PRESS
& CRY
Assisted and mentored by Prof. Shikher Saxena and Prof. Sumit Dey, Faculty Interaction Design, UID Gandhinagar.
Where It All Began
This project began with a simple brief:
Finding that wasn't easy
I tried the UPI box.
Then a label maker.
Even a drum machine.
Why Carvaan? Because it felt like me.
I didn’t pick Carvaan for convenience; I liked it because it represented who I am: someone who loves simplicity, old memories, and meaningful design.
But once I looked deeper, I realised something important: Loving a product gives you blind spots. You stop seeing its flaws.
The Initial Problems.
Key Pain Points:
No preview of the next song
Inconsistent display vs playback
100+ clicks to reach one song
No sense of “where am I in this list?”
Talking to Real Users
User Verbatims:
“Too many clicks.”
“It’s awkward to play a particular song when guests are around.”
“When someone requests a song, I just use my phone and open youtube”
Everyone loved the nostalgia but struggled with control.
The issue wasn’t usability alone —it was the disconnect between emotion and control.
Empathy Map
Outcome:
Users don’t just want music they want to relive memories effortlessly.
“Stop designing a product. Start designing an experience.”
My faculty asked the question that changed everything: “Is this even you?”
They reminded me to focus on the experience not the buttons, not the screen.
They redirected me from “fixing UI” to “understanding emotions, memories, and context.”
This moment shifted the entire project.
Data → Findings → Insight
Data
Most adult users enjoy old Bollywood music for relaxation and nostalgia but struggle to find specific songs on the platform so They have to keep clicking through 5000 tracks with no preview or search, often giving up and switching to Spotify or YouTube.
Finding
The tough navigation leads to user being irritated too easily from scrolling 5000 songs which leads to User giving up and switching up on platform to listen to their favourite music
Insight
The elderly listeners needs a platform to cherish vintage music where they can easily navigate through any song they want to relive those golden memories without any obstacle
Looking Back to Move Forward
"Old systems were more intuitive than we think."
People identified songs through movies, not titles.
They checked cassette covers, flipped them, read track numbers, and estimated time while fast-forwarding.
Similarly, older AM transistors made navigation intuitive with two dials: one for tuning between 1–10 and another for refining 10–100.
Both systems were predictable, physical, and rooted in muscle memory that familiar rituals that made searching feel effortless.
Ideation
Two Dials. Two Screens. One Clear Journey.
Inspired by AM radios and cassette workflows, I reframed navigation into two parallel tracks:
Dial A → Folders (Movies / Artists / Moods)
Dial B → Songs inside that folder
This recreated how people actually remember music — through films, actors, and moments.
Problem-01
Finding one song meant skipping blindly through 5000 tracks
Solution-01
Two rotary dials:
Left dial selects the folder (Movie/Artist/Mood/Songs),
Right dial selects the exact song no guessing, no gambling.
Problem-02
Carvaan had no playlist or favorites users couldn’t save what they loved.
Solution-02
Double-tap to “Like.”
Instantly added to a Liked Songs playlist AND moved higher inside its category.
Just like making your own mixtape but without the tape.
Problem-03
The experience felt nostalgic in look but not in feel.
Solution-03
Retro cues built with purpose:
Pixel portraits, cassette-loading animation, subtle mechanical ticks.
Not decoration — emotional memory triggers.
Why This Works
Clarity + Nostalgia + Control
No more blind clicking
Users can “see the folder & see the song” at the same time
Predictable movement (just like cassettes & radios)
Emotional continuity preserved
What This Project Taught Me
UX is not just problem-solving — it’s perspective-shifting.
Every design decision must connect to people’s emotions.
Insights come from going deeper, not wider.
Nostalgia is powerful when paired with clarity.
Design is not linear — doubt and frustration are part of synthesis.
