Mirsasi Case Study
Introduction
The Pakistani music industry is growing rapidly, with each winter season bringing a bigger stage and larger audience for live shows. Yet it is extremely hard for budding musicians to find events to play at and vice versa. Mirasi is a web app that aims to bridge this gap by connecting event organizers and performers in order to catalyze the industry's growth.
Process
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Brainstorm
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Research
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Ideation
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Design
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Dev Handoff
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Reflection
My Role
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UI/UX Design
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Brand Design
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Copywriting
Duration
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8 weeks
Tools
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Figma
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Adobe Illustrator
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Microsoft Powerpoint
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Trello
Brainstorm
As a team made up of musicians, we empathize with the problem better than anyone. There is an abundance of talented musicians, yet most of them remain underground whilst event organizers keep on inviting the same artist that has been performing every year since the turn of the century. The musicians keep getting broke and the events keep getting boring. The problem, in a nutshell, is that there are little to no platforms that connect musicians/performers with event organizers.
Research
To better understand the issue, we conducted one-to-one interviews with musicians that were highly active in the local music scene. Here are the questions and some common answers.
What is the main source of revenue for you?
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I'm a musician but my primary source of income is my job (at a bank, company, school, etc)
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Session playing for solo artists/bands
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Music production
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Other creative work (film, TV, art/design, etc)
How often do you get paid gigs?
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Never / close to none
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Most gigs don't even cover the traveling cost to the venue
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Regularly on-season (November - March), few to none during off-season.
How do you get these gigs?
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Invitation from friends
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Word of mouth
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Socializing/networking
Who are your main customers and for what reasons do they seek your services?
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People I know who don't know where/how to find musicians
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High-paying clients looking for performers for their private events (mostly marriage ceremonies).
What are the problems you face with your marketing, dealings, payment, etc?
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The band has to take whatever is offered due to a lack of opportunities and transparency
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It is extremely difficult to find a band to play with
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After cutting transportation and rehearsal space costs, there is little to no money left for each band member
What do you think can be done to improve the industry for artists and people who hire you?
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A platform where musicians can cooperate/collaborate to make great shows
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A platform where musicians can find bands and vice versa
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A platform where event organizers can find performers
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A platform where solo artists can find musicians
Mapping and calculating the demand side in local market (Lahore, Pakistan)
Market estimation
Low profile performers = PKR 25,000 (avg. rate per gig) x 1370 = PKR 34,250,000
High profile performers = PKR 500,000 (avg. rate per gig) * 192 = 96,000,000
Total = PKR 130,250,000 / Year
Market size = PKR 130 million (13 crore) approx
Secondary Research
About 44.5% of a musicians income is generated through live performances.
Ideation
Personas
User flow diagram
Site map
Wireframes
Design
The logo mark is meant to convey the mission of Mirasi: empowering undervalued musicians who have been neglected and find themselves stuck in the underground scene. The M is shaped to represent a crown, as to say "it's time to crown some new kings and queens in the music industry!" The roughness of the brush stroke style conveys the independence and care-free energy of a young/upcoming demographic of performers.
The colours take inspiration from traditional Pakistani truck art/decoration, which usually consists of shades of red/purple and reflective neon colours for high visibility during the night. This is meant to appeal to the local market/target audience and give users a subconscious sense of familiarity.
It can be overwhelming, especially for new and upcoming artists, to find yourself on a platform with performers of all levels. Both fonts used are sans-serif to create a casual environment for the user to browse through the website (hand-drawn style iconography also makes an appearance for the same reason). At the same time, we don't want the letters to be too rounded, since the other half of the user demographic is professionals and event organizers,
The art style and visual messaging across the brand are meant to affirm that this is a service for the local market, which is comprised of a fusion of tradition/modernity, old/new. The crown from the logo mark makes an appearance to demark new, young and upcoming Mirasis.
High Fidelity Mockups
Experimenting with alternate colours
Prototyping
What's next?
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User testing
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Mobile version
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Dev Handoff
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Design Reiteration