Music for Autism | Becky Hwang

Immersive
music concert

Redesign music for autism website with
immersive online music concert - probono project

Team

Becky Hwang Fan Fang Sunwoo Park Yuri Kim

Timeline

Nov - Dec, 2022 (7 weeks)

Client

Music for Autism

Role

UX& UI design, User interview, High-fi Prototype, Responsive design, Design guide

My role

Facilitated weekly meetings with the client to assess project progress and share insights and comments

Conducted secondary research, including user surveys and 3 interviews
Led the redesign of the website, incorporating responsive design principles
Guided the ideation phase of the project, synthesizing research findings to generate feasible design concepts
Developed a high-fidelity prototype and design guide
Finalized and polished all deliverables for client presentation

Problem statment from client

Reduction in concert participation after Music for Autism transitioned to virtual concerts due to the pandemic.

System that replies to all.

To improve the accessibility of the website, we removed unnecessary menus and streamlined repetitive functions throughout all menus with a consistent design system.

Old - Hompage

New - Hompage

Easy for all.

Users now use only one platform, which is the website, to sign up for the concert and join the concert. This will reduce the friction that occurs when having an email for the concert directory and joining the concert externally.

Signup

Setting reminder

Pre - concert

Concert

You all belong here.

Immersivity and interactivity are key elements of a virtual concert. To make this happen, we have created visual representations of each participant, allowing them to feel connected without being physically together.

Visual representatives on the website are linked to the percussion app, Which the participants can choose. They can shake their phones during the concert, with interactive icons below the concert view, enhancing their physical engagement and presence.

Responsive

In addition to redesigning the website, we also created mobile-responsive designs to enhance usability for users who were experiencing difficulty using the site on mobile devices.

Understand Music for Autism

"Music for Autism"(M4A) is a non-profit organization and a community for individuals with autism and their families. Their goal is to enhance people's lives and raise awareness by organizing interactive, sensory-friendly concerts for people with autism.

Situation

Before the pandemic, Music for Autism held interactive music concerts in-person for children and young adults with autism and their families. However, since the pandemic began, they have transitioned to virtual concerts, which has presented some challenges for families.

Where drop happens

From the customer journey map, we could understand the pre-concert to while-concert experience for individuals with autism and their families and identify their pain points.

Design issues

We have diagnosed several design issues that hinder users from navigating the website, especially when it comes to reserving tickets for concerts or finding information about them.

Disconnection from signup to joining

Since the virtual concert is hosted externally on YouTube, users are required to sign up on the website and receive an invitation that includes a link via email to the YouTube stream, which redirects them to the virtual concert on YouTube.

Interaction issues

During the virtual concerts hosted on YouTube Live, performers were unable to see the vital reactions of attendees and could only communicate with them through chat.

“It’s a safe place for both children and parents”

Through conversations with a concert manager over the past few years, we have discovered that offline music concerts provide a safe space for both children and parents to be free from judgment and enjoy music in their own way. Parents appeared to feel relaxed while attending these concerts. Furthermore, being among other parents created a sense of community where they could share stories and difficulties, fostering feelings of togetherness and companionship.

We aim to enhance these feelings during our online concerts, creating a sense of belonging for both children and parents, with like-minded individuals surrounding them.

Recap,

Since our users belong to two distinct groups—parents and children—we aimed to enhance engagement for both categories throughout the entire process of joining and enjoying the concert.

Project goal