I am frequently working on this project, feel free to pop into the Figma file, maybe you'll catch me in action!
A social messaging app tailored to audio note messaging
I took on the role of UI/UX Designer and Interaction Designer for this concept project.
May - October 2022
(24 weeks)
User Interviews
User Personas
Empathy Map
Wireframes
User Testing
Figma, Notion, Google Docs, Miro, Maze
She is always on the go and finds sending audio notes much easier, more convenient, and personal. She sends them to her friends regularly to update friends on her life.
Immediately she gets frustrated, she can't search by audio notes, and there's no way to bookmark them, she's offered the option to 'keep' them but apparently to revisit one she has to manually scroll all the way back to the original message.
She knows those audio notes still exist but they feel lost and the memories within them, she feels as if she lost a photo album full of treasured memories that she can't get back.
Audio note senders are overwhelmed and frustrated by the lack of functionality when it comes to their audio messages on their social messaging apps.
I have felt how Aditi feels, from treasured audio notes from loved ones who have passed, to notes that contained hilarious inside jokes from friends who live far away, it can be tedious and at times nearly impossible to go sifting through conversations to replay a cherished memory. This frustration enabled me to develop a product that could bring ease and joy to those who send audio notes.
• Time-saving: Users no longer have to spend hours scrolling back through texts or saved audio files to listen a message
• Improves Organization: Users can organize their audio notes more efficiently. They can title notes with relevant keywords, as well as group them in relevant categories, making it easier to search and filter for them.
• Convenient : Users can organize their notes in various forms, by contact, or collection
• Intuitive Infrastructure : Like every other messaging app, Busy Bee has a Home page with messages listed by recency but it also has a library where users can view their contacts and collections.
I interviewed 3 young professionals to stay mindful of my assumptions regarding my personal experiences and frustrations with audio note messaging
My interviewers consistently found that searching for their audio note to be confusing and tiresome.
- "I live alone and during the pandemic, so much communication was coming to me in text form, and it can feel so impersonal after a while. Hearing someone’s voice is amazing, you can hear the emotion in someone’s voice."
- "I use audio notes daily for grocery lists, errand reminders, to tell my girlfriend to pick up milk or get the car washed. When there are 5 or 6 unnamed audio messages in a day it can be hard for both of us to sort through them"
- “Voice notes kept us connected. They can almost feel like a hand-written postcard – personal and thoughtful”
By studying how similar apps design their messaging platforms and text messaging searching functionalities, I better understood which patterns I should include, making them familiar to users.
I’ve created a style guide to keep the design consistent and user-friendly. This guide highlights the choices behind the color schemes, typography, and other design elements. These decisions were made with the user in mind, ensuring that navigation feels intuitive and engaging.
