Waves

Responsive E-Commerce Site for a Music Label

Sector

Music Industry, E-Commerce

The Challenge

An underground drum and bass label, established in 2011, planned to launch a sister label called Waves, focusing on dubstep and garage music. The objective was to create a responsive e-commerce website to help fans explore and purchase music, enhancing the label's online presence.

My Role

Stakeholder Interviews; Competitive Analysis; User Research; Responsive Design

Project Time

5 days

#TheKickoff

An underground drum and bass label, founded in 2011, is expanding its reach with a new sister label, Waves, dedicated to dubstep and garage music. Launching on May 1st, Waves aims to captivate a broader audience with its slower, danceable beats. To support this expansion, the company needed a dedicated website where fans could explore, engage, and immerse themselves in the new musical direction.

Through an interview with the label’s stakeholders, we identified the website’s key functional requirements:

General Label Information: A dedicated page to educate visitors about the label and its vision.
Artist Submission Form: A space for artists to submit their music, fostering content creation and potential revenue streams.
Artist Profiles and Social Media Integration: A hub for artist information with direct links to their social platforms to boost engagement.
Events Information: A section to keep fans updated on upcoming events and gatherings.
Intuitive Navigation and Holding Page: A seamless navigation structure with a holding page linking to external platforms.

With these insights, we conducted a competitive analysis to understand industry best practices and pinpoint opportunities for differentiation.

A Surprisingly Engaging Business Analysis

I won’t sugarcoat it—our competitors were impressive. We analyzed three similar companies, assigning each team member a detailed review of one competitor’s website. Our analysis uncovered several critical pain points:

Overly niche offerings limit user engagement.
Missing menu icons on some pages, disrupting navigation.
Homepages are overly focused on merchandise instead of music.
Non-functional music play buttons are frustrating to users.
Confusing headers and cluttered layouts.
Lack of easily accessible contact pages.

Identifying these gaps reinforced the importance of user-friendly design, leading us directly to our next step—understanding our users.

Understanding Our Users: Insights from Research

Crafting the interview guide for the stakeholder was challenging, and designing survey questions felt like planning a mission to Mars (glad I didn’t become an astronaut!). However, we persevered, ensuring our questions aligned with both business goals and user needs.

The survey received 50 responses, allowing us to conduct follow-up interviews and uncover key insights:

Users seek a quick and straightforward way to purchase high-quality music.
Many potential customers hesitate to buy music online due to usability barriers.
There’s strong interest in a streaming feature alongside digital purchases.

These findings shaped our problem statement:

"Music enthusiasts who prefer to buy or stream music online need a reliable and efficient platform, as existing solutions are often confusing and hinder transactions."

With this core issue defined, we began exploring solutions.

Ideation: Crafting a Seamless Experience

Our brainstorming process was dynamic and fast-paced. Using the Crazy 8s technique, we generated eight ideas in eight minutes, ultimately identifying ten promising solution categories. We prioritized the following must-have features:

Personalized recommendations to introduce users to new music.
A seamless cart page for easy music selection and purchase.
A demo feature allowing users to preview tracks before buying.
A streamlined checkout process to enhance usability and transaction speed.

We translated these ideas into wireframes, refining our concept through iterative testing.

From Wireframes to High-Fidelity Design

Building a low-fidelity prototype allowed us to test core features early. The initial version wasn’t perfect—but that’s exactly the point of prototyping. User feedback guided our refinements and helped us define a compelling visual style.

The Look & Feel

Inspired by user descriptions of the label’s music—strong, loud, psychedelic, retrofuture, and summery/chilled—we developed a vibrant brand identity. The stakeholder’s vision of pink against a sleek black backdrop guided our design choices, resulting in an aesthetic that visually mirrors the music’s energy.

Ensuring accessibility across devices was crucial, so we began designing the mobile version of the site. By prioritizing responsiveness, we created an experience that remains functional and engaging whether accessed from a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

Key Takeaways

Getting Started - Initially, we felt lost, but direct communication with the stakeholder clarified our direction—a reminder that asking the right questions is key.

Learning from Competitors - Analyzing other labels’ websites wasn’t as tedious as expected; it revealed what worked, what didn’t, and how we could improve upon existing models.

User Research is Everything - Crafting effective surveys was harder than anticipated, but stepping into our users’ shoes helped us design a more intuitive experience.

Personas Make Problems Tangible - Imagining a music buyer in Berlin struggling with confusing websites solidified our problem statement and guided our solutions.

Brainstorming Sparks Innovation - Our Crazy 8s session proved that the best ideas come from collective creativity.

Iteration Leads to Excellence - Our first prototype wasn’t flawless, but user feedback helped us refine and improve.

Visuals Should Match the Vibes - Designing based on descriptive keywords (e.g., psychedelic, retrofuture) helped us craft a UI that truly resonates with the label’s audience.

Mobile-First Mindset - Starting early on the responsive design ensured the website worked seamlessly across all devices.

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