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Mint Condition Studios C r e a t i v e T e c h n o l o g y
OFFICE
119 Kelley Road Fredericksburg, VA 22405
PHONE
703-629-4374
WEB
http://www.mintconditionstudios.com
ITUNES USABILITY REVIEW AND DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
BRIAN A. WOOD
APPROACH iTunes is huge. It has a ton of functionality and features. Rather than trying to complete a total redesign in the amount of time provided, I instead focused on a quick and dirty UX review and tried to identify items that could be redesigned or reworked to improve user experience. I used a combination of Balsamic and Photoshop (with a smattering of other tools) to create the mockups.
PROCESS 1) Heuristic Review
a. Review the application and note usability problems or issues 2) User Research
a. Ask other current users about their experience, pain points, etc. 3) Competitive analysis
a. Look for alternatives 4) Design potential solutions to discovered problems/issues 5) Review solutions with users (not performed) 6) Iterate if needed (following #5)
HEURISTIC FINDINGS A heuristic review was performed to analyze the application. No formal heuristics were employed, other than the analysts general familiarity with usability best practices and the generalities of Neilsen’s heuristics. (http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-‐‑usability-‐‑heuristics/).
• iTunes has just undergone a major redesign. Is it time for a complete overhaul? • Perhaps additional education is a possibility. There’s a lot here. Do users understand what’s
available? • There are a LOT of things going on in iTunes now. Music Library, Radio, TV, Movies, Store, App &
Device management, some of these are legacy. (Do people still plug their iPhone into the computer? – User Question)
• iTunes is hampered by this legacy o Need to focus the main function of the app, and possibly move legacy or other functionality
out (Such as Device Management?) • Search is cumbersome
o Drops search criteria when switching contexts such as local to store • Much of the reaction to iTunes is based on it’s pedigree as a Media Manager. This is going to see a
shift as Music and the rumored TV services come online and iTunes becomes a portal for these services
o How much is iTunes an afterthought as iOS and TV are the prime consumers of media?
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USER FINDINGS Quick “user research” was conducted through Google searches (such as “I hate iTunes because” and “iTunes Usability Problems) and simple FB and web forum posts. This should by no means be construed as a scientific analysis of iTunes.
• Search issues o Keep search criteria when switching context
• Users express frustration with lack of distinction between “owned” music and cloud music avail through Music
o This seems to be by design. Apple is currently down playing music purchases, pushing the streaming library and reducing the distinction between what is “owned” and what is available
o It’s all just “music” now
o One expects that as TV and other media comes into play this distinction will fade even further
• Much frustration from legacy or “edge case” users. “I used to use it this way, now it’s different”
o Valid, but ultimately limiting. If functionality is needed, move to another experience/app
• Found many issues raised by users that were actually possible. One user
complained about the fact that podcasts, iTunes U, etc. are hidden behind the ellipsis in the tools, but this is customizable in the menu, allowing a user to surface any of these items, if they choose (see captures at right)
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Online review of “iTunes Alternatives” uncovered several applications recommended instead of iTunes.
• In a review, most alternatives seem to address one or two perceived issues with iTunes, but then lack other functions and features
• User Experience is worse than iTunes in most desktop applications o Tend to be overly list/database looking or highly skeuomorphic (See “Fidelia” above
resembling a physical stereo
• Better comparisons would be to sites/apps like Hulu, Spotify, Netflix, HBONow
Figure 2. Edit allows user to surface
additional sections
Figure 4. Swinsion Figure 3. Fidelia
Figure 7. Hulu Figure 6. Netflix Figure 5. Spotify
Figure 1. Section Selectors
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o These sites specialize in surfacing content from a vast library and have dispensed with the list method altogether
o Good search is crucial o So are recommendations and social connections
SPECIFIC DESIGN CHANGES REORDER DEVICE AND SETTINGS ON MOUNTED IOS DEVICE
• There is an inconsistency when mounting an iOS Device. The application becomes something that doesn’t fit into the mental model of the rest of the app, with “Settings” and “On My Device” down the left side.
o This might be functionality to move to another app, at this point, and leave iTunes a media manager
o In addition, a more likely use of this functionality is to move content to the device from the computer, because of this, the order of “Settings” and “On My Device” should be inverted, with “On My Device” at the top
ADD ABILITY TO LOAD/MANAGE NEW SOURCES OF CONTENT
• One user (who is deeply into music and the music scene) complained about iTunes’ lack of ability to manage new sources of content
o “It's a ****** mess and doesn't work at all with new media. New music comes out on soundcloud, beatport, bandcamp, and sometimes amazon. Managing all of that manually to get it into itunes is frustrating.”
