The Project

While interning at Domo, I also owned and operated a recording studio in Provo, UT; home to the likes of Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees. As part of our company strategy, I conducted research and designed an application for helping musicians network.

Mingo is a location-based social search mobile app where musicians can find new friends to form a band. It’s designed to quickly and easily discover instrumentalists and vocalists with similar tastes, goals, and skill sets.

“Mingo” is a play on the words “mingle” and “bingo,” indicating a platform where users network to find a match. Need a bassist? Bingo. Eli’s your guy.

Exploratory Research

Before I began designing this application, I first conducted exploratory research to determine what needs and pain points musicians were facing. My exploratory methodologies included:

Field observations
Interviews
User Surveys

Through my research, I narrowed down networking as one of the biggest pain points. Musicians need a networking tool that is designed to help them find those closet musicians who’d love to play in a band if they just knew what was out there.

86%

of DIY musicians struggle finding
the right bandmates.

71%

of bands go through a line-up
change in the first year.

57%

of bands have spent over 6 months with a vacancy.

Musicians need help finding those **closet musicians** who’d love to play in their band.

In addition to the survey, I interviewed several musicians one-on-one to discover common pain points.

“I don’t even know how to
begin networking.”
“It’s difficult to find musicians who are equally passionate.”

User Research

Affinity Diagram

I took my findings to the whiteboard and constructed an affinity diagram to better organize musicians’ tasks and priorities when organizing a band.

Currently, musicians use word of mouth or turn to existing social media platforms to find bandmates. Commonly, they end up with bandmates that aren’t a good fit for their music.

Comparative Assessment

In addition to my affinity diagram, I conducted a comparative assessment that examined the tools musicians are currently using to network. This allowed me to establish best practices and expected features based on apps and tools musicians are currently using. The apps and tools I assessed were:

Facebook
Instagram
Spotify
App Music
Snapchat
Bandcamp

User Personas

Based on my research, I made user personas to help guide future design decisions. The personas encapsulate the behaviors, goals, needs, and frustrations I found most prevalent in the music community.

My personas include:

Indie Rocker Andy
Skilled Sarah
Tag Along Tucker
New-To-The-Scene Nate

Red “Need” Analysis

The Red Need Analysis is a creation of my own, adapted from a Red Route Analysis. Here, I’ve organized needs by how often they occur and how many musicians experience them.

Market Viability

Musicians aren’t the only creators that need an application like this. Creatives across many disciplines are frequently looking for teams to bring their ideas to life. These disciplines include:

Graphic Design
Video Game Development
Animation, Storyboarding, and Narrative Design
Music
Event Planning
Video Production and Acting

Ultimately, the need to find and collaborate with individuals with specialized skills in the creative space isn’t fully realized in any app currently on the market.

User Flows

I started my initial designs of the app with extremely low fidelity drawings. I then conducted usability testing to determine expectations and app requirements. I worked through several different iterations before I arrived at my final user flow.

The kicker? I unintentionally designed something very similar to Tinder, but for musicians. It makes sense. People like what they’re used to, and it’s a social matching system that works. The difference here is that musicians are looking for people with the right musical skills and taste rather than a romantic match.