Design + Storyboard
Silas opens the app on his phone and a loading screen is shown. It automatically transitions to the next screen when the app has finished loading.
Silas is shown a menu page that lists his saved sketches (each entry is a button). He clicks the + Create New Sketch button.
He is presented with a set up menu to create an appropriate sketch. The user must enter a name for the sketch so that it can be properly saved. Values are changed by pressing the arrow buttons to scroll through the options. Document is created when user clicks OK. Cancel takes the user back to the previous screen.
This diagram shows the Edit Mode of the app. The focus is on the staff, which is populated with the clef, key signature, time signature, and tempo by the set up menu. The staff is surrounded by buttons for commands, grouped together by their purpose.
- The staff is one continuous line that scrolls responding to the user dragging it (similar to scrolling on other touch screen devices).
- Notes are at the top of the screen for easy access. A “rests” button toggles between notes of common values to their corresponding rests. Next to the notes bar, a bar of a dot and accidentals can be selected. When a button is clicked, it is applied to all notes until it is deselected, making it easy to add several quarter notes in a row. Note pitches are played as each note is placed on the staff.
- Clicking on a space or line on the staff places a note. Notes are automatically spaced on the staff and measure bars are automatically placed.
- At the bottom, a button to slur or tie notes can be toggled to start and end the slur/tie. Another button has an accent mark that can be applied to a note. Dynamics and custom expressions buttons are in the middle. In the bottom corner, Save and Close buttons allow the user to save their progress and return to the menu, respectively.
- Clicking on the clef, time signature, key signature, dynamics button, expressions button, or tempo brings up a small notification menu that allows the user to change the values (shown in small boxes around this diagram).
Silas records the theme he thought of as he is on the bus, then saves it before he gets off.
When Silas gets home, he opens up Musical Sketches and sees that his new piece, En Route, is saved among his sketches, which are sorted by most recently saved. He clicks the name of his sketch to open it.
When a sketch is opened, it opens in Playback Mode. The user can use the controls in the bottom corner to play the piece, skip forward, and skip backward. The playback cursor defaults to the beginning. The user can move the cursor by clicking on a note to begin playback at that note when the user presses the Play button. Staff scrolls to the right in real-time when music is playing. It stops at the currently location if playback is paused. It skips ahead/backward while the forward and backward buttons are held.
The user can switch between Edit and Playback modes by clicking the phone’s menu button.
Analysis
+ indicates a good point of the design
- indicates a bad point in the design
Learnability:
+ Easy to place notes on the staff; very interactive interface
+ Easy to edit notes’ characteristics (apply accidental, make longer, tie together, add expressive marking)
+ App plays the note’s pitch as it is placed, teaching the user how precise they need to be when clicking the staff
- In Edit mode, it isn’t obvious that clicking on the key signature, time signature, tempo, and clef bring up menus to change those features. A user might think that they have to start over.
- Not obvious that clicking the phone’s menu button will toggle between Playback and Edit modes
- No obvious way to delete a file that a user no longer wants. This could easily be implemented using the phone’s menu button on the Menu screen.
Efficiency:
+ Can easily place notes of the same value in a row
+ Program automatically draws measure bars
- The loading screen may be unnecessary, depending on how quickly the app can load the list of files it has stored.
- As currently designed, the staff may be too small to accurately place notes
Safety:
- There is a risk of mode errors in the Playback and Edit modes because their basic design looks very similar.
+ The differences in the buttons (and the lack of the buttons the user would want if they were trying to do something in the wrong mode) is a clear indication that the user is in the wrong mode and they could easily toggle to the desired mode.
+ Cancel button lets a user go back to the Menu screen if they accidentally create a new sketch