Sparkyard – Award-winning music streaming app for schools
Out of the Ark, the UK’s leading provider of songs and related resources for primary schools asked us to help them create a new streaming service, as a way to generate a sustainable business model and meet the changing demands of their customers.
Their first foray into this world, working with a large third-party web development company, Out of the Ark needed strategic guidance for how to develop a product, as well as UX expertise in defining and crafting a successful user experience.
We ran collaborative discovery workshops to understand their business model, market, audience, challenges, and needs. MVP (Minimal Viable Product) workshops and guidance created a product roadmap that was achievable and valuable.
Information architecture creation defined the app’s user experience, as well as the technical infrastructure and processes that would sit behind it.
A series of design sprints culminated in a designed, interactive working prototype of the app, enabling the team to test, market, and build the final app.
Collaborative user testing helped Out of the Ark to embrace this valuable process in-house, enabling them to get great insight into their customers and how they use the app.
Continuous product improvement on a monthly basis to iterate the app based