From Vision to Reality:
Music-Making for Everyone
A case study on how we brought an entrepreneur’s vision to life through industrial design, interaction design, and strategic design.
In a Nutshell
MusiCubes is like Apple Garage Band, but screen-free, intuitve and accessible to everyone. People can mix music in real time and create their own composition.
The product consists of a tablet and a set of cubes. Place cubes on the MusiCubes tablet to instantly create music. Each cube triggers a music loop, or a sound effect
Challenge
The goal of this project was to translate a technology patent and product idea into a tangible, engaging and scalable product experience.
We had to think of a striking and feasible industrial design, which appeals to kids, adults and elders alike. And, we had to achieve high user-retention to allow for a scalable business model similar to Toniebox or Nespresso.
Solution
Within three months, we transformed MusiCubes from a patent into a complete product ecosystem, ready for investor presentation. Key opinion leaders and market insiders exclusively provided positive feedback, an accelerated time-to-market through our integrated approach; and most significantly, an increase in company valuation significantly.
«It was 100% the right decision to work with Notation. I would do it again. Instantly.»
Hayri C. Bulman
Founder & Inventor of MusiCubes
Concept Design
Creating a distinctive design which works for kids, adults and elders is not easy. We chose a minimalistic “Formensprache” while introducing a vibrant color scheme. Depth and haptic delight is introduced by using wood as the primary interface material
Video Prototyping
We used video prototyping to establish gamification and interaction principles. The videos allowed stakeholders to evaluate the game mechanics without time-consuming engineering efforts.
This approach compressed months of traditional development into just one week.
Design Delivery
We went through over 10 iterations of rapid prototyping and testing, refining every detail of the design. Our solutions not only met the briefing but also achieved a significantly lower BOM cost—a very positive surprise for our client, as it enables a more disruptive go-to-market approach.
