Does anyone actually use album/thumbnail view to browse their artists? Everyone I know uses the list view to find an Artist alphabetically. I'd be curious if there are any usability / metric studies out there to verify this.
There are plenty of iOS users that use album view to browse, including me. Some people are album listeners, and highly appreciate the artwork of the artist. Personally, I don't use cover flow, but I never browse the artist list. Also, I think designers, artists and anybody who does work or has hobbies that include visuals, appreciate album covers. Have you ever lined up all of The Beatles album covers and swiped across them in cover flow? It's awesome.
I think I can speak for many Mac users when I say that I am a very VISUAL thinker. Seeing a text list of artists means almost nothing to me. I associate the album art with the music 100% - However, I hate using coverflow, I use grid view on my iTunes, I'd love to be able to see my albums in grid on iOS as well.
Almost pure genius. Try holding your phone in one hand and using those buttons, though. You need LARGE button areas within reach of the user's thumbs—whether they're using their right hand or their left hand (maybe 2 sections of the same buttons). Trying to use those tiny buttons at the bottom of the screen while driving is going to result in either a dropped phone or an automobile accident or, more likely, both!
I read your pastebin and noticed a simple trend in your writing - you are not thinking from a designers point of view. Alignment and centering, examining the colour palette, etc are all things that should most definitely payed attention to in the smallest detail - to say that he is "taking these things way too seriously" really stops the argument there, not from only Apple's standpoint as a very detail oriented designer, but a general designers standpoint as well. Your points are irrelevant, although I'm sure any criticism is appreciated nonetheless.
Turko, aren't you just acting like Moeed by dismissing all his argument and deeming them irrelevant? I've read Moeed's pastebin, and I agree and disagree with some of his points, just like how I also agree and disagree about some of the points made in this iOS music player concept. Let's not get defensive around here and instead take [non-trolling] feedback positively.
I totally agree with your points. I'm tired of designs who thinks only in a *designer* point of view and don't take in account that apps are made for the *users*.
I disagree with almost everything you said, Moeed.
Section A:
1. First of all- nothing else in the app has that texture. Only sliders. It has nothing to do with the rest of the app.
2. Once again, the orange is a bad design choice because it's contrasting from the rest of the app. Only 2 buttons and the app icon (which has no reason to be orange) are orange.
3. Everybody would benefit from centered album art. No more dark, hard to read parts, and you can see the whole picture. Denying that at the expense of saving 15 minutes of work is almost insanity on your part. If a painting was square, would you put it in a rectangular frame because it's cheaper?
4. I have to agree with you here. The slider is the same height as everything else.
5. Putting it as a side menu saves a lot of space and is less annoying, why would you have those buttons there all the time if you only use them once or twice for an hour of music, and they don't give you any information.
6. I kind of agree, but I think this concept was meant as more of an iOS 7 change rather than a quick singular update.
Section B:
1. This entire paragraph was just opinion. Lots of people use landscape all the time, and lots of people browse by album, like me.
2. So? That doesn't mean the design itself is flawed.
3. I have to agree.
4. Fully disagree. The hamburger is a list and it's used more often than you think, and yes it could be changed but I'd rather change the one in the up next. I've already explained the rest.
5. I have to somewhat agree, but you must realize that Johnny Ive plans to severely alter the iOS design language.
6. Just add a button in the list. Easily fixable.
7. I agree.
8. This is very ignorant of you to say, flat design is the most useful, simple and logical way to design UI. Look at apps like Skype, Flipboard, most Google apps, etc... Flat design uses only what it needs. If something contributes no real usefulness or information, why have it there?
~Sorry if I offended you in any way, this is just my point of view.
B 2) If you're browsing your library strictly by looking at album art, and there isnt album art, you dont know what you're looking at. How is that not flawed?
Crazy awesome concept! Apple should hire you! If Apple doesn't implement something new to this degree, you deserve to release this on Cydia! Great job!
Designer here. Amazingly inspriring! Some quirks here an there, but what I absolutely love about this whole work is how you've managed to pair and update the design and functionality of the Mobile application and align it with iTunes for Desktop. Bravo!
