the core of their problem areas. This also helped us eliminate unnecessary/invalid insights.

Data collected from online survey

User Research

Research Questions

  1. What are the key pain points and usability issues faced by users while using music streaming applications on Apple Watch?

  2. How can we design a consistent and intuitive interface for music streaming applications on Apple Watch that maintains feature parity with other platforms?

  3. What are the most critical missing features in existing music streaming applications on Apple Watch, and how can we address them to improve the overall user experience?

Insights

  1. Users can’t find the information they seek in the app.

  2. Users want to know many new features that the DMRC have not considered.

  3. One-third of the metro users have never used the app.

  4. Users are not aware of many features within the app.

Insights
Wireframe

Information architecture

I complied the data gathered from the Usability Study, Journey Mapping and the Survey into a User Flow. This was done to-

  1. Link the needs of the users to the features that DMRC is planning to roll-out.

  2. Prioritize the features that people need to the font of the app

  3. Group and link the features through the user’s mental model of using the app.

Evolution of the wireframe from Affinity Mapping

Challenges

  1. It was initially difficult to convince the stakeholders to change the app requirements. Showing reports and quantitative data helped.

  2. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, contextual interviews were not possible.

  3. Due to the time constraint, the research is done with only a fraction of the app’s users. It would be interesting to see the results stay the same if the sample size is increased. 

Challenges

Research Impact

  1. The insights from Usability Testing and Surveys changed the course of the design. Many of these features had earlier been overlooked by the DMRC.

  2. App was released in Feb 2022, with most of the solutions as proposed by the study. Its ratings have improved significantly on the App Stores as well.

  3. Features that users wanted eg. Nearest Metro Station, details about accessibility in the station, and UI changes Hamburger Menu design have been integrated.

“Sarth has done a meticulous and critical study on redesigning of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) App. His in-depth insights specific, actionable and futuristic recommendations have immense potential to help us in essentially connecting to millions of our users and making their every day commuting experiences much more pleasant and smoother.”

—Mohinder Yadav, Sr. Deputy General Manager, DMRC

©Sarth Khare

  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
bottom of page