CONTEXT
Notey's World is an educational music game for iPad and iPhone that takes a meticulously crafted guitar curriculum and turns it into a mobile game with platformer levels, boss fights, and more. I was brought on as a product designer before launch and created all the UI, started quantitative and qualitative UX research, and created extensive brand and marketing assets.
ROLE
Product Design Lead
PLATFORM
iOS - iPad, iPhone
TEAM
Shunt Balushian, Adithya Bellathur, Jack Bailey, Atlus Lin, Mak Grgic
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
The challenge with the guitar wasn't the challenge with the guitar
We sought to understand why learning the guitar was particularly challenging for middle school students in classroom settings. Initially, I believed the difficulties stemmed from complex finger placements, unfamiliar classical songs, and the intricacies of music theory. While these factors do contribute to the challenge, our research revealed deeper, more nuanced issues. Performing an artistic act like playing the guitar in front of peers requires vulnerability, which is particularly daunting for young students. Extroverted students often excelled by actively seeking help, while introverted students struggled due to their reluctance to ask for assistance. Moreover, the large student-to-teacher ratios in U.S. schools made it difficult for teachers to provide individualized attention, leading to frustration and disengagement among students. These insights highlighted the need for a more supportive and adaptive learning environment, ultimately shaping the development of Notey’s World.
EXPLORING A SOLUTION
Finding the right notes
The music learning experience is gamified from the ground up in a way that students can follow and be engaged with at exactly their own pace. Sight reading exercises turn into platformer levels that combine technical skill development with engaging games that comfortably guide players through complex topics.
Rewarding practice
Success is celebrated in macro moments with in-game currency, cosmetics, and unlocking new levels, but also in micro moments with snappy animations, sound effects, and visual feedback. Players want to know where to improve and to be cheered on for doing it.
Challenge that grows with you
Notey's World adapts to your skill level and gives you challenges exactly when you're ready for them, and rewards you for seeking out additional levels of challenge. The game follows a carefully crafted curriculum but also takes your performance data and crafts supplemental levels to round out your understanding of topics.
Built with educators in mind
In addition to the standard curriculum to our consumer players, we also worked directly with schools to take their existing curriculum and seamlessly turn it into game worlds for any instrument they want to teach. Lessons become platformer levels and tests become boss fights all while the teacher has complex insight into student performance and progress.
2023 InnoVision
Award Winner
TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
RESULTS
Students (and educators) want to be met where they're at
The biggest takeaway was that both students and educators thrived when they had access to flexible and fun educational tools that departed from traditional one-size-fits-all methods of teaching and learning music. Educators had control over how they wanted to craft their curriculum, and students had control over the pace and feedback of how to learn, and everybody won while playing a delightful game.
