project
Lisnin
Lisnin is an innovative platform that addresses the challenges faced by artists in effectively promoting their music while providing a sustainable and affordable solution.
This case study delves into the design process behind Lisnin, highlighting the user-centered approach, key design considerations, and the impact of the product on the music industry.
Year
2022-2023
client
Sol Music NFT
role
Product Designer
Year
2022-2023
client
Sol Music NFT
role
Product Designer
project
Lisnin
Lisnin is an innovative platform that addresses the challenges faced by artists in effectively promoting their music while providing a sustainable and affordable solution.
This case study delves into the design process behind Lisnin, highlighting the user-centered approach, key design considerations, and the impact of the product on the music industry.
Development
Workflow
Sol Music's product development followed an agile/scrum workflow with 5 phases.
As the leader of product and design, I collaborated with marketing and development teams in 1-2 week sprints, prioritizing rapid deployment.
1
Initiation
2
Planning
1. Initiation
Branding
UI/UX Design
NFTs
Backlog Creation
Backlog Creation
Backlog Creation
Regular Meetings
Regular Meetings
Regular Meetings
Gather User Data
2. Planning
Branding
UI/UX Design
NFTs
Logo Design
Sketches
Storyboard
Brand Strategy
Site Mapping
Concept Art
Drafts
Wireframing
3. Design
Branding
UI/UX Design
NFTs
Social Media Posts
Prototyping
Traits
Video Editing
Accessibility
Versions
Brand Development
User Testing
4. Review
Branding
UI/UX Design
NFTs
Social Media Posts
User Feedback
Sneak Peeks
Video Teasers
Iterations
Market Feedback
Misc. Marketing Material
Art Revisions
5. Launch
Branding
UI/UX Design
NFTs
Social Media Posts
Hosting
NFT & Metadata Config.
Comms. Channel Material
Regular Updates
Uploading & Storing NFTs
Snapshots & Airdrops
Product Design
Summary
What is Lisnin?
Lisnin allows music marketers and musicians to effortlessly create pre-save links and generate comprehensive marketing campaigns. With its intuitive interface, Lisnin maximizes the reach and impact of music releases. Leveraging AI, the platform automates the creation and distribution of press-release packages.
As a Product Designer at Sol Music, I led the product design for Lisnin (V2), a cross-platform music marketing tool.
The difference between Lisnin (V1) and Lisnin (V2)?
Lisnin (V1) was developed by a third-party company and suffered from numerous design issues, resulting in a highly negative user experience. User feedback revealed low retention rates and difficulties in navigating the platform. To address these issues, my team and I undertook redesign of Lisnin, focusing on enhancing user retention, satisfaction, and introducing two new features.
Through close collaboration with the CEO and engineers, we successfully launched Lisnin (V2) within a month, completely overhauling the application and delivering a significantly improved user experience with new product features.
The Challenge
Problem
Limited affordable options for musicians to market their music.
Affected
Artists and their teams who earn little to no income, fans miss releases due to inadequate marketing.
Reason
Limited financial resources, restricted access to effective marketing strategies, and predatory industry practices aimed at exploiting low-earning artists (ex. signing deals out of financial necessity.)
Design Process
Following the 5 Step Design Thinking Model. Iterative and Agile.
01 Empathize
Research & Discovery
During the product research phase for Lisnin, our team built upon the extensive research conducted for our sister product, Vulume.
We gained valuable insights for Lisnin by collaborating with real-world artists and conducting market research, competitive analysis, surveys, artist testimonies, and expert reviews.
These inputs significantly influenced the shaping of the product vision.
“Getting fans to pre-save my music is like pulling teeth sometimes. If I have a video on Tik Tok do well to maybe get 50 pre-saves to any upcoming releases. I’ve hired music digital marketing agencies in the past and it often helps, but is typically far out of my budget.”
- J-Minu$ / Artist @ Ninetone Records
“I’ve always tried to foster a community around my music, but it can be difficult. Having major label support gave me access to networks that were really helpful but there just isn’t enough resources out there even at the Major Label level that makes sense for developing artists to market their music well.”
- Bad Child / Former Artist @ Universal Music Group
02 DEfine
Vision & Value
Hub for Music Marketing Tools
Enable artists to effortlessly generate free pre-save links, press releases, and campaigns for their releases.
Affordable and Accessible Marketing
Simple and inexpensive solutions to music marketing needs of artists and their teams.
Building Trust in the Industry
Free essential music marketing services with optional paid offerings build artist trust, countering exploitative competition.
Boosting Artist Visibility and Engagement
Streamlining pre-save campaigns for increased reach and leveraging networked marketing to maximize potential impact.
Enhanced Security
Artists can rely on Lisnin's secure environment, free from artificially boosted streams done by other marketing tools which negatively impacts streaming algorithms.
Sustainable Marketing Tools
Lisnin provides sustainable marketing tools that minimize the risk of unsuccessful campaigns. Artists can leverage Lisnin's features to consistently promote their music without jeopardizing their chances of securing record deals.