Oh and just read Moeed's Pastebin and I have to say I stopped after the first couple of paragraphs, what angle are you judging this from? Totally unbelivably invalid points. To sum it up, you are saying: "This just seems like speculation, or something that happens to you", "...This is a non issue.", "This isn't an issue at all.", a lot (if not every) point you are making is just well this isn't a problem, this is your take on it etc. but you are doing exactly the same thing yourself! It's total contradiction, it is your opinion about someone else's opinion, so the whole thing kind of just nullifies itself. Don't know if you've ever been actively apart of design process, but it's not purely based on data / successful hit targets etc. and user's opinions, there is tons of thought coming directly from a team or even an individual designer that finally shapes a product.
There are some nice ideas here, extremely well presented.
I have developed my own music player app and so wanted to add some comment here. My main criticism with the iOS app is that it hasn't dealt with it's subject matter sensitively and respectively enough, you have all this wildly different music artwork that no UI is going to always look great with. I think some of the solutions above seem quite "gmail" to me, great for emails, but great for music?
In terms of interface I went down the line of exploring hidden controls, while keeping the gestures intuitive (many other 3rd party music apps are obsessed with multi-finger gestures). It's called Sleevenote, it has a grid view similar to above but how do you get to it? - you pinch out (ie you zoom out), how do you get to tracks? - you flip the cover over just like a real album, and then, hey cool, the back is colour matched to the artwork.
I've just made it free so everyone can try it out - http://Sleevenote.info/App_Store, video at http://Sleevenote.info
[don't mean to hi-jack this discussion but I feel this is relevant - bring on the debate]
this is very similar to y music app project for android, did you inspired yourself for your app or do we have the same expectaions for a music player app ^^ here is my XDA thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2282029 take a look :)
jesus... you android lovers are the worst of the worst when it comes to trolling.. don't you realize that everything inspires everything or are you just ignorant.
just kidding, I love his work because it's really looks like one of my idea and it's nice that every platform can get great apps, iOS and Android ad android get now some great apps in terms of design (sometimes, to me, better than iPhone :P)
I really like this concept, and it is literally the only iOS 7 concept I've even liked so far! Kudos to you!
Just a couple questions:
1.) If you find the volume slider touch targets small, why did you add what look like similar sized ones for the xtra controls in the "Now Playing" view? They looks really, really small in Dashboard view, especially.
2.) Is there really any benefit of that small a progress bar? It seems like it would be hard to discern it against the constantly changing colours under it in the album art view.
3.) I'm not so sure about flyouts for the playlists and other info. I like their use in the "Up Next" pane, but one a screen that tall, I really don't see the benefit of adding another bunch of clicks just to save that much real estate.
Also, I've a got a suggestion for you: Do you use Fantastical? Do you know how you can tap on the date in the DayTicker and it opens up a menu to allow you to jump to any date? I think a pop-up thing like that suits "Up Next" better. You can have the name of the view you're in instead of the now playing bar, which reverts back to it's old button, and have the up next menu pop up on clicking the view you're on.
I'm really thinking that flyouts are a big fad and are going to pass soon. The Facebook app for iOS, one of the early pioneers of those is also chucking them out, as some images randomly selected beta testers for their new interface suggest. The new iOS 7 Music should also be expected to last for another half-decade or so, and basing it on what might be a passing trend doesn't seem to be the right way. That really is one of the reasons I'm convinced iOS 7 WON't go flat.
The album list looks beautiful. But i think the real power in music apps comes from an easy and pleasant navigation experience. The artist list is a key feature and it's absent in the design.
I'm thinking of an app that learns my play patterns and suggests connections from these, my whole library and any new music I add or favorite in apps like Soundcloud, Grooveshark or Lastfm.
This is a great visual proposal, but I think it would benefit from good navigation interaction. There are many types of users: album listeners, list listeners, artist listeners, genre, etc.
Only one change: I'd rather have a Ratings icon up top instead of the AirPlay icon. AirPlay generally shows up next to the volume slider when connected, which logically makes sense since it is a sound output option.
You my friend are indeed a genius. This music app concept is beautifully designed and executed. Keeping things simple to allow the user to focus on the music and artwork. The up next feature is something that is a must for ios7. My only concern with placing the add to up next in the swipe to delete is some people may accidentally delete the song they infact intended on listening to. I always thought an easy way to over come this was to add a long press option (which at the moment shows the details of the song which is already being displayed so pointless) hold on a song in which the black bubble appears in which would have an option to add to upnext or add to a playlist. Just a thought.
While the features of the app and presentation of this article is absolutely fantastic, I am not feeling settled about the aesthetic of the design. To me, it looks unfinished. It also is inconsistent - from the glossy icon, to the gradient header, to the depthless icons.
