A Study of Amazon music in Apple CarPlay.
Introduction
The goal was to study how a music application is different in CarPlay from one in mobile. The cognitive load on the user while driving and fiddling with the controls of a screen is high. The basic requirements of applications are to support brief interactions and never command the driver’s attention. On-screen information is minimal, relevant, and requires little decision-making. (Apple Interface Guidelines)
With a study on the Human Interface guidelines set by Apple, a study was done in the existing interface and had user feedback from 2 other participants. Participants use the application when commuting to work and back.
During the testing, some issues were reported technical in nature like providing content when data is not available was encountered which did make the user wait and kept glancing at the screen in short intervals.
The flat navigation style followed had 3 tabs namely My Music, Station, and Playlist, under each tab, there are more headings that are arranged in hierarchical order. The flow diagram of the CarPlay is given below.
For the detailed view click here
From the study of the interactions, the minimum number of steps to start off with a new playlist in a moving car is 4. which is as follows.
-
MY MUSIC(Home screen) > RECENTS(Opens list of albums or song ) > ALBUM 1(shows the playlist under it) > PLAY (shuffle option)
-
STATIONS> ALBUM 1> PLAY (while playing option to like or dislike songs)
​
Inference
The user is glancing on the screen in between while selecting the album and then selecting to start the song. One tap extra is being taken.
​
The recent tab in my music consists of songs and playlists so once one song (which is a part of one playlist ) starts playing it plays random set of songs which the user skips in between and which makes the user experience bad.
The basic idea of making car play apps a slippy one and not a sticky one, a reduction in the number of steps is to accomplish the task and the idea of good design is invisible is most fitting in automobile UX.
Findings
-
Making the flat navigation more relevant by either removing or rethinking overlapping terms like recent which is spread and has similarity and confuses users which are under my music and Playlist.
-
The users usually searched the tab under recently played under my music tab mostly. an issue faced during it was the song next in the queue was at most times skipped and had to navigate to the playlist tab to select the last played playlist.
-
Organize the tabs under My music to be more usable by either grouping or rethinking hierarchy.
-
The users had encountered some instances where they were forced to unlock the phone and open amazon music to start music playing in car play.
-
Keeping the UI similar to the one that is already used so that users won't be confused.
The new user flow can be illustrated as given below.
For the detailed view click here
​
Wireframe
The wireframe illustrates how the user will be able to access and play the songs the user wants.
UI
The UI is done in accordance with the best practices as set by the guidelines by apple. The result is a familiar look and ease of understanding.
​
Key takeaways​
​
This was an interesting case study one creating a slippy design rather than the sticky design followed for websites and applications. ​