Simple and User-Friendly Interface
Artists can easily create and manage link campaigns without technical expertise.
Community Engagement and Rewards
Lisnin enables automated notifications and token rewards for curated music communities, fostering engagement and a mutually beneficial ecosystem.
Web3 Music Opportunities
Lisnin allowsartists to connect and collaborate across Web2 and Web3 platforms for enhanced opportunities and creative growth.
Web3 Music Opportunities
Lisnin taps into the growing web3 music industry, providing innovative platforms and tools for musicians to thrive. By bridging Web2 musicians with Web3 communities, Lisnin opens up new avenues for artists to connect and collaborate.
03 Ideate
Task & User Flow
The next stage in Vulume's development was creating task and user flows.
I created flow charts to outline user goals and minimize any issues.
These charts streamlined the sitemap and helped determine the necessary number of pages for the app's information architecture.
Tools
Figma
Task Flow
Full Task Flow
↗
03
MVP & Sitemap
After collaborating on the flowcharts, the CEO and I created two sitemaps - one for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and the other for the future of the product, both aligned with business and user needs.
I identified non-essential features for our MVP through collaboration with stakeholders.
Tools
Figma
Sitemap (Concept Sketch by CEO)
Sitemap (MVP)
04 Prototype
Before Redesign
Previously, Sol Music contracted out Lisnin (V1) to a third-party product development company in 2022, to shift our in-house focus to our flagship product, Vulume.
Unfortunately, this decision resulted in significant challenges for us.
The product encountered numerous design issues, user pain points, and lacked mobile responsiveness.
To gain a deeper understanding of these concerns, I conducted an audit that highlighted UI/visual design problems and product feature issues.
Presented here are comments focused on the most critical areas: the "Home page," "Create Pre-Save Link," and "Design Pre-Save Link."
Lisnin (v1) - Before Redesign
04
Sketches
Once the audit was done, I started by sketching potential wireframes for the required pages based on our sitemap.
I took the best features from the existing product, like the sliding scale for the budget calculator, and played around with different layouts.
My goal was to find layouts that would better communicate the information and workflow to users.
Desktop
04
Wireframe (Lo-Fi)
After getting the green light and having discussions with the CEO and product team about the sketches, I jumped right into creating some basic wireframes for the chosen layouts.
During this stage, I established patterns that would make the user experience feel familiar and easy to follow.
These wireframes helped showcase the overall flow of the product, and they ended up being the final layouts we settled on.
Tools
Figma
Desktop & Mobile (MVP)
04
Prototype (Hi-Fi)
Prior to starting hi-fi wireframes, I established the design system for Lisnin.
Referencing Vulume's design system, which is rooted in Google's Material Design 3 system, I developed Lisnin's components.
Utilizing the Material Theme Builder, I effortlessly aligned the appearance of these components with Lisnin's style guide, guaranteeing consistency with the product's brand.
Once completed, I crafted hi-fi wireframes and prototypes. I user tested them alongside the product & engineering teams, stakeholders, and a handpicked group from the Sol Music community.
Tools
Figma
Figma File
↗
Home Page (1920px+)
Full Image
↗
Dashboard Page (1920px+)
Full Image
↗
Data Input Page (1920px+)
Full Image
↗
Design Page (1920px+)
Full Image
↗
05 Testing
User Testing
Based on feedback from product, development, stakeholders and users, I created a backlog to address breakpoint issues, navigation, and interactions.
What Worked
More information on the product and how it works is displayed on the home page.
Table on dashboard page now clearly outlines previously created campaigns.
Typeform style inputs simplifies the process and clears clutter.
Seamless onboarding with sign in/sign up page.
Adding tooltips throughout the campaign process allowed users to understand jargon (Track ISRC, etc.)
CTAs are easy to identify.
Design system matched flagship product, Vulume, creating a unified product suite.
What Didn't
Buttons were small on largest breakpoint.
Breadcrumb text in top nav had tight spacing with larger words on smallest breakpoint.
User interactions and animations felt stale.
05
Insights
In addition to user testing, we utilized AI tools to further validate design decisions. We used these insights to understand the general clarity and effectiveness of the designs.
We didn't rely on this, seeing as this was all conducted by AI, it was just another tool we used us to gather performance information before handoff.
Tools
Attention Insight
Home Page (1920px+)
Dashboard Page (1920px+)
Get Link Page (1920px+)
Reflection
Reflecting on my design process, I've identified strengths and areas for improvement as the product designer on Lisnin.
What Worked
Lisnin received an honorable mention in the Solana 'Grizzlython 2023' hackathon.
User interviews after redesign showed significant increase in satisfaction and retention.
Designs took into consideration technical feasibility and limitations.
Market research supported findings in the end.
Cross-functional collaboration was seamless.
What Didn't
Insufficient support for brainstorming and workload management.
Success metrics weren't recorded in prior stages; no metrics to compare product performance before and after the update.