As a designer, I like all forms of design aesthetic, from well executed and appropriate skeuomorphic designs to minimal flat designs - no bias here. But, in all honesty, I sincerely hope that iOS doesn't look like this through and through. Flat design can promote a more immediate thinking about UX, but there is an undeniable draw to the tactile feeling of design with more depth and texture. I think Google is playing in a great area with their design that is minimal, but not lacking depth. Pure flat (Layervault style) is just not for everyone, nor does it solve all problems.
I really appreciate you putting this up though, and invite others to talk about it!
I came onto your blog while focusing just slightly submits. Nice strategy for next, I will be bookmarking at once seize your complete rises mac music player
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Does anyone actually use album/thumbnail view to browse their artists? Everyone I know uses the list view to find an Artist alphabetically. I'd be curious if there are any usability / metric studies out there to verify this.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of iOS users that use album view to browse, including me. Some people are album listeners, and highly appreciate the artwork of the artist. Personally, I don't use cover flow, but I never browse the artist list. Also, I think designers, artists and anybody who does work or has hobbies that include visuals, appreciate album covers. Have you ever lined up all of The Beatles album covers and swiped across them in cover flow? It's awesome.
DeleteAlso, GREAT CONCEPT!
I think I can speak for many Mac users when I say that I am a very VISUAL thinker. Seeing a text list of artists means almost nothing to me. I associate the album art with the music 100% - However, I hate using coverflow, I use grid view on my iTunes, I'd love to be able to see my albums in grid on iOS as well.
DeleteVery nice concept! I hope the iOS 7 music app looks like this.
ReplyDeleteGreat work!
ReplyDeleterespect the depth of your case study sir. great work! respect.
ReplyDeleteThe dashboard mode is pure genius. Great work!
ReplyDeleteAlmost pure genius. Try holding your phone in one hand and using those buttons, though. You need LARGE button areas within reach of the user's thumbs—whether they're using their right hand or their left hand (maybe 2 sections of the same buttons). Trying to use those tiny buttons at the bottom of the screen while driving is going to result in either a dropped phone or an automobile accident or, more likely, both!
DeleteFantastic concept! I'm hooked on your blog now!
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts: http://pastebin.com/XP7WTFRM
ReplyDeleteSide note: Your entire post is made up of images. None of the text is selectable. Want to talk about usability? Let's start there.
I read your pastebin and noticed a simple trend in your writing - you are not thinking from a designers point of view. Alignment and centering, examining the colour palette, etc are all things that should most definitely payed attention to in the smallest detail - to say that he is "taking these things way too seriously" really stops the argument there, not from only Apple's standpoint as a very detail oriented designer, but a general designers standpoint as well. Your points are irrelevant, although I'm sure any criticism is appreciated nonetheless.
DeleteTurko, aren't you just acting like Moeed by dismissing all his argument and deeming them irrelevant? I've read Moeed's pastebin, and I agree and disagree with some of his points, just like how I also agree and disagree about some of the points made in this iOS music player concept. Let's not get defensive around here and instead take [non-trolling] feedback positively.
DeleteI totally agree with your points. I'm tired of designs who thinks only in a *designer* point of view and don't take in account that apps are made for the *users*.
DeleteI disagree with almost everything you said, Moeed.
DeleteSection A:
1. First of all- nothing else in the app has that texture. Only sliders. It has nothing to do with the rest of the app.
2. Once again, the orange is a bad design choice because it's contrasting from the rest of the app. Only 2 buttons and the app icon (which has no reason to be orange) are orange.
3. Everybody would benefit from centered album art. No more dark, hard to read parts, and you can see the whole picture. Denying that at the expense of saving 15 minutes of work is almost insanity on your part. If a painting was square, would you put it in a rectangular frame because it's cheaper?
4. I have to agree with you here. The slider is the same height as everything else.
5. Putting it as a side menu saves a lot of space and is less annoying, why would you have those buttons there all the time if you only use them once or twice for an hour of music, and they don't give you any information.
6. I kind of agree, but I think this concept was meant as more of an iOS 7 change rather than a quick singular update.
Section B:
1. This entire paragraph was just opinion. Lots of people use landscape all the time, and lots of people browse by album, like me.
