Learning & Discovering

The origin story, why was I obsessed with podcast apps.

As an avid podcast listener, I noticed that many conversations I had with others about what we were listening to and what we liked; revolved more around sharing our struggles with the platforms out there. 

I dived in, thinking that the biggest problem was that people do not have the time to browse through an endless list of shows, read their descriptions, and try something in hopes of finding something of interest. I thought creating a network where people could easily share what they were enjoying would be the solution.

 Thinking & Assessing

Pivoting when your initial assumption is not the whole picture.

During a series of interviews that formed a clear picture of the audience and their needs, what stood out the most was not an actual problem but the fact that nobody would solely sit and listen to podcasts while doing nothing else.

Thinking & Assessing

Focusing on what’s important, thoughtful choices beats doing it all.

While architecting the user experience, I realized there were quite a few needs and features to consider and address to elevate the podcast listening experience. Some were big-picture additions such as browsing and trying shows without the commitment of subscribing or tracking recommendations received or shared. Others were more tactical elements such as marking episodes completed, creating a playlist, adding episodes to a playlist while listening, etcetera. 

Using feature prioritization and card sorting, I defined and validated with users what would be the most impactful to address and the most seamless way to present it.

Focusing & Pivoting

Creating and validating solutions, quick moves to enjoy the experience.

Following an iterative flow of concepting and testing ideas and solutions, I focused on honing the listening and browsing experience. 

For the listening experience, I emphasized providing 2-step actions to accomplish changes so that people would spend as little time as possible setting up their listening experience and as much as needed getting their laundry done if that's their thing. Whether using voice control or quick taps, people could switch the episode currently playing, share with others, or even saving recommendations podcasts' hosts would mention during the episode with Unison's quick recognition feature.

As for the browsing experience, users loved and helped refine the discovery process to find new shows with three quick steps. Starting with what someone was doing (for example, again, laundry), followed by the mood they were in to listen to a conversation or, more so, an interview, and wrapping up with picking if they had a genre in mind or if they wanted to be surprised.

Focusing & Pivoting

Designing a fun and friendly interface.

With the idea of creating an efficient yet enjoyable podcast listening experience, I leaned into creating striking visuals and friendly language. This approach would highlight the human side of the experience, considering Unison as a friend giving them what their podcast world needed; while at the same time standing out from the clean and simple take from some competitors.