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Simplifying music expression by play – Worble
Eliminating interface friction by enabling users to create sound with simple gestures
TL;DR
After a mid-development pivot, created a functional motion-driven prototype where users “conduct” sound with their hands. A very popular exhibit at the end of the semester design showcase!
Role
Team Lead, Designer
Team
5 students
Timeline + Outcome
5 weeks, shown at final project exhibit
Project Context
The final project in our senior-level class, IS 485: Prototyping in UX, required us to reach out to potential stakeholders and explore possibilities to untapped problems.
Problem
Our stakeholder enjoyed experimenting with sound but expressed frustration with interface complexity. He notes:
“The problem with digital music software is the interface — you spend more time figuring out controls than making sound.”
Inspired by that, we asked ourselves:
“How might we take advantage of existing technologies to bring new facets of music to life?”
Competitive Analysis
We evaluated digital instruments and DAWs alongside our stakeholder, and also studied first-person feedback online from users who could benefit from sound creation. We found that users liked expressive, visual, and exploratory UIs, as long as they didn't have an overwhelming interface or steep learning curve. For example, many buttons were not a bad thing as long as they felt intuitive.
Pain Points:
🔼UI complexity = 🔼intimidation, 🔽experimentation
Some digital instruments don’t feel intuitive or playful
There’s an expectation that it has to sound “good”, which limits play
Exploration & Ideation
Inspired by the theremin, we figured, “What’s more accessible than waving your hands around?" It bring forward the accessibility principle of a low floor, high ceiling. Anyone can play immediately, and depth emerges through experimentation. We decided to repurpose a Kinect for this purpose, since we found a ready-to-use SDK.
Development
Our original project was to use Ableton, sync it to a Kinect, and go from there. However, midway through development, we found that it was quite hard to sync Ableton with the Kinect, and we did not have the time to figure it out. Thus, we used Godot as a few team members had experience with the software — though we still faced technical limitations with the outdated Kinect SDK.
Final Product
Features
Real-time gesture creates sound generation
Two instruments
Optional “mic mode” to record your voice and manipulate it
A simplified and playful UI to reduce intimidation + encourage play
Outcome
Overall high user satisfaction, we had students and faculty alike coming back multiple times during the showcase to play with our project! :)
Reflection
Designing a digital interface for a product with physical interaction was tricky. The project forced us to think beyond screens alone.
Play is a powerful way to reduce intimidation
Something about management to keep friends in line
Prototyping with real hardware reveals edge cases you can't predict otherwise