Tiles 

Listen to the music,
not consume it

The experience of listening to music has become diluted.
During this sound design project, me and my fellow interaction designers Kay van den Aker and Tobias Ertel and product designer Emile Chuffart decided to create a proposal on how the digital music experience can be more engaging.

Project: Umeå Insitute of Design
Participants: 4 people
Time span: 3 weeks
When: winter 2022

"The analogue suspense"

"The digital anticlimax"

The analogue process of listening to music makes the user very engaged, from the act of collecting the records to putting on a track. Which in turn creates a more memorable and engaging experience.
The digital experience is very convenient, yet it lacks engagement and character due to it being too streamlined and efficient.

We wanted to explore how a tangible interface in combination with artificial sounds could convey the message of music listening as the sophisticated and social process it was intended to be.

Tiles is devided into two parts. 
The top part displays the users highly personal and beloved music library, offering a clear view of the beautiful art covers. The lower part is the actual player. Here an album or song etc is mechanically inserted from the top part. Information about the current album is conveyed to the left on the E-Ink screen and to the right te user can for example adjust the volume and change track.

With the help of buttons on the top right corner, the user can easily filter between song, album, artist and playlist when scrolling through the library.  

Learning outcome

– Working closely with interaction designers
– Sound in design
– Value of physical models

A strong and efficient teamwork was the key for this project. We managed to keep a high pace while at the same time having fun and working 9 to 5. Working together with very talented interaction designers really elevated the concept, in combination with the high fidelity, final model.