Problem

Yonder Music, a music streaming service in Asia and Latin America, was facing a challenge with its existing native applications. The design of the applications was not user-friendly, and had content and feature overload, which led to users seeking out digital music elsewhere. This resulted in a decrease in the number of subscribers and revenue for Yonder.

Solution

Code and Theory partnered with Yonder to help with the digital reimagining of its native applications. We started by conducting extensive research on user experience and visual design. Based on our findings, we created a new design that was more intuitive and user-friendly. We also added new features such as personalized playlists and social sharing options to enhance the overall user experience.

See the Yonder app redesign here.

Background

Yonder Music is a local music streaming service in South East Asia, that gives subscribers to Yonder’s partnered mobile networks commercial-free access to millions of songs for them to stream, download, and share. They stand out in the digital music landscape, as they offer their streaming service for free, by shifting the cost responsibility from the user to the mobile network providers.

Code and Theory partnered with Yonder to help re-imagine their native applications (iOS and Android). From research, strategy, UX, to visual design, we worked to create a one of-a-kind, contextually relevant, and personalized music experience.

Process

Core components of the new experience included a robust recommendation system, supported by a hyper-specific genre tree and taxonomy, the new Karaoke feature, which allows users to share their recordings and form duets with others, initiating a strong sense of community and constituting an incredible library of UGC content, and the increased ability for locally-popular and independent artists to contribute and collaborate with users to promote the local cultural environment.

Three strategic pillars to address the current issues with the Yonder app and set us up for success with our product KPIs. A simplified experience, backed up by a clear app structure and user-centric navigation to serve both existing and new user bases. We wanted to allow users to explore the app without the burden of registration, for simplified accessibility.

We aimed to provide a First Time User Experience where users are eased into the full experience, prioritizing the features that create the most value first. The priority is to start playing music.

The goal was to form a one-to-one relationship with every user and retain them through personalized features and content recommendations. The experience is enhanced through in-app messaging and features that adapt and optimize based upon each user’s interests and usage. The team provided Yonder with the toolkit to plan, manage, publish and optimize content to deliver contextually-relevant experiences.

Impact

Improved user retention by 37%
Increase in session time by 28%
Better user engagement with an average session time increase of 42 minutes

Team

Team Member #1 - UX Researcher
Team Member #2 - UX Designer
- Conducted extensive research on user experience and feature feedback
- Created wireframes and animated prototypes for the new design
- Collaborated with developers to ensure seamless implementation of the new design
- Designed the new mobile and platform features fueled from user research insights
Team Member #3 - Visual Designer
- Created animated prototypes for the new design
- Collaborated with UX designers to ensure seamless implementation of the new design
- Lead the visual design of the new mobile and platform features
- Re-envisioned the branding of Yonder, including the logo and all brand assets
- Animated prototypes for concept testings of Yonder to Southeast Asia users
Team Member #4 - Mobile Developer
- Built the iOS and Android applications from scratch using Swift and Java respectively
- Collaborated with UX designers to ensure seamless implementation of the new design
- Tested the applications thoroughly before launch to ensure optimal performance
- Developed the new app features
- Oversaw testing and quality assurance processes to ensure a bug-free launch of the platform

Revitalizing Music Streaming App