People search online for music quite regularly— whether for a community concert, piano lessons or personal use. The reasons for finding a particular piece vary, but the plea for clarity of navigation is universal. After asking a variety of web users both among musicians and music lovers, the following items were requested across the board:

Poll Requests

- Search (for title, artist or lyric)
- Short Listening Sample (to make sure it is the right piece of music)
- Quick Purchase (where to download the full song)
- Sheet Music (with quick download, no extra programs needed)
- Free Lyrics/Libretto (in html text on the page and pdf download separate for printing)
- History/Info (date of music, whether it is under copyright and name of composer)

They were particularly emphatic that purchasing processes should be obvious and fast— I received multiple complaints that sheet music was difficult to download. The average musician prefers a pdf they can simply print out and prop up on their music stand to complex sheet music programs that have to be downloaded and used in conjunction with purchases.

As a test, I will be going through to find the music/sheet music to the opera Turandot’s aria “Non Piangere Liu”. It is a good example of something that is not obviously famous, but is not so obscure that music sites would not offer it.

The Piano Spot

Notice that this site does not have clear hierarchy— the eye does not know where to look first. As a result, the design appears to be jumbled and complex. The first thing that people wish to check is a short excerpt from the piece to be sure they have the correct one. In most of the entries, that is not an option. Although the site may not offer an audio version of the piece for sale, it would be worth having the first few bars of a piece recorded by a pianist specifically for the site. It may seem like a bother, but a lot of customers will be lost because there is not that audio confirmation they are on the correct page. Musicians in general tend to be very auditory and need that. It also might be worth displaying a jpg of the first few bars as well, to see if it is a type of sheet music that a musician prefers.

Some of the entries on the site give a sample page of the sheet music with watermark over it, which is quite helpful, although it requires people to click several times. It is much better to simply display a few key bars right on the page without additional scrolling and clicking.

Sites such as this one who expect people to just buy sheet music cold will not generate as many purchases as those offering brief samples. Imagine going out to purchase a new outfit for a gala opening. Instead of going to the shops, looking over what is available and trying them on, you are given a list of descriptions in text of each garment and expected to choose and purchase without seeing them. The very idea is ridiculous! So why is it commonly done with music?

The sheet music in many of the entries on this site is also only offered by being shipped, rather than also in digital format. Often there will be an emergency rehearsal or other need for quick sheet music– it needs to be available in an instant digital download in addition to a printed version.

Sheet Music Plus

Notice that it is instantly clear what the headline is on this page? There is a much better use of white space and also no doubt how and where to purchase the sheet music.

Unfortunately, the two things people need next (sample audio & sample sheet) are hidden. After careful searching, they prove to be two tiny links tucked next to the album art. They should be second in hierarchy to the headline, not hidden. People could arrive at the site, give a quick glance, give up and leave without ever seeing them.

While the lightbox method of displaying a gallery of sample images is valid, for sheet music there are some problems. I’m not sure if the web designer knew much about music, because the sample pages are so small that they are difficult to read and thus decide about the quality. They also offer several full pages with no watermark or any method of stopping duplication other than a little plea at the top not to. It is much safer to offer a full size few bars, rather than small versions of several entire pages. Again, this is a matter of the web designer not thinking of the target audience, but merely what common web fads were going on.

In short– while the overall design quality of the site is much higher than The Piano Spot, they still are not thinking of the consumer’s needs. This is an example of a decent designer who simply did not research the field enough before getting started on the design.

Other Sites

After looking through dozens of other related web sites, I found they all had the same problems as the two above. Either the design was extremely amateur and difficult to use, or it had an elegant design with no content. Unfortunately, it seems that the music world needs to do a bit more market research before selling products. We can take some good lessons from this, and apply it not only to the music industry but to other sites as well.

What we Learned:
- Hierarchy is key or important information will be lost in a jumble
- Always give quick samples of a product without requiring additional clicking
- Give a variety of purchase options for printed products, including instant digital download
- Design fads must give way if they do not match the target audience
- Do not hide crucial information in tiny ‘tasteful’ links when people need to find them fast
- Even the best design needs content

Thursday, June 10th, 2010, 11:41 am   |   Content, Navigation, Visual Design  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback