Project
Performory
Timeline
February-April 2022
Type
UX Research | UX+UI | Branding
Role
Product Designer
Tools
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
InVision
Overview
Performory is an academic project developed during the UX course at BrainStation in 2022. My role in this project involved conducting user research, defining the problem and identifying opportunities for intervention, crafting prototypes for user testing, and designing the overall aesthetic of the product.
Challenge
Stage fright among musicians poses a significant challenge to their performance and well-being. It can profoundly impact musicians' ability to deliver their best performances. Anxiety often manifests as physical symptoms such as trembling hands, sweating, and a racing heartbeat, which can impair fine motor control and concentration. Moreover, stage fright can lead to negative psychological effects, including self-doubt, diminished self-esteem, and avoidance of performance opportunities.
How might we help musicians who experience stage fright reduce the level of anxiety and promote their well-being and success?
Solution
The app helps musicians boost their confidence and achieve more predictable outcomes on stage by improving their memorization skills through memorization practice techniques.
Custom Libraries
Performory is musicians and actors oriented app. Customized libraries allow create separate content with music and texts and easily navigate between them.
Once and Forever
Memorization techniques in the app involve different types of memory – from visual to emotional, making performing from memory more reliable and less stressful for performing artists.
Track Performances
Link the learning pieces to the events where they are supposed to be played. Organizing the performing schedule allows estimating the time needed to memorize a piece and get properly prepared for the event. Also, the app will remind an artist about the upcoming event two weeks before.
Is Stage Fright Really That Frightening?
Problem Space | Secondary Research | Primary Research
Problem Space Exploration
In my research, I examined the origins and triggers of stage fright, studying its manifestations across diverse individuals and identifying the general symptoms associated with it. I also explored various methods musicians use to manage performance anxiety and uncovered trends related to this topic.
What Do We Already Know About Stage Fright
According to surveys, stage fright is one of the most common fears, even stronger than the fear of death for many individuals. This intense anxiety, also known as performance anxiety, can be debilitating, manifesting in physical and psychological symptoms such as sweating, trembling, and mental blocks. The fear of being judged or making mistakes in front of an audience triggers a fight-or-flight response that can overwhelm rational thinking. People that are most affected by stage fright are musicians, actors, public speakers, and athletes.
How Does Stage Fright Look Like?
Stage fright manifests differently across various categories of performers due to the unique demands of their fields. In my research, I specifically focused on understanding the manifestations experienced by musicians. After identifying the most frequent signs of stage fright behavior, I categorized them into four main groups.
Physical
- Sweating, particularly on the hands
- Trembling or shaking
- Rapid heartbeat
- Dry mouth
- Nausea
- Muscle tension, especially in the hands and arms
- Shortness of breath, impacting breath control for wind instrument players or singers
Emotional
- Anxiety
- Fear of failure or making mistakes
- Comparing oneself to other musicians
- Dread or apprehension about upcoming performances
- Focusing too much on audience reactions
Cognitive
- Memory lapses
- Negative self-talk
- Difficulty concentrating
- Mental blocks or
blanking out
- Overthinking
Behavioural
- Avoidance of performance
- Altered performance style, such as playing too fast
- Procrastination in preparation, delaying practice sessions
- Excessive practice
Reliance on rituals or superstitions
What Are the Trends?
The increasing awareness and advocacy for mental health, both generally and specifically in performance settings, continiously lead to more open discussions and supportive environments for addressing stage fright. Tools such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness techniques have become integral parts of the daily routines for those who work professionally on stage.
Diving Deeper by Interviewing Professional Musicians
I conducted interviews with five professional musicians who play different instruments and regularly perform on stage, each of whom has experienced stage fright. Specifically selecting musicians across various instruments—such as brass players and opera singers—to explore potential differences in how they experience anxiety was key.
During these interviews, my objective was to understand the specific triggers of anxiety for them, their strategies for managing it, and how they utilize technology to cope with stage fright.
"I always thought that it goes away with time because you become more experienced. But it doesn’t go away. You only know your enemy better"
Robert, 33 y.o. Cellist
Main Themes & Insights
After mapping out all the pain points, motivational moments, and behavioral specifics of my interviewees, I categorized them into themes that informed the main insights.
Final Problem & Opportunities
Persona | Experience Map | Opportunity Selection
Opportunity for Design Intervention
Creating a persona and journey map allowed me to visualize the key goals, touchpoints, and steps a user experiences when preparing for a concert. This deeper understanding of the user journey helped me identify opportunities for improvement and refine my final problem statement. My assumption that frequent performances reduce stress was partially validated—successful performances do boost confidence, however unsuccessful ones, even in rehearsal recitals, can increase anxiety for future performances. This insight led me to refine my problem statement and focus on how can we help musicians reduce performance anxiety by building confidence and reliability before performances.
