Learning to Play Guitar is Hard Enough. UG’s Tabs & Chords App Does Nothing to un-Muddy the Waters.

Introduction

Ultimate Guitar is an online guitar community and music archive where people create, share and learn guitar tablature. This critique will inspect their companion iOs app, Tabs & Chords, and evaluate its design based on the principles discussed in The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.

STEP 1: Understand the Users & Identify Problems

Who uses an app to search an archive of guitar tabs? Since tablature is a basic and more primitive form of music notation, it’s primarily used by students, hobbyists or instructors as a teaching aid. These users typically search for songs, participate in the community by posting or reacting to videos, and find courses and lessons to learn more about guitar playing.

The problems with the current layout and design of the Tabs & Chords app include:

It’s hard to find the search bar
Vocabulary: The label “Shots” is confusing
Overcrowding and lack of visual hierarchy
obscures the sections
Search result are confusing and don’t match a user’s conceptual model

STEP 2: Devise Solutions

1. It’s hard to find the search bar

The primary use of an online music archive is to search for tabs/songs. Yet this affordance is difficult to find. The search bar (signifier) is too close in color to the background and the overcrowding on this screen adds to the difficulty in finding it. It lacks discoverability.

PROBLEM	SOLUTION
It’s hard to find the search bar. It lacks *discoverability*.	Make the search bar larger, change the color and remove dead weight near it (the sale banner).

2. Vocabulary: The label “Shots” is confusing

A big draw for members of an online music community is a place to showcase skills and interact with fellow enthusiasts. Tabs & Chords includes a section called “Shots” where users can upload videos of themselves playing songs they’ve learned or comment on other’s performances. While the “Shots” link is easy to find, (good discoverability), the word is confusing and hides the meaning of the page. Using a more recognizable word like “Videos,” which is commonly used on other platforms matches the user’s knowledge in the head.

Problem	Solution
What does “Shots” mean? This is a confusing *signifier. The vocabulary conflicts with users’ knowledge in the head*.	Change the word “Shots” to “Videos.”

3. Overcrowding and lack of visual hierarchy
obscures the sections

Complexity is Good; It Is Confusion That Is Bad.
Don Norman

The layout of this home screen is an information overload with little semblance of order. It’s difficult to determine what options this screen affords. There is a link to “Theory and practice” and there is also a link to “Collections and albums.” A beginner coming to this site may not have the ability to sort out what these terms mean quickly. The visceral response to this page is unsettling, and the design is jumbled and unclear.

Streamlining the information into two distinct categories, “Tabs & Chords” and “Courses,” will relieve the user by bringing the knowledge (of how to search the site) into the world.

Problem	Solution
The messy layout of the homepage obscures *affordances* and creates a negative *visceral response*.	Bridge the *gulf of execution and evaluation* by streamlining into two sections: “Tabs & Chords” and “Courses.”

4. Search results don’t match conceptual model

Problem	Solution
The organization of search results for course material doesn’t match the user’s conceptual model.	Add the category “Courses” to the search results page.

When using the search function, I imagine that I could search for a song, artist, or genre to find music to play. I also imagine that since UG offers courses, I should be able to search for lessons about scales, theory, or techniques. The app, however, does not match a user’s conceptual model of how results should be categorized.

For example, when you search for “E major scale,” you are taken to a screen with results and categories for “Songs,” “Artists,” “Shots,” and “Users.” There is no category for instructional content, where this result should be.

A simple solution is to add the category “Courses” to the search results page, so users can see other results of the same type.

Bonus Problem (has anyone ever said this before?)

Problem	Solution
Offering lessons on a new instrument detracts from the brand messaging. (featuritis).	Stick to offering courses and sheet music for guitarists.

It is it the fear of becoming irrelevant? I’m not sure. But a company called Ultimate Guitar better make a great case for selling piano lessons. I think this is a classic case of featuritis. Does this offering add value to the brand or bring in new users? I’m not sure. I think this detracts from their main focus: to serve beginners in the guitarist community.

Conclusion

Ultimate guitar is a valuable resource for beginning musicians seeking easy-to-understand guitar sheet music. With a few key tweaks to its layout and design, and a restructuring of the information architecture, this app could be a happy haven for beginners, hobbyists and instructors alike.