Role:
Product Designer (Solo)
Deliverables:
Personas, Competitor Audit, Wireframes, Design System, UI Screens, Prototype
Duration
8 weeks (Jan–Mar 2025)
Tool Used:
Figma, FigJam, Notion
Notehub: Designing a Collaborative Platform for Indie Artists
summary.
Indie musicians are underserved by today’s mainstream platforms. While Spotify and SoundCloud focus on distribution, and Instagram rewards visibility, none of them support the actual creative journey—where collaboration, feedback, and growth happen. As a result, artists are stitching together workflows using Drive, Discord, WhatsApp, and DAWs not built for mobile or community.
Notehub was born to fill that gap.
the problem.
Indie artists rely on scattered tools (Drive, WhatsApp, Discord, BandLab) to create and collaborate
Existing platforms focus on listeners, not creators
Feedback is shallow or absent (likes ≠ critique)
Promotion requires constant content creation, leading to burnout
Monetization is exploitative (e.g. <$0.01 per stream)
No mobile-first, creator-centric platform exists to unify creation, community, and income
Core problem: Artists lack a space to create, connect, and earn—all in one place.
the goal.
Unify the creator workflow in a single mobile-first platform (collab, feedback, publishing).
Foster meaningful peer feedback
Foster a community for artists to share and grow
Support authentic music discovery through human-curated scenes and artist-led playlists
Empower fair monetization via tips
research.
Research Goal
To understand how independent and underground musicians discover music, collaborate remotely, seek feedback, promote their work, and monetize their creativity — and to identify the gaps and frustrations they face across existing tools and platforms.
Methodology
1. User Interviews
Conducted 6 interviews (via Zoom and DMs) with indie artists across UK, Lagos, NYC, and Egypt. Participants included DJs, beatmakers, bedroom producers, rappers, and singer-songwriters. Each interview focused on day-to-day creative workflows, tool usage, emotional highs and lows, and friction points in collaboration and discovery.
2. Online Research
Scanned 60+ threads on Reddit communities like r/WeAreTheMusicMakers, r/BedroomBands, and r/IndieHeads.
3. Persona Simulation Based on Data
Synthesized real-world frustrations into a persona:
Jamal Carter (25, DJ/Producer, NYC) – discovery-focused, deeply collaborative, jaded by algorithmic gatekeeping.
Research Questions
How do indie musicians currently discover new music and artists?
What tools do they use to collaborate remotely, and what’s frustrating about them?
Where do they turn for feedback, and how meaningful is it?
How do they promote their music and grow an audience?
How do they monetize their work, and what do they wish existed?
insights.
Collaboration is broken
Feedback is shallow or missing
Promotion feels performative
Monetization is exploitative
Creators want community, not clout
process.
Research & Synthesis
Conducted interviews and ethnographic research across Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and app store reviews. Affinity-mapped insights into five core themes: discovery, collaboration, feedback, promotion, and monetization.Persona & Journey Mapping
Developed primary personas—Jamal Carter mapped his workflows across track discovery, collaboration setup, feedback loops, and monetization triggers.Information Architecture
Structured the app around five core domains: Home, Discover, Collab, and Profile. Designed for dual-mode access (creator vs listener) and optimized for mobile-first deep linking and low-friction engagement.Wireframes & Flowcharts
Sketched low-to-mid fidelity wireframes for track playback, studio room and feedback flow. Mapped key user flows: async collab, posting, tipping, and draft publishing.Style Guide & Components
Defined a music-native visual language using Tailwind-based tokens, vue icons, and accessible dark/light modes. Built mobile UI patterns for waveform commenting, scene navigation, and creator support interactions.
solution.
PeerPapers is a mobile-first academic marketplace designed for fast, trusted, and course-specific study material exchange.
Core Features:
Scene-Based Discovery
Find artists and tracks by location, genre, vibe, or role. No algorithms, just human-curated digests and playlists.Real-Time Collaboration
Join or start Collab Rooms with producers, vocalists, or engineers. Upload stems, chat in sync, and manage projects in one shared mobile workspace.Feedback
Give and receive critique directly on the waveform. Comments are pinned to exact moments in the track and filterable by contributor role.Direct Artist Support
Tip artists directly on tracks or profiles using Apple Pay or Stripe. No cuts, no middlemen—just fair, transparent support.
Discovery
Scene Explorer: Navigate by city, genre, or moo.d.
Curated Playlists: Created by artists, not algorithms — focused on originality over virality
Similar Artists: Smart suggestions based on collab history, role, and style
Adding Collaborators
Collab Invite System: Search and invite artists by and allow them to view and edit the file.
Leaving Feedback
Add precise notes directly in your project within the DAW studio on the platform.
Tipping an Artist
One-Tap Support: Listeners can tip directly on tracks or artist profiles via Apple Pay / Stripe
Suggested Amounts: Let artists define default tip levels (e.g. $2, $5, $10)
Transparency: Artists see real-time earnings, no platform cuts
final designs.
what I learned.
Community > Content
Artists don’t want to perform for algorithms—they want meaningful, trust-based collaboration and feedback.Mobility unlocks creativity
Designing for mobile-first workflows forced me to rethink traditional DAW UX and prioritize async creation.Designing for dual personas is a balancing act
Serving both creators and listeners required careful navigation of context switching, intent, and UI clarity.