Persona
Journey Map
Ideas Exploration
User Stories | Task Flows | Sketches
Functionalities Exploration
During the exploration of functionalities for my app, I created numerous user stories to capture the diverse needs of potential users. Each story outlined a feature from the end user's perspective, clarifying the necessary functionalities. I identified "develop better memorization skills" as the core epic, focusing on helping musicians enhance their memorization efficiently.
Task Flows
During the exploration of functionalities for my app, I created numerous user stories to capture the diverse needs of potential users. Each story outlined a feature from the end user's perspective, clarifying the necessary functionalities. I identified "develop better memorization skills" as the core epic, focusing on helping musicians enhance their memorization efficiently.
Primary Task Flow: Complete a preplanned training
Secondary Task Flow: Upload a document
Sketches
With refined task flows, I began sketching a visual solution for the app, aiming for a simple and intuitive design focused on two main functionalities: uploading media and practicing techniques.
Prototyping Solutions
Wireframes | Mid-Fi Prototype
Wireframes
I combined developed task flows and some sketch findings into wireframes to establish connections between the screens and to get an overarching impression from the user flow.
Mid-Fi Prototype
For the first round of usability testing, I prepared a Mid-Fi prototype with a copy, minimum assets and some colour injections.
Wireframes
Mid-Fi Prototype
Testing and Iterating
User Testing | Gathering Feedback | Prototype Iterations
User Testing
I conducted two major rounds and many short sessions of usability tests of my mid-fi prototype. The goal was to collect feedback to understand which parts of the app can be improved for the optimal user experience.
Feedback
Once I had the feedback, I made two major iterations of the prototype with the follow-up refining of little details. The major identified pain points were related to the ambiguity of icons, texts and assets size, and navigation difficulties.
Major changes
Branding
Brand Development | UI Library | Hi-fi Prototype
Brand Identity
This stage started with creating a moodboard to identify the look and feel I wanted to implement in the app. The overall idea was to create a slick minimalist aesthetic with artistic and modern design.
Brand Name
I used the mind map technique to explore as many ideas, associations, and metaphors as possible for the brand name. I elaborated on two main aspects of the app - memorization and performance.
Colour Palette
The colour palette for the app was inspired by the simple black & white colours. These are colours of music scores, concert outfits, the piano keyboard, and texts. The colours also can be associated with dark concert halls and spotlights.
Moreover, a good contrast of the colours creates high accessibility and legibility necessary for working with texts and music. The colour limitation pushed me to explore other means of expression - contrast, rhythm, size hierarchy, and forms.
Typography
With the font choice, I wanted to represent both traditionalism and conservatism of the performing arts and at the same time, the fonts also speak to the modernity. I combined both Serif and Sans Serif fonts to meet this idea. I used serif font Mirage for the logo and quotes in the app. For the rest of the text, I used Sans Serif Montserrat font in different sizes and styles.
Wordmark Exploration
In the wordmark development, I also stuck to the black & white palette which helped create a succinct and sophisticated logo. To convey the main idea of the app - overcoming stage fright - I played with the image of stage spotlights.
Final Decision
For the wordmark, I chose the one with the highlighted word “form”. The Wordmark comprises typography and graphic elements which make it more memorable and distinct. A wider letter spacing brought a sense of confidence to the logo. These are the sensations the app is supposed to spark in the users.
I picked this icon for the mobile app because the diagonal oval brings dynamic to the icon, while a clear contrast between colours and shapes made this icon legible and memorable.
UI Library
All the assets used in the app were collected and organized in the UI library. The library was used in the app design process and also allowed to create a more consistent design across different platforms.
Custom Illustrations
A series of custom illustrations was developed for the app to better represent the exercises and to bring uniqueness and integrity to the design.
Music and text are all about rhythm. I was inspired by simple and symbolic shapes of letters and notes, and created a series of primitive forms to build my illustrations around.
Key Learnings & Next Steps
The more you show your work to others and ask for feedback, the better design you can make. Developing tunnel vision is an inevitable and predictable side-effect of working on one project for a long time. The ability to look at your work from a different perspective is a crucial point in refining, learning and becoming a better designer.
As for the next steps, developing design implementation for the three other memorization techniques seems a logical continuation. Moreover, memorization techniques for actors will require some refinement and customization. On a bigger scale, expanding Performory by creating a platform that helps not only performing artists but also public speakers, dancers and even sportsmen can be taken into consideration.