Patrick Purdy
experience | interaction | design
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Mobile Music Player
Wedding Vows Mobile App
Zeitgeist
Saving The News
Microsoft Studio
Uniquity
bullsmadtown.com
This is a mobile music player concept focused on creating interactions that will allow successful navigation while requiring little or no attention to what's on the screen.

People who can benefit are runners, hikers, cyclists or even city dwellers walking down the street. Whether it’s carrying a bag of groceries or training for a marathon, they want to be able to change the tune without stopping or losing a beat.
Download the Music Player Document
A music player on a touch-screen mobile device specifically for active people has specific interaction requirements. The most common issue is that at any given time, the user may only have one hand and a divided attention. This focused my design, giving me specific issues to tackle.

Specific interaction goals for the final design are:

To create a mode providing minimal functionality to users without requiring them to look at the player.

To minimize the amount of attention required by the user to operate the player.

To maximize the users ability to perform most functions using only one hand.
Eyes-Free Mode allows the user to interact with their music without having to look at the music player. Using intuitive gestures the user can Change Track, Stop, Start, Fast-Forward and Rewind without ever taking their eyes off of what they are doing.

With this application, I put the focus on the visual language that the user is most familiar with, album cover art. When engaged in another activity, the user can simply glance down at their phone and tap on the art for the album they want to select.
The Quick-Jump feature allows the user to skip to a different alphabetical section by tap-holding on the letter that marks the beginning of every section. The user can then rotate their thumb clockwise or counter-clockwise to scroll the alphabetical listing at the top of the screen. Lifting their thumb will jump to the currently selected section.

Once an artist is selected, the user can view more granular information including Album Release Date and number of Tracks.
Playlists are viewed as a horizontal stream of album cover art, with each piece of art representing an individual song. Playlists are stacked vertically on top of one another. This allows the user to browse many different playlists and their contents by swiping up an down in addition to left and right.

Once playback of a song has begun, in addition to being able to navigate using the same gestures as when in Eyes-Free Mode, the user can view progress of the current Track on the central ring, and access More options and change the current Playback Mode.
I increase glanceability by using images to identify songs and artists. Intuitive gestures allow for eyes-free interaction.
Whether the user is out shopping or training for the marathon, having two free hands is a rare occurance.
Eyes-Free Mode allows users to provide specific gesture imput without activating the screen.
 
Recongnizable album art requires less visual-attention, improving the users ability to glance-browse.
The Quick-Jump feature allows the user to quickly skip to different sections when browsing music.
 
Once an artist is selected the primary focus remains on the album cover art, but more detail is shown.
Swipe Up and Down to select a specific playlist. Swip Left and Right to select a specific Track in a playlist.
 
Track detail view allows the user to view progress, access more options and change the current playback mode.
© Patrick Purdy 2011
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