Moose Vinyl
Abstract
Moose Vinyl is a mobile app and marketplace designed for vinyl record collectors, offering a streamlined collection management experience and secure, custom-packaged shipping. As Product Designer, I led UI/UX design, prototype development, and beta testing—reducing upload times by over 50% and helping position Moose Vinyl for a successful public launch in May 2024.
UX/Product Design
UX Research
The challenge
As an early-stage start-up, Moose Vinyl needed a user-friendly, visually appealing app to compete against established platforms like Discogs and eBay. The challenge was to design an accessible and intuitive interface for a diverse audience—ranging from new vinyl hobbyists to seasoned audiophiles—while differentiating the product through unique features like patented Moose Mailers and hands-on transaction support.
research
Vinyl record sales have surged in recent years, with 2023 marking the highest-grossing year since 1988. To address this growing market, I developed three key personas to guide product decisions:
- The Novice – New collectors seeking simplicity, aesthetics, and ease of use.
- The Old-Timer – Nostalgic users valuing intuitive design and straightforward management tools.
- The Audiophile – Expert collectors prioritizing detailed records, curated finds, and precision search.
These personas informed feature prioritization and design decisions. I mapped the app’s core functionalities into a clear product navigation framework, ensuring each audience segment’s needs were represented.
Strategy
- User-First Design System – Created a mobile-first, accessible design language that balanced visual appeal with functional clarity.
- Prototype Development – Built early-stage prototypes to validate navigation, feature grouping, and marketplace integration.
- Beta Cohort Testing – Partnered with retail affiliates to test the app in real-world conditions, focusing on pain points in inventory upload and management.
- Feature Refinement – Simplified the “Add to Collection” process through:
- In-app UPC scanning
- Optional form field grouping
- Truncated flow for critical details
This reduced upload time from 96 to 47 seconds per record.
Analysis
Results
- Time Efficiency: Reduced upload process duration by 51%, improving user satisfaction during high-volume inventory digitization.
- User Growth: Post-launch, the app saw weekly user growth of nearly 10%.
- Product Differentiation: Integrated unique selling points—secure Moose Mailers and transaction facilitation—to set the product apart in the competitive marketplace.
Personal takeaways
- Personas are a compass – They kept the team focused when prioritizing features for launch.
- Behavior beats opinion – Observing how users navigated the app revealed more actionable insights than verbal feedback alone.
- Criticism fuels iteration – Beta testers’ blunt feedback was instrumental in refining features and improving the UX.