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CONCHORD

Northumbria University

Role:
Interaction Design
Identity & Branding
Interface Design
Mobile Design
User Experience
Information Architecture

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Description:

A collaborative project with Jack Merrell, Conchord is a concept for a cross-platform social music application that allows users to stream music simultaneously with groups of people (otherwise known as “circles”). Users can create a collection of playlists and listen to music by voting tracks up or down, and subscribe to “public” listening circles. Conchord also visualises music interests and allows people to compare listening habits with friends, as well as the rest of the world. All of these features are all facilitated by a social desktop plugin, an iPhone app and a standalone media player solution.

FILTERING MUSIC BY PEOPLE

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This brief originally asked us to design a tool that filtered a stream of information and deliver it as a mobile application. Myself and my partner Jack agreed that music was an interesting avenue of opportunity to pursue as there was a lot happening in that industry that could be exploited. After a lot of research into how music is shared, consumed and accessed, we felt music could be made more relevant and social between friend circles.

CONCEPT, IDENTITY, BRANDING.

We developed an idea of sharing music by 'inner circles' of friends, a group of people with whom you share common interests. This would be delivered as a mobile and desktop application with the intention of facilitating discovery through friendship. A 'social plugin' was also designed to conveniently share and broadcast tracks from existing players such as iTunes, Spotify, Last.fm and more, without having to switch to a new dedicated player.

LIVE STREAMS, OPEN CHANNELS.

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By creating circles which are both private and limited to friend circles, public circles were also created for those who wanted to listen to music alone. Providing public channels allows users to stream popular channels much like traditional radio stations, in the same way that users could also create their own collaborative playlist that would function the same way. Think of this as the office radio, except you have ownership.

DATA VISUALISATION

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By further extending on mobility, Conchord also allows you to visualise where particular music is being listened to and discover new music in different locations. You can even find out which artists you listen to the most over the period of a year or a particular month, as each 'band' in the waveform represents a different artist, and the size of the amplitude visualises the frequency of listens.

SIMPLE AND MOBILE

For the mobile app the emphasis was placed on listening circles, and being able to access music in a sensible way that still conformed to this new model of delivery. Circle lists were made explicit so that consumption can begin quickly, and music can be navigated with the swipe of a finger up or down. Music could also be traded by swiping a track left or right to the nearest device without requiring data transfer over handsets.

HOME > PROJECTS > CONCHORD

CONCHORD

Northumbria University

Role:

Description:

FILTERING MUSIC BY PEOPLE

CONCEPT, IDENTITY, BRANDING.

LIVE STREAMS, OPEN CHANNELS.

DATA VISUALISATION

SIMPLE AND MOBILE