o This comment is worth exploring. Is this a customer iTunes cares about? If so, that’s a strong reaction.
o This is explored later in the “Blue Sky Idea: Device Loader”
UNIVERSAL PLAYLISTS AND LOADING • The method for adding content to Playlists or Devices, is unintuitive
Figure 8. Device Mounted (Redesigned – Note “On My Device” on top, Settings below)
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o Should be able to drag-‐‑and-‐‑drop any Desktop content to the playlist or device from anywhere in the app, as easily as building a playlist. (See Figure 9.)
• This is a legacy function, but based on research, still used. For those users that do this task, it’s crucial and so making it easier will contribute to a better overall experience.
• Additionally, rather that continue to move this function into the background, Apple should consider splitting the function off into its own application.
TV AND EPISODIC VIDEO OVERHAUL
• Redo the TV Section to more closely resemble the music/radio sections, and Hulu/Netflix/HBONow
o Make experience more like traditional “TV Guide” or Netflix/Hulu – Make it possible to start watching right away
Figure 10. TV Section Redesign
Figure 9. Mockup showing always available device and playlist access
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o Show recently released shows (Season Pass downloads or purchases) in a playlist called “What’s on” or “Unwatched”
o Consider (USER TEST!!! Too Obnoxious? Likely…) trailers, promotional graphics or even “Next time on” videos in the view frame when not playing.
o Consider allowing integration with other video sources (podcasts, Youtube, Vimeo, etc) so that episodic video is all in the same place.
MORE SYSTEM FEEDBACK WHEN USER ATTEMPTS FUNCTION THAT CAN’T WORK
• When listening to Beats One Radio, option exists to “Add to My Music”, (See Figure) but this often doesn’t work (several users reported, and testing validates that this is rarely functional).
o Instead, if there are reasons music can’t be added (rights or whatever) prevent user from thinking they have added it. And offer a “?” to explain why.
Figure 13. Can't Add to My Music from Beats One (Original)
Figure 12. Prevent User from adding if not possible. (Redesign)
Figure 11. TV Redesign Mockup
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ENSURE FULL TEXT OF TITLES IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE
• Certain screens cut off song (or TV or Movie) titles, and show an ellipsis (…) but it’s never possible to show these, even hovering over them or clicking on them does not display full title
o Resolve this by allowing titles to flow to a second line and if there is still not enough space, use tool tip on hover to show entire title
o In addition, change the highlight from a dark blue as black on blue is low contrast and hard
to read ERROR HANDLING
• Technical -‐‑ Continue to review and refine errors and error handling o When iTunes does something the user doesn’t expect, they see it as an error even if it’s
intentional and a new way of doing something. Instead, be more transparent about failures and what iTunes is “supposed” to do
SEARCH CONSISTENCY
• Search – Rebuild search so that it is consistent across all contexts. o As the user transitions from one to another context, keep search criteria visible and active
(rather than forcing them to re-‐‑enter search when going into the store, for instance) o Combine local, cloud, and store results with iconography to distinguish local, cloud-‐‑based,
or available for purchase.
BLUESKY IDEA: DEVICE LOADER In response to several user comments about how they still primarily saw iTunes as a method of loading content on the device, and Apple’s moves away from this as a central function of iTunes, a concept was created for a Device Loader application which would be separate from iTunes. In addition to accessing the user’s iTunes and local content (managed in iTunes), the Device Loader (better name needed) would have hooks to connect to other sources. An open API would allow sites to connect directly to the iOS device and the Loader would then allow the user to browse content from multiple sources and load that content onto their iOS device.
Figure 15. Listing showing truncated title (Original) Figure 14. Listing showing full title on second line (Redesign)
Figure 18. Local Content
Figure 16. Downloadable/Streaming Content
Figure 17. Purchasable Content
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Figure 20. Device Loader -‐‑ iTunes Load
Figure 19. Device Loader – SoundCloud Load
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(This approach is contrary to a number of licensing, Apple business practices, and other things, but the blue sky concept is sound: give users a single point of entry to load content from any source onto their device.)
CONCLUSION In the few hours of investigation, it becomes obvious that there are opportunities to improve iTunes user experience. Any such effort will require a great deal of consideration and definition of exactly what the purpose of the application is to be going forward. Refinement of that role and purpose, focus on improving that experience, and removal or replacement of extraneous functions will improve user experience.
