PurplEQ shown used as a VST Plug-In device within Ableton Live 10 Suite
Overview
Digital equalizers are an industry standard tool for audio engineers, music producers, sound designers, and many more. Despite a variety of product options available, even the user-favorites leave something to be desired.
PurplEQ features the professional function of a high-end EQ with an intuitive band control panel and a streamlined interface, so users of all skill levels can efficiently navigate the product to achieve their expected audio results.
The Team: Joseph Routt
My Role: Product Research, User Recruitment and Interviews, User Flows, Sketching, Wireframes, Usability Testing, Interface Design
Primary Tools Used: Sketch, Figma, Miro
Time Frame: 14 Days
The Research
This project was an opportunity to apply aspects of the UX process to product design. I began by asking questions: What EQ products were people already using? What do they like about them? What features do they wish their products had? It was important to set aside my own assumptions about digital audio tools and open myself to outside opinions.
I remotely conducted user interviews with music producers, sound designers, and audio engineers about their likes and dislikes through video chat and email, sourcing respondents through social connections and audio-interest channels on social platforms. I noted their ideas and attitudes, and insights as to what products they use and why they use them.
Sample User Insights
The Learning
Higher-end digital EQs are often sold at high price points. Their UI is often beautiful, but can overwhelm users with an excess of interface graphics.
The more affordable and “stock” tools can lack power and flexibility - inhibiting users from completing their expected standard of work.
The two most popular EQ products among my responding users were Ableton Live’s stock EQ Eight and FabFilter’s Pro-Q series. Other products from 3rd party plugin designers were mentioned, but EQ Eight seemed to be the only native-DAW EQ used by my participants.
Ableton Live 10 EQ Eight
EQ Eight (pictured above) provides a native and convenient EQ tool to Ableton Live users. Its interface is congruent with its host DAW, and users appreciate it for its speed and ease on their CPU. Frustrations with EQ Eight include limits on its parameters, output artifacting, and small affordances.
FabFilter Pro-Q 3
FabFilter Pro-Q 3 (pictured above) is a high-end EQ plugin that is particularly popular with music producers. Users appreciate its precision and comprehensive features. Its price point, “cluttered” UI, and inefficient band toggling were among some users’ frustrations.
The Idea
Design an EQ with a new system for controlling band values that is more prominent than EQ Eight’s and more efficient than Pro-Q 3’s.
Initial Sketch:
User Flow:
The First Version
The UI is divided into thirds from top to bottom, featuring a tool bar, spectrogram, and band control bar in familiar order.
The focal point for this design was the band controls. I first ideated a “card” system where they could be added to a “hand” similar to the interface of a card game (also similar to app icons in MacOS's dock bar).
These band cards provide slider controls for the frequency, level, and Q value.
Curve options include: lowcut, highcut, lowshelf, highshelf, and bell. They may be activated/deactivated, added, and deleted.
Only displaying the controls for bands that are activated prevents interface clutter, and being able to see each card efficiently helps the user to locate the controls that they need.
I followed along with a small group of users who I observed navigate the EQ. The user flow of adding bands was intuitive, but this iteration still needed some key improvements.
The Updated Prototype
Several key adjustments to the product were made -
The slider macro controlling the Q value was removed and replaced with a value entry field that can be clicked+dragged to slide-adjust the value as well.
Clickable curve-selection icons were re-aligned vertically, and the slider macros in the band controls were replaced with more space efficient and visually appealing dial macros.
The tool bar at the top was updated with a band solo function and a save button for user presets.
The settings menu was removed and replaced with quicker stereo placement buttons along the tool bar.
Finally, an output meter was added to adjust the EQ's volume.
Five participants completed usability tests on the testing platform Maze, leading PurplEQ to a usability score of 87.
Users found the EQ intuitive to navigate and enjoyed the interface update, but there is still room to improve!
Next Steps
There are plenty of expanded features to consider if this product were to be developed further. I would start with...
• A/B mode
• Collapsable piano roll/note tuning display
• Expandable spectrogram, collapsable band control bar