2. So? That doesn't mean the design itself is flawed.
3. I have to agree.
4. Fully disagree. The hamburger is a list and it's used more often than you think, and yes it could be changed but I'd rather change the one in the up next. I've already explained the rest.
5. I have to somewhat agree, but you must realize that Johnny Ive plans to severely alter the iOS design language.
6. Just add a button in the list. Easily fixable.
7. I agree.
8. This is very ignorant of you to say, flat design is the most useful, simple and logical way to design UI. Look at apps like Skype, Flipboard, most Google apps, etc...
Flat design uses only what it needs. If something contributes no real usefulness or information, why have it there?
~Sorry if I offended you in any way, this is just my point of view.
B 2) If you're browsing your library strictly by looking at album art, and there isnt album art, you dont know what you're looking at. How is that not flawed?
DeleteCrazy awesome concept! Apple should hire you! If Apple doesn't implement something new to this degree, you deserve to release this on Cydia! Great job!
ReplyDeleteWhy on Cydia? It's possible to release this on the regular AppStore.
DeleteDesigner here. Amazingly inspriring! Some quirks here an there, but what I absolutely love about this whole work is how you've managed to pair and update the design and functionality of the Mobile application and align it with iTunes for Desktop. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteOh and just read Moeed's Pastebin and I have to say I stopped after the first couple of paragraphs, what angle are you judging this from? Totally unbelivably invalid points. To sum it up, you are saying: "This just seems like speculation, or something that happens to you", "...This is a non issue.", "This isn't an issue at all.", a lot (if not every) point you are making is just well this isn't a problem, this is your take on it etc. but you are doing exactly the same thing yourself! It's total contradiction, it is your opinion about someone else's opinion, so the whole thing kind of just nullifies itself. Don't know if you've ever been actively apart of design process, but it's not purely based on data / successful hit targets etc. and user's opinions, there is tons of thought coming directly from a team or even an individual designer that finally shapes a product.
ReplyDeleteicon banding?
ReplyDeleteThere are some nice ideas here, extremely well presented.
ReplyDeleteI have developed my own music player app and so wanted to add some comment here. My main criticism with the iOS app is that it hasn't dealt with it's subject matter sensitively and respectively enough, you have all this wildly different music artwork that no UI is going to always look great with. I think some of the solutions above seem quite "gmail" to me, great for emails, but great for music?
In terms of interface I went down the line of exploring hidden controls, while keeping the gestures intuitive (many other 3rd party music apps are obsessed with multi-finger gestures).
It's called Sleevenote, it has a grid view similar to above but how do you get to it? - you pinch out (ie you zoom out), how do you get to tracks? - you flip the cover over just like a real album, and then, hey cool, the back is colour matched to the artwork.
I've just made it free so everyone can try it out - http://Sleevenote.info/App_Store, video at http://Sleevenote.info
[don't mean to hi-jack this discussion but I feel this is relevant - bring on the debate]
Tom
I like your app but I could only seem to stay in one album, I couldn't see my other songs :p
Deletethis is very similar to y music app project for android, did you inspired yourself for your app or do we have the same expectaions for a music player app ^^
ReplyDeletehere is my XDA thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2282029
take a look :)
jesus... you android lovers are the worst of the worst when it comes to trolling.. don't you realize that everything inspires everything or are you just ignorant.
Deletejust kidding, I love his work because it's really looks like one of my idea and it's nice that every platform can get great apps, iOS and Android ad android get now some great apps in terms of design (sometimes, to me, better than iPhone :P)
DeleteI really like this concept, and it is literally the only iOS 7 concept I've even liked so far! Kudos to you!
ReplyDeleteJust a couple questions:
1.) If you find the volume slider touch targets small, why did you add what look like similar sized ones for the xtra controls in the "Now Playing" view? They looks really, really small in Dashboard view, especially.
2.) Is there really any benefit of that small a progress bar? It seems like it would be hard to discern it against the constantly changing colours under it in the album art view.
3.) I'm not so sure about flyouts for the playlists and other info. I like their use in the "Up Next" pane, but one a screen that tall, I really don't see the benefit of adding another bunch of clicks just to save that much real estate.
Also, I've a got a suggestion for you: Do you use Fantastical? Do you know how you can tap on the date in the DayTicker and it opens up a menu to allow you to jump to any date? I think a pop-up thing like that suits "Up Next" better. You can have the name of the view you're in instead of the now playing bar, which reverts back to it's old button, and have the up next menu pop up on clicking the view you're on.
