Design Thinking: how IDOL improves Labelcamp’s user experience

Since its creation, IDOL has relied on a central tool, developed entirely in-house: Labelcamp. This application was designed to meet the specific needs of independent labels and distributors. It manages catalogs, supervises the digital supply chain, and distributes music on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music or TikTok, while offering advanced analytical dashboards.

In keeping with our agile approach, our development team is constantly improving Labelcamp to ensure that it remains a high-performance tool that meets users’ expectations. Recently, we redesigned the album import form, a key element in our distribution business. This project was addressed using the Design Thinking methodology, combining interviews, research, prototypes and user testing.

In this interview, Viviane Cheng, our UX/UI Designer, talks about the redesign and our ability to continuously optimize the tools on which our expertise is based.

They’re different but complementary professions. UX stands for “user experience”. It encompasses the user’s overall experience of an application. In a way, UX is the hidden part of the iceberg, everything related to the information hierarchy, user search, page navigation and page structure. To work on a website’s UX, I start by understanding users’ needs and obstacles. Then I create wireframes, made up of blocks that visualize the location of different sections, before moving on to the prototyping stage, which comes under the heading of UI design.

UI stands for “User Interface”, and is the tip of the iceberg. It concerns all the graphic elements that the user sees and interacts with: buttons, forms, typography, icons, colors, etc… The UI Designer must ensure that all these elements are consistent with the company’s design system – or graphic charter.

In UX, I apply the Design Thinking method to identify all user needs and frustrations. I learned the basics of this method in engineering school at ECE Paris, then I was able to apply it while working at IBM. I also took courses in human/machine interface and ergonomics at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea to complement the Design Thinking method.

I’m always in continuous improvement mode. Even once we’ve put a feature into production, we’re always looking to improve it based on user feedback. For example, this week I was immersed in the Digital Content Operations team, and that enabled me to put myself in their shoes. Among other things, I was next to Orancie, observing her daily use of Labelcamp, such as the use of the album import form, and other features that can still be improved. This enabled me to strengthen my empathy and better understand the way she uses the tool.

At IDOL, we’re fortunate to be so close to our users, which means we can involve them a little more at each stage of the design process, and adapt our solutions to real-life problems.

I apply it in a targeted way, because this method requires a lot of resources. You have to call on the teams, organize the workshop and then analyze the data. For IDOL, we used it as part of the project to redesign the album import form, because it’s a step at the heart of the digital distributor’s business.

1️⃣ Empathize: Understand the user’s perspective and needs (Interview and Persona)
2️⃣ Define: Define a problem statement that focuses on the user’s needs. (How Might We Question)
3️⃣ Ideate: Explore new ideas to solving the defined problem (User Journey Map)
4️⃣ Prototype: Create potential solutions and design a prototype that can be tested and refined. (Interactive Prototype with Figma)
5️⃣ Test: Collect user feedback and improve the prototype (User Testing)
Read more about the process

During the Design Thinking workshop, I encouraged participants to come up with ideas without putting up any obstacles. Once this creative phase is over, we sort and prioritize the ideas according to the needs identified. The aim is to concentrate our efforts on the most relevant, high-impact solutions.

My empathy enables me to understand how users feel. This helps me to design solutions that meet their expectations.

Improving Labelcamp relies on listening to user feedback, whether through the tickets we receive or requests for new features.

Sometimes we receive recurring tickets about the same problem, and it’s not a bug, but we end up explaining to the user how to use the form correctly. When we receive this type of feedback, it becomes obvious that the problem is linked to the UX, and this becomes an opportunity for us to improve the form.

On a day-to-day basis, my first step is to understand the need or problem with the users concerned. Once the data has been collected and analyzed, I create a prototype which I present at a weekly meeting with the team: Jean-Philippe Lecaille, our Chief Technology Officer, and Antoine Lagadec, Front End Developer. Based on feedback, I adjust and improve the prototype.

I also seek the advice of members of the development team to take into account their feelings and feedback. Finally, I test the functionality with end-users, those who will be directly involved in its use.

One day a week, we have a “quality” day dedicated to the continuous improvement of Labelcamp. During these days, I go round the tool to identify areas for improvement. These may be interface adjustments or the resolution of minor problems that haven’t been reported yet. These days enable us to anticipate requests and be proactive in maintaining a fluid and intuitive UX.