Times Capsule Tunes App
Role
UX Designer
Timeline
May 2024 - June 2024
Team
1 PM
1 Back End Engineer
1 Designer
Tools
Figma
Slack
FigJam
Python
Spotipy (API)
Times Capsule Tunes
Time Capsule Tunes is a social app that connects users based on shared music tastes. In addition to group creation and chatting, the app uses Spotify’s API to recommend music — helping spark conversation and new friendships.
Skills
Wireframing
Prototyping
Design Systems
Project Vision
Many platforms like Spotify and Apple Music focus on music discovery as a solo experience. Students at the University of Michigan shared they wanted to connect with others over music. Current tools either lacked social features or were too chaotic for casual users.
Our goal
Build a fun, lightweight space where users can meet others with similar tastes — and discover new music through conversation.
Challenges
1) Unclear what type of social experience users really wanted — individual connections, large forums, or small groups.
2) Difficult to find a feature that made the application stand out to its competitors.
3) Early prototypes risked overwhelming users with too many features at once.
Music Bond
User Research
Conducted a survey with 40 responses and interviewed 8 students
To better understand how we could fill gaps in the current market for social music platforms, I conducted interviews with university students and casual music enthusiasts. From these conversations, my team and I identified several key insights:
Community
User Personas
Meet Morgan Thompson and Samantha Lee, two students at the University of Michigan
Design Process - Ideation and Brainstorming
Include group discovery features
Feature to link private streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud
Award system - badges earned through listening hours, type of music listened too, etc.
Publicly displayed information - can see your friends most listened to artists and songs
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Given the results from our conducted interviews, I sketched out low fidelity concepts to help explore user flow, potential screens and features to assist the concerns of fellow music enthusiasts.
Addressing Pain Points and Challenges
Given the results from our conducted interviews, I sketched out low fidelity concepts to help explore user flow, potential screens and features to assist the concerns of fellow music enthusiasts. In this iteration, users are given the opportunity to:
build music friendships online
provide space for “curation and conversation”
all genres included and any playlist can be made
dedicate areas for music recommendation based on activities
customize groups tailored to your desire
easily find and join music related groups
Solved Challenges
1) Defined what users wanted - smaller groups dedicated to collaboration
discover groups page
can filter by name/members
endless scrolling, can also search
my groups page
contains all of the groups you are a member of
2) Implemented a system that gives out badges for various accolades
listening hours
most listened artists/track
most listened genre
most listened to playlist
3) Limited Information overload by spreading content across pages
Final Prototype
Development
Backend:
Built using Spotipy to pull genre-based recommendations. Stored user group and profile data in JSON for simplicity.
Tech Highlights:
Python + Spotify API
Lightweight JSON database
Responsive, mobile-friendly design
Core Algorithm:
User selects genres of interest
Matches with groups and users
Uses API-powered tool to pull suggestions
Click here for code:
Reflection & Next Steps
Time Capsule Tunes reinforced my passion for designing for community. I learned how much social UX is about crafting safe, fun spaces for people to connect — not just pushing features.
Potential next Iterations:
In-app notifications for new group activity
Music sharing beyond Spotify (YouTube)
Events and listening parties