I'm really thinking that flyouts are a big fad and are going to pass soon. The Facebook app for iOS, one of the early pioneers of those is also chucking them out, as some images randomly selected beta testers for their new interface suggest. The new iOS 7 Music should also be expected to last for another half-decade or so, and basing it on what might be a passing trend doesn't seem to be the right way. That really is one of the reasons I'm convinced iOS 7 WON't go flat.
Hope my input helps/ matters!
Would definitely pay for this on Cydia. Up to 5 bucks!
ReplyDeleteI'm also not too sure about the icon having a black background. Maybe a white perhaps?
DeleteI love this so much. You should release this concept as a standalone app if iOS 7's music app is lackluster
ReplyDeleteI unfortunately do not know how to code, but anyone is more than welcome to give it a go! I'd be interested in seeing a working product!
DeleteThe album list looks beautiful. But i think the real power in music apps comes from an easy and pleasant navigation experience. The artist list is a key feature and it's absent in the design.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of an app that learns my play patterns and suggests connections from these, my whole library and any new music I add or favorite in apps like Soundcloud, Grooveshark or Lastfm.
This is a great visual proposal, but I think it would benefit from good navigation interaction. There are many types of users: album listeners, list listeners, artist listeners, genre, etc.
Could have just said let's make iTunes work like Spotify.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your wonderful comment. It was really helpful!
DeleteI love this.
ReplyDeleteOnly one change: I'd rather have a Ratings icon up top instead of the AirPlay icon. AirPlay generally shows up next to the volume slider when connected, which logically makes sense since it is a sound output option.
You my friend are indeed a genius.
ReplyDeleteThis music app concept is beautifully designed and executed. Keeping things simple to allow the user to focus on the music and artwork.
The up next feature is something that is a must for ios7. My only concern with placing the add to up next in the swipe to delete is some people may accidentally delete the song they infact intended on listening to.
I always thought an easy way to over come this was to add a long press option (which at the moment shows the details of the song which is already being displayed so pointless)
hold on a song in which the black bubble appears in which would have an option to add to upnext or add to a playlist.
Just a thought.
Very good concept!
ReplyDeleteGreat!!!
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/cromozooom/status/342194909652062208
ReplyDeleteamazing concept. very nice.
ReplyDeleteFind all the video concepts of iOS7 here:
ReplyDeletehttp://iosapps.com/iOS7-concepts
Да говно, йоу!
ReplyDeleteI like your concept, hope something similar is implemented.
ReplyDeleteWhile the features of the app and presentation of this article is absolutely fantastic, I am not feeling settled about the aesthetic of the design. To me, it looks unfinished. It also is inconsistent - from the glossy icon, to the gradient header, to the depthless icons.
ReplyDeleteAs a designer, I like all forms of design aesthetic, from well executed and appropriate skeuomorphic designs to minimal flat designs - no bias here. But, in all honesty, I sincerely hope that iOS doesn't look like this through and through. Flat design can promote a more immediate thinking about UX, but there is an undeniable draw to the tactile feeling of design with more depth and texture. I think Google is playing in a great area with their design that is minimal, but not lacking depth. Pure flat (Layervault style) is just not for everyone, nor does it solve all problems.
I really appreciate you putting this up though, and invite others to talk about it!
Wow. Well done. Lucky Apple. They don't have to worry about designing their own apps anymore...Talented designers are doing it for fun!!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a pretty ideal marriage of flat and depth, good UI AND UX, and just aesthetically beautiful. Great job!!
The Google Music App for Android is better
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhy is there no developer working on this?
ReplyDeleteDevelopers are. Its already made in Cydia.
DeleteFound it in the repo: repo.kdogisthebest.com
I really love this concept. Does anyone know any software i can use to create concept designs like this?
ReplyDeleterepo.kdogisthebest.com
ReplyDeleteI came onto your blog while focusing just slightly submits. Nice strategy for next, I will be bookmarking at once seize your complete rises
ReplyDeletemac music player
Selling your house is something you'll have to do maybe just a few times in your life. And unless you know a local real estate agent who will sell your house for free or a hugely discounted commission... it can be a real pain in the rear and an expensive process for you as well. This article walks you through how to sell your house by yourself. https://hellorad.io/marketing-strategies/music-marketing-plan-planning-for-a-successful-music-release/
ReplyDelete