Michael Quach
Bridging international artists and listeners across the globe
Team
Product Designer
UX Researcher
Tools
Figma
Sketch
Adobe Photoshop
Skills
Design thinking
Timelime
Mar 2025 (48 hours)
Accessibility (WCAG)
User flow creation
Adobe After Effects
The UX Laurier 2025 Designathon was a fast-paced 48-hour UX design competition that challenged student teams to solve a real-world problem using the design thinking process. Working under tight deadlines, participants conducted user research, synthesized insights, and transformed ideas into polished prototypes while collaborating with teammates and receiving guidance from experienced UX professionals before pitching their final solutions to industry judges.
My lovely team and I
How might we leverage technology to enhance the connection between global artists and audiences, while fostering meaningful and engaging experiences?
I interpreted this prompt as a challenge to rethink how technology can move beyond simply streaming music and instead create genuine connections between artists and listeners.
While digital platforms have made music more accessible than ever, many international artists still struggle to reach global audiences due to language barriers, recommendation algorithms, and limited opportunities for discovery.
of Gen Z discover new music through social media
82%
- Deloitte Digital Media Trends
Over 120,000 new songs are uploaded to Spotify every day
-Spotify
Active participation and social media generates 5x higher engagement than passive scrolling.
- BeReal
These insights revealed a clear opportunity: people are already discovering music through social platforms, but the overwhelming volume of new releases makes meaningful discovery increasingly difficult. We saw an opportunity to combine the engaging, daily interaction model of apps like BeReal with intentional music discovery—creating a platform that introduces users to one new international artist or song each day while encouraging social sharing and helping emerging artists reach audiences beyond algorithm-driven recommendations.
After initial research, our team decided on how exactly we aimed to answer this problem. A daily music discovery experience that introduced one international artist and song a day in a BeReal-style format. Making music discovery social, intentional, and rewarding for both listeners and artists.
For Listeners
✅ One new song based on preferences every day
✅ Daily habits instead of endless scrolling
✅ Friends influence discovery
✅ Gamification keeps users engaged and interested
For International Artists
✅ Ability to reach fans of your genre
✅ International reach
✅ Peer sharing and social spread
✅ Repeat discovery instead of depending solely on algorithms
Feature 1
Each day, users are introduced to a new song discovery through a short preview from an international artist within their preferred music genres. After listening to the snippet, users can explore the artist’s story, learn about their background and culture, and share their first impressions by rating the song.
Users can also see how friends and the wider community are reacting, creating a social experience where music discovery becomes more interactive, engaging, and connected.
Impact:
Creates a fun, low-effort daily experience that encourages users to discover and engage with new artists consistently. Inspired by the success of the BeReal daily prompt model, this feature builds anticipation and curiosity by giving users a new musical discovery to look forward to each day.
Feature 2
A star-based reward system that allows users to show appreciation for their favourite artists. Users receive a limited number of stars each day to support artists they enjoy, with additional stars earned through maintaining daily engagement streaks or purchased as a way to further support creators.
Every week a leaderboard of the top-performing artists will be shown, where you'll have the chance to listen to their songs and see what everyone is saying about them.
This feature encourages discovery, creates recognition for emerging artists, and helps listeners stay connected with the latest rising talent.
Feature 3
Users can share their song ratings with friends, making music discovery more social and interactive. Friends can also send personalized song recommendations, helping users uncover new artists through trusted connections rather than algorithms.
People trust people more than algorithms. Research shows that 54% of music consumers are more likely to engage with music recommended by a friend, making social recommendations one of the most influential drivers of music discovery.
Can Spotify Do This?
➡️ Recommends music you'll probably enjoy based on your listening history.
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Personalized playlists powered by algorithms
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Keeps users within familiar genres and artists
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Optimizes for convenience and retention
➡️ Encourages you to discover international artists through a fun, interactive daily experience
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Introduces one new artist every day based on your favourite genres
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Helps you explore new cultures through artist stories and music
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Turns music discovery into a social, gamified habit rather than passive listening
Brand Guidelines
Sign up
Rate the Song Of the Day
Main Page
Leaderboard & voting
Have a listen 🔊
Our submission video ❤️
After an intense 48 hours fueled by determination (and more than a few Red Bulls), our team successfully presented Globe.FM to the panel of judges. Competing against more than 60 teams, we were honoured to receive the Best User Interface award in recognition of our thoughtful user experience, polished visual design, and cohesive interface.
Looking back, this design competition became much more than a 48-hour sprint—it was a meaningful milestone in my growth as a UX designer. Collaborating with close friends made the experience incredibly enjoyable, but it also taught me the importance of clear communication, thoughtful delegation, and trusting each teammate's strengths. Working under tight deadlines pushed us to make decisions quickly while staying aligned on a shared vision, reinforcing just how valuable collaboration is in the design process.
I'm especially proud of how we approached the overall experience of Globe.fm. Rather than focusing solely on aesthetics, we carefully considered the user journey, information flow, and interaction patterns to create an experience that felt engaging from start to finish. Exploring ways to incorporate gamification and encourage repeat engagement challenged us to think beyond individual screens and design a product that users would genuinely want to return to.
One of our biggest takeaways was recognizing the importance of simplicity. While we were excited by the number of features we envisioned for Globe.fm, the judges pointed out that the experience could have been more approachable for casual music listeners.
In hindsight, we also realized that Globe.fm may have been even more impactful as an extension of an existing platform like Spotify rather than as a standalone competitor. Building on users' existing listening habits would have lowered the barrier to adoption while allowing us to introduce our gamified discovery experience in a way that felt natural and familiar.
A special thanks to my friends for grinding it out with me! ❤️
