Tiktok Concept: Organizing Sounds in a Meaningful Way
By: Ayesha Kemal
Tags: UX Design, Sound, Organization, Visual Design, Tik Tok

TikTok has recently dominated the video-sharing scene by amassing over 850 million active users a month. With the increased chance to become a viral superstar, many people have decided to take the leap and begin creating content on the platform. One of the most popular editing features of the app that creators across the board use is TikTok sounds.

TikTok sounds allow creators to utilize short 30 to 60-second segments of original or mainstream sounds during videos. However, it’s difficult for creators to find specific sounds in practice.

Without detailed information about specific sounds, people are often unsuccessful in their search attempts and are left feeling frustrated.

A feeling users have experienced one too many times. How might TikTok enable creators to find the sounds that are on their minds?

Why People Have Difficulty Finding Sounds

User Research

After interviewing a sample of students at Cornell University, I determined there are two main types of creators: the avid user and the occasional user. However, between the two types, I found that the following insights hold true:

Users want their experience finding content — videos, sounds, filters, etc. — to be quick and without much hassle Users trust the recommendations that TikTok provides based on their personal data Users yearn for a sense of inclusion, which is why they navigate toward certain sounds/trends Users search for content that they are familiar with — either they have heard or seen it before

Defining the People Problem

Based on the user interviews, I found that most users have an issue with TikTok’s content organization which includes filters, sounds, and videos. Focusing specifically on TikTok’s sounds:

People want to find specific sounds easily, so they can use them in their videos, but this is hard to do because users don’t have enough information (e.g. title, artist/creator, date ) in order to successfully find it

TikTok’s different “organizational” styles for different types of content

Ideation

Brainstorming a Solution

I recruited Myles Cherebin, Elijah Dukes, and Payton Hunter for a brainstorming session. After exploring many ideas, we decided on the following opportunity areas:

Brainstorming Ideas

The Solution + Why I Chose It

Initially, I had settled on the feature of suggesting sounds based on a user’s listening history since it had the highest impact compared to the other solutions. However, upon further evaluation, I realized that simply suggesting sounds may not help users find the particular sound they are searching for since there is a limit to what could be suggested.

Instead, I opted to have a Sounds History library/section where users can look through to find their desired sound. This decision was based on one of my key insights from my user research, that people tend to search for content that they are familiar with (i.e things they have either they have heard or seen before). Within the Sounds History, there are various categories (i.e most listened to, trending, and comedy) that organize the thousands of sounds that a user has heard while using the platform for ease.

Feasibility

Given that TikTok’s algorithm keeps a record of all the videos a user has watched (in order to avoid repeated videos), it would be quite simple to figure out what sounds a user has interacted with/heard the platform. TikTok also already implements a categorical system with recommending new sounds to users, therefore categorizing the sounds users have already heard shouldn’t be too different.

Other Apps with Similar Features

Market Research for Spotify

Spotify has a similar feature with its playlist recommendations. They not only create custom playlists that contain songs that you have listened to frequently, but they also recommend playlists that you've listened to most recently. These recommendations work well because when I use Spotify, most of the time I am in the mood to listen to music that I am familiar with and already enjoy. So when I go into the app, I would like to find what I want to listen to easily, so I can begin streaming immediately. I often find myself using these recommended playlists when finding songs I want to listen to. This same principle can be applied to finding TikTok sounds to use when creating TikToks.

Moving Forward

Once, I had finalized my idea I had to make various design decisions that would encourage creators to want to use this new history feature. How might we organize this section? Where would we put the entry point of this feature?

Content Requirements

Entry Point

During medium-fidelity iterations, I explored various entry points to see what worked best with balancing visibility and usability. This was an important decision because it would determine whether or not people will use the feature. Below are some of my explorations:

Medium Fidelity Explorations for Entry Points

Ultimately, I chose the second entry point since it had the most logical placement in terms of TikTok’s native design. The first entry point took away from the fundamental goal of the discover tab, to find new sounds. During testing, users stated concerns that the third entry point seemed randomly placed within the scope of the application. Entry Point #2 was the clear winner.

Sound Categories

Medium Fidelity Explorations for Categories

When exploring different ideas for category organization, again, I had to keep usability in mind. The main purpose of this feature is to help users find sounds easily and having a bunch of categories without any idea of the sound contents within those categories. I felt as though giving users a preview of the types of sounds within a category would help them select the correct category so they can find the sound they are searching for, which is why I opted for Exploration #3. My user testing data consequently supported this decision.

Final User Flow (Medium Fidelity)

After the many, many medium-fidelity iterations of the different content and feature requirements, I was able to decide on the general user flow of the Sounds feature taking into account the usability testing feedback for users.

Final User Flow (Medium Fidelity)

Visual Design

After settling on a flow, there were still a few loose ends that had to be wrapped up. Based on user testing, I found that users had difficulty determining whether a category or sound was successfully selected. This posed an issue however, it was able to be fixed through visual design.

How could we fix an issue like user feedback confirmation?

With color. I used the classic TikTok pink hue as confirmation feedback for when a user successfully selects a category filter. The same color along with a checkmark icon serves as a confirmation that a sound was in fact selected.

Top: Category Filters, Bottom: Sound Selection Confirmation

UI Design

Below is the UI Kit I used in my high-fidelity visual design mockup.

UI Kit

Final Interaction

After rounds of user testing and critique feedback, this was the final flow for finding and selecting a sound using the Sound History feature.

Final High Fidelity Flow of Sound History Feature

Video of interaction

Conclusion

TikTok is a fast-growing social media platform that allows users to create and interact with various types of content. There is always a need to improve user interactions in order to increase usability. TikTok has an abundance of new users joining the platform who upload and create content constantly, so improving usability has to focus on content organization. Meaning how can we help users find what they are looking for in the most efficient method possible?

This case study aimed to organize sound content so that creators are able to find sounds with ease to use in their videos. However moving forward, there is still so much work that can be done with organizing other types of content on the platform (i.e saved videos, comments, filters).