Inspiration
Have you ever walked through a beach or park in the summer and wondered what others are listening to on their earbuds? Whether you're in a café, on public transportation, or just taking a stroll, many of us are curious about the music around us. Tugo is the mobile platform designed to answer that curiosity by making music-sharing more transparent and social. It bridges the gap between personal listening experiences and social music sharing. With Tugo, you can discover what people around you are listening to, sample their songs, and even shuffle through a diverse mix of music from those nearby.
What it does
Users will go through an onboarding process to create a Tugo account. They will need to provide their name, Gmail address, and create a password. Afterward, they must agree to share their location with Tugo. This will take them to the music map, where vinyl icons represent other Tugo users nearby. Users can click on a vinyl icon to see what another user is currently listening to and have options to add that song to their own Tugo playlist, play a 30-second preview, or listen on Spotify. The bottom navigation bar features a forward button, allowing users to shuffle through different Tugo users seamlessly.
How it was designed
Before starting the design process for Tugo, thorough user research was conducted to identify the most valuable features. An analysis of four existing platforms—Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and YouTube Music—revealed a gap: none of these platforms offered an easy way to share music with people nearby. Additionally, user surveys related to Tugo’s mission uncovered three key insights: music listeners worry about third-party use of personal information when signing up for new social platforms, they are open to exploring new genres regardless of their preferences, and they have a brief curiosity about what others around them are doing, including the music they’re listening to. These insights highlighted Tugo's potential to stand out by making music-sharing within close proximity simple and seamless while providing three core features to address user concerns: allow music listeners to discover new songs publicly or privately, access songs that other Tugo users nearby are listening to, and allow users to listen to songs for a few seconds.
Challenges we ran into
One key challenge faced during the development of Tugo was designing the app without fully understanding the technical constraints in terms of features and functionality. It was crucial to maintain a simple design that didn't require expensive resources or complex infrastructure. Gaining user trust in accessing their location was another significant hurdle, as privacy concerns are paramount for users based on user research. We also encountered difficulties in determining the best approaches for displaying public and private accounts, which varied depending on the libraries used. Integrating Spotify into Tugo’s features presented its own set of challenges, requiring careful planning to ensure a seamless user experience. Additionally, deciding on the best approach for the map functionality—whether to use Google Maps Platform or another service—required extensive research and consideration.
What’s Next for Tugo
Next, we plan to implement Tugo using React Native to ensure it is mobile-friendly for both Android and iPhone users, making Tugo as inclusive as possible. To access Spotify's music database, we will integrate Tugo with Spotify through its free-to-use API. For the map display, we will use Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript library. Firebase will be employed for authentication and our database needs. Additionally, beyond the features already designed, we plan to introduce a future feature that allows users to set hidden zones. Users will be able to input an address and set a radius around it where their location remains hidden.
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