We initially asked..
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What platform can potentially support our virtual community?
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What strategies are used by labels to ensure revenue for them and their artists?
Improving the concert experience
through a Hulu/Live Nation Partnership
Solution:
We reformed Hulu's livestreaming capabilities— creating a new experience that helps artists connect with their fans more, sell more tickets and sell more merch. This helps artist raise more money for themselves instead of their labels getting the majority of their money.
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Role: I was responsible for conducting interviews to gain insight, wireframing the look of the livestream prototype, as well as created the animated storyboards that follows how different user will use certain features. I also had support from 3 other designers.
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Industry: Streaming, Concert
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Created:
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44 rough ideas (Crazy 8s)
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5 paper wireframes
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3 user flows
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5 Story boards
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2 mobile screen prototypes
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Duration: 4 months
So what are the facts?
From our research we gathered these key data points:
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The global live performance industry was valued at $653 billion in 2022.
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Hulu is the 6th largest streaming platform and regularly broadcasts live events.
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The sale of one T-shirt can generate the same level of revenue as tens of thousands of streams.
Hulu and Live Nation have partnered with Spotify, who also sells tickets and merchandise. We ideated that the Hulu/Live Nation collaboration allows fans to conveniently purchase tickets and merch from home and connects fans with artists in new ways beyond Spotify's capabilities.
Based on our interviews and surveys we found that:
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Fans often invest in merchandise as a way to cherish memorable experiences.
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Wearing their favorite artists' merchandise allows fans to easily identify and connect with other enthusiasts.
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Waiting in line and potentially missing out on the concert can lead to frustration among attendees.
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Exclusive and regular merchandise are prone to selling out quickly.
Fans are uncertain where to pre-order merchandise.
After our research, we needed to..
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Offer a streamlined method for concert attendees to purchase merchandise conveniently.
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Foster a sense of community among concert attendees to encourage merchandise sales.
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Harness the potential of contemporary technologies.
We found out that concert-goers prioritize:
1. Convenience
2. Community
3. Connection
So we used that as our guiding statement and asked ourselves:
Time to narrow 48 ideas into 5 features!
After collecting the data, we used 3 methods in order to come up with solutions to our issue, narrowing down which ones are realistically achievable, then finalizing 5 ideas that we can flesh out into feasible features.
Helped us ideate potential solutions
Then we categorize the ones that were easiest to execute
Finally, we divided the best ideas into 5 main features
Helped us ideate potential solutions
Next, creating the rough draft:
Now that we had our ideas, we started going into our developing phase and created 5 wireframes to capture the look of our features across multiple devices. Then, we created 3 user flows in order to understand how the feature will actually function. Next, we created 2 personas then tied a narrative around them in order to see the benefit of our creation. Finally, we crafted 5 storyboards, which included 2 animated storyboards that was developed by me to get a more accurate feel of how certain features will function in real life scenarios.
Were developed to highlight the features of our update to Hulu Livestreaming
Were developed to place users in realistic scenarios where they would use this service
Show how our features would adhere to Hulu's brand guidelines
Were developed to highlight the features of our update to Hulu Livestreaming
Scenario 1: Owen stays home, creates a livestream avatar, and enjoys a livestreamed concert with his friend.
Scenario 2: Alondra avoids the line by pre-ordering merch through Hulu, her song request went through, and people in line play trivia.
Challenges I faced: Hooking the stakeholders
The root of our issues stemmed from identifying the issue we wanted to solve, we had numerous problem statement concepts that didn’t make the cut due to it being too wordy and complex. which would make it difficult to pitch to stakeholders. One concept I came up with was "Long lines at concert venues have caused fans to be disheartened about supporting merch, which has made record labels lose profit on sales. How might we improve the purchasing experience in person and online in order to boost revenue? How might we implement merch purchasing through livestreams as well?" While it was strong and factual, when testing it on other people, they didn't seem certain on the how our specific solution would be beneficial.
So, we needed to "dumb it down" into a more feasible question. So broke our analysis into pieces, established what we issue people were having, questioned what we wanted to solve, and established the factors we wanted to solve. Then we need to come up with a question that insinuates that this idea will open new possibilities of revenue while staying true to the stakeholder's goal.
Broken Down:
New Statement:
Problem: Buying merch at concerts can be really annoying/ There’s no way to buy live merch when watching a livestream
Statement: How can we make labels more money when their customers are watching through Hulu?/How can we increase the merch purchasing process at concerts?
Solution: Simplify the buying process; improve online accessibility; enhancing the pipeline
How might we build stronger connections between fans and artists?
Final Designs
Virtual Concert Lobby Prototype
This shows how the user can create their own character and wait for the concert to start.
Live Concert Prototype
This shows how the user can join the live and buy merch while watching the concert. They are also able to fill out personal questions to personalize their account.
Preorder and Virtual queue Prototype
This shows how the user can preorder merch as well as participate in pre-concert voting for songs that can be performed.
Takeaways: How the project affects users and the business
With these new features, Hulu's rank will be able to better compete with other platforms that offer livestreaming services, like Twitch and YouTube. We also provide Live Nation with a presence in the virtual live events space. Lastly, the user will have a whole new livestream/ in-person experience due to the games we included to boost user engagement.