Design and research

The initial ideas for the app was to create an app that would have all book and comic series in one place to read, such as ‘the folk of air’ series and ‘the last air bender’. Following from this, the idea was to then have an app for videos/ tv shows which would have the complete series in one place -such as ‘the last air bender’ and ‘Legend of Korra’ – and would have a playlist section with the music created for that show. The final development from the initial ideas was an app to do with music. This app would have all of an artists music in one place and would ensure that all the money made from it would go to them.

Taylors fan base heavily enjoy the easter eggs that get put into songs, albums, music videos and tours and to new fans it could be a lot of information to take in. To help with this, an app with a clear explanation of the meanings would help listeners.

The app is called ‘The Eras’ and was created to help current and new listeners to Taylor Swift understand the meaning behind the albums and songs.

As there is no similar products to this one, it is hard to find competitor research, so the research was more focused on layouts of apps and how it is used to maximize user experience.

As Taylor Swift creates music, the design layout for Apple music will be taken as inspiration.

Apple Music:

Apple musics mission statement is

All the ways people love enjoying music come together in one app

(Apple Newsroom (United Kingdom), n.d.)

Looking at the design of the app, it has no sharp edges and is rounded at corners to make sure that is not too aggressive to the viewers eyes. Key albums have the largest image to encourage users to click/ tap onto it and listen to the album. The design is simplistic and visually appealing to the viewer.

For the mood board, the inspiration was primarily designed around Taylor Swift’s albums as they will influence the design of each era.
Each album has their own colour palette, font, as well as a photo from the album, these will be used when designing the layout as they will show the intended aesthetic of the albums which will subconsciously influence how users see the album.

Utilizing personas, it allowed a better understanding of what a user would want from the app, both information as well as for interactivity.