About the Velvet music store The Velvet Music online store allows the user to order a very wide range of music (and movies), but does not convey the shopping experience of the physical stores. The user experience of the Velvet online store is not optimal. As a result, Velvet cannot distinguish itself from their competitors in the field of online sales. The Velvet website had to be more enjoyable and meaningful for music lovers, existing customers and new customers. The starting point is the experience of the users through User Experience.
The goal of this project The goal was to come up with the most creative concept possible around the mental notes that we selected in advance. The mental notes that we selected were Humour effect, Curiosity and Surprise.
Brainstorming for a new website To come up with a concept for a new Velvet website, we looked at theory. This theory was about how to make use of emotion when developing a product. A concept has been devised with the help of brainstorming, based on theory, in which mental notes play a central role in the final concept. Mental notes describe insight into human behaviour and suggest ways to apply this in the design of websites.
Storyboards With these mental notes we started making a storyboard about someone going to a toilet. Every toilet has been decorated in a certain music genre. In the toilet itself, music is played as soon as the user sits down. At the end of the song, there will be a short text, advertising that you can buy the song at Velvet. Because of this, Velvet toilets build a Positive Association with the Velvet brand.
From the storyboards to a new website You don't often come across a toilet on a music website. However, the idea to let the user explore the music by using a preview mode was used in the website. As with the concept, the user can open a 'door; open it to listen to music without having to buy it. The preview mode allows a user to listen to a song for 30 seconds with different genres. Each genre has a unique colour which is actually visible in the preview mode.
A funny website The next step was to add gamification. To think about a concept we used theory, where mental notes played a central role. This was combined with a brainstorming session. We came up with the idea to add a karaoke feature. The User can pick a song and try to sing at their best, in order to get more points. With these points the user can get rewarded with a price and achievements.
Result The final product of this project is an improved website for Velvet Music. The UI and UX have been improved. Gamification in the form of Karaoke was used to give the website a playful and memorable experience.
