This project was ideated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was little to no access to public spaces and establishments on a global scale. Consequently, we sought to develop a platform that could incorporate the physical, social, and mental benefits of dance within a virtual space.
Empathize
Pain points of dancing in a virtual setting were initially delineated to guide our design process. These were a combination of both mental and physical challenges, derived from our own experiences attempting to learn choreography digitally and informally conducting user research with others who had this experience as well. Understanding these difficulties and laying them out enabled us to hone in on pain points that we could address and evolve into potential features or product components.
For each pain point listed, we mapped out potential ideas, concepts, and actions that could be further explored during the design process. It was essential to not discount any ideas this early within the process, as we were prioritizing quantity over quality.
We then constructed a user journey map to visualize the user’s thoughts and emotions as they underwent the task of dancing in a virtual space. This step of the design process was essential in informing where we would like to improve the overall user experience. As seen on the map, the main valleys included having to adapt choreography to a limited space/area, feelings of isolation and lack of community within the space, and not having a realistically simulated experience.
We began to develop our app structure and information architecture to reflect the needs discovered in the Empathize phase. There are four main components which define the functionalities of Pocket Studio: Classes, Practice, Challenges, and Community.
ideate
We then began sketching potential ideas derived from the research phase. These sketches were translated into basic wireframes that could act as skeletons for the final screen designs.
The Application
Onboarding also includes the ability for the user to scan their space and learn about the dimensions, format, and “danceable area” within it that accommodates the prior user need of having a limited space/area. Pocket Studio utilizes this spatial information to further filter applicable classes and choreographies compatible with the user’s environment.
After completing onboarding, the following Home feed is available to the user. They can view further details about each class on this feed, search out others, and effectively create a schedule that works for them. This can be synced with the personal calendar or function separately as an in-app feature.
We incorporated the Community tab to engage users and their experiences. This aspect of the app would function similarly to social media in our formatting of the user profile and notifications. Dancing is both individual and collaborative and we wanted to enable people to connect with other dancers and address the issue of isolation/lack of community which we discovered in our user research.
Users can personalize their virtual space using any of the the available options. We decided to use a carousel format for placing different environments on rotation; since a large user concern during our research phase was to create a realistically simulated experience, there are a variety of studios the user can enter.
We prototyped what the VR interface during a dance class could look like. The user would be able to interact with the side menu to complete a variety of functions. This includes viewing other users taking the class, customizing the environment, repeating/adjusting instructional speed, and learning more about the choreographer/dance details.
test
We plan to test Pocket Studio with target audiences in the future to ensure optimized usability within the application. A testing plan would be structured as follows:
Define research objectives
Recruit and potentially screen participants
Outline interviews/usability testing tasks
Perform user tests
Analyze user data, note themes, affinity map
Generate design revisions and recommendations
Implement design changes
Retest and iterate if necessary