Imagine you could rebuild SoundCloud. But you’d be restricted to only three actions a user could do. Which actions would you choose and how would you design that very simple SoundCloud app. (App could mean a native app for iOS or Android or a web app for Desktop or Mobile.)
As a deliverable we would expect a concept that is outlining your choices and your thoughts for the simplified app. We want to get an idea of how you think.
Your ideas should be illustrated with screens that go beyond wireframes. We should be able to get a good idea of your interaction and visual skills. As a plus you’d build a prototype.
First, I'd like to thank SoundCloud for giving me this opportunity. I had a great time working on this project.
As instructed, I've designed an application comprising three user actions. Uploading, listening, and commenting.
Honoring Soundcloud's dedication to artists, this version of SoundCloud was planned with the creator in mind. To make the upload process seamless, I designed a desktop app that is intended to launch on startup in hopes of making SoundCloud an indispensable part of a creator's organic workflow. I designed a stripped down web player that focuses on sharing to allow feedback during the creative process, covering the listening and commenting aspects of a user's needs.
As an added bonus, I created a simple prototype of the web player.
The artist can now upload directly from their desktop. After installation, all a user needs to do is:
- Drag audio file onto SoundCloud icon.
- Enter track title while the upload occurs.
- After the track is uploaded, a unique URL will be generated and copied to the user's clipboard, ready to be pasted.
- The user can also click 'Open Link'.
To illustrate this process I included screen-shots. The desktop application icon while it sits in the background:
A user can upload by dragging and dropping from their systems file selector and also directly from supported audio editing programs. The default drop down:
While the track is uploading, the user can add a title:
After the user uploads the track, they receive a link that takes them to the web player:
The web player can be used for sharing process work or releasing the latest single. Its purpose is to adapt to the creator's context. View full size
The minimal player and pixel perfect logo:
When a user is logged in, they can upload using a web interface. The web uploader is most convenient when the artist is not on their home machine:
Timed comments are an indispensable resource for creators to receive feedback. I have removed all distractions from the web player other than listening and commenting, allowing users to fully immerse in the conversation based on a track's time stamp.
I'm pleased to present my interpretation of a simplified application that will make a customer's life that much more efficient and pleasant. Mark Weiser, The father of Ubiquitous Computing once said,
A good tool is an invisible tool. By invisible, I mean that the tool does not intrude on your consciousness; you focus on the task, not the tool. Eyeglasses are a good tool -- you look at the world, not the eyeglasses.
This was my attempt to make SoundCloud an invisible and indispensible tool. I hope you enjoyed it!
Best Regards,
Alex Miles
View a well formatted version here:
http://gist.io/4431098