The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the music industry - the traditional fan culture has been significantly impacted by the cancellation and postponement of physical concerts and events.
A platform that can help rebuild fan culture without geographical boundaries.
In Spring 2022, I officially took on the role of Product Design Lead as a founding team member. I work cross-functionally to ship end-to-end product cycles with hands-on design execution, from responsive web design to unity game design.
Tech-savvy and socially engaged young adults in their 20s and 30s, who are passionate fans of Asian celebrities and pop culture.
Our main product, Gemie Metaverse, is an Asia-focused metaverse platform where fans will be able to interact with their favourite celebrities in a virtual and immersive way. One of our key features is the ability for fans to create and customize their own avatars and their room, which allows them to express individuality and connect with other fans who share similar interests and tastes.
In the initial MVP, we designed it with mobile users in mind. However, feedback from our early demographics has shown that they were accessing the platform on desktop computers.
As a result, we updated the avatar customization experience to make it more user-friendly for desktop users. This involved redesigning the user interface to be easier to navigate on larger screens and connect the scene with loading for a more immersive experience.
While video streaming has become a trend for artist to communicate with fans virtually, there hasn't been a solution to immersive environments.
In 2023, our team worked with FNC entertainment to launch 1-1 video call event with their K-POP boy band, P1 Harmony. It was a very challenging project because the UX logistics span across 3 parties: User, artist and admin. For users, we have to evoke a sense of excitement during the process; For artist, we need it to be as simple as possible; and for admin, they have to be able to control the pace of event.
Besides, we also have to work on risk management to prevent unexpected behaviors from the crazy fans. In light of this, we have implemented a warning and force quit mechanism for admin side.
Game design is a completely new and exciting domain for me. Collaborating with game producers and Unity engineers has been a fresh and fun experience. Working in this field requires a unique set of technical language and visual considerations, particularly in the context of fast-paced game environments. Throughout the process, we've tackled challenges such as:
This experience has broadened my horizons and enhanced my design skills in new and unexpected ways.
We have also developed Gemie Store, an NFT marketplace that exclusively features digital collectibles and utility-focused NFTs from top celebrities and IPs. This provides an exciting new avenue for artists and IPs to explore and capitalize on commercial opportunities within the NFT space.
When working in a start-up within the web3 space, rapid changes are the norm. In order to stay ahead of the market and make timely business decisions, we need to constantly iterate and push our products to market quickly. It's essential that our design system is scalable and flexible to accommodate Gemie's growth and evolution. This way, we can continue to meet the needs of our expanding user base and remain agile in our approach to innovation.
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Build a product from the ground up is challenging but rewarding. This project is still ongoing and this case study will be keep updating. Feel free to reach out to me for full design process sharing. :)
