Pre-Task Questions
Before we get into the tasks, could you remind me of some of your songwriting habits? How about apps, do you or have you used songwriting apps before?
- has used an app called Spire, liked it because it has a section to write lyrics right next to a place to do recordings
- songwriting is sporadic, so likes having one place for everything
Tasks
Alright great, thanks so much. Let's get into some of the tasks now. Remember, it will help me a lot if you talk through your thought process as we go through the tasks. Go ahead and open up the link I've sent you, and start sharing your screen.
- First I just want you to tell me about your first impressions of the app. Go ahead and hit the 'r' key to restart the prototype, but after that, don't click or tap anything yet. What stands out to you? What are your thoughts?
- animation was "cool", likes the name, the graphics remind her of audio graphics
- standard signup and sign in, likes having several options
- Thanks! For this first set of tasks, I'd like you to imagine that you're a songwriter who's browsing the app store, and you've found this app and downloaded it. Your first task will be to sign up. Tell me your thoughts as you make your way into the app.
- went through signup pretty smoothly
- liked how the keyboard popped up
- assumed that being asked to allow camera access meant that you can video record within the app
- (once they make it to the home page) Great! Now that you're here, imagine you have a new song idea on guitar that you'd like to record. How would you go about doing that?
- found New Project button right away
- went to Add Track first, then Add Audio
- "this looks like where I can record myself"
- got through it pretty quickly
- Now imagine you have an idea that you'd like to use a virtual instrument within the app for. How would you do that?
- found second Add Track quickly, also clicked on Add MIDI quickly
- wanted to tap keyboard first, then found Record button
- seemed to be a little bit confused about having to go back after recording MIDI
- Now that you have some recordings down, you'd like to write out some lyrics or notes for this song. Show me how you would accomplish that.
- clicked on "Tap to add lyrics here" right away, this flow also went very quickly
- Awesome! At this point, imagine that you are interested in editing your tracks to sound better together. Show me how you'd do that.
- found "Mix" button right away
- wanted to edit the MIDI track also
- Great. Head back to the home page. From here, how would you start a new project? How would you get back into a project session? (after they find another way back to the project) Tell me a bit about your impressions of the home page. What stands out? What do you expect to be able to do here?
- found both very quickly
- recent projects and recent albums were what she expected them to be
- "would take this opportunity to stylize it more" - about the homepage
Follow-Up Questions
Thanks so much for running through those tasks! (ask any probing questions here - for example, if they got hung up on recording a MIDI track, ask more about what was confusing there, what in particular was blocking them from completing the task, etc.)
- everything was straightforward and clean
Do you have any questions before we wrap up?
Takeaways
- Overall, the tasks were completed quickly and easily with little feedback.