Today in class we had a critique for our music screens that we have been designing over the past weeks. I received feedback from both my lecturer and also from my classmates as we were able to leave comments on each others work using a system called “Start Stop Continue”. I mostly received positive feedback but I still had some things to work on and fix. Here are the critique points that I was received from my lecturer and class mates:

Hierarchy on Home Page

The first critique was that it was hard to distinguish the hierarchy of my home page and that it also felt a little cluttered, so what I done to fix this was making the top section vertically longer so that everything was more spaced out. I also moved down the next two sections and added more spacing in between the sections to fix the cluttering issue. I am happy how this turned out and think that it looks much better.

Before Critique

Before Critique

After Critique

After Critique

Icons on MIXR Page

The next critique points was that the icons on the MIXR play page weren’t consistent with the rest of the icons throughout the rest of the screens. This was because they were taller. This was a pretty simple fix as all I had to do was to copy the icons that I had used on a different page and enlarge them to fit the size that I wanted them to be on the MIXR play page. On this page I also added a “End Session” button, which allowed the user to end the session, as I forgot to add this previously.

Before Critique

Before Critique

After Critique

After Critique

Instruments on MIXR Genre Page

The next critique point that I received was on my MIXR genre selection page, and it was to make the images of instruments larger. This fix also didn’t take too long and I also think that it made it look a lot better.

Before Critique

Before Critique

After Critique

After Critique

Search Bar

The final critique point that I was given was to make the search bar on the search page longer. This overall looks a lot better as it makes the screen more even and symmetrical. Another change that I made was changing the text in the search bar, as before it just said “Search”. I wanted to try and continue the casual tone of voice so I changed it to “Find music you’ll love”. I think that this feels a lot more informal and casual than before, and both of these changes made the page overall a lot better.

Before Critique

Before Critique

After Critique

After Critique

Reflection

Overall I enjoyed todays critique and thought that it was super beneficial for me. It was great to hear feedback from my lecturer and my classmates on what I have been working on the past few weeks. I also thought it was insightful to be able to look at what other people in my class were doing, and seeing what I can learn from them. One thing that was emphasised throughout the critique session was “sweating the details”, which simply means trying hard to make sure that all the little details are considered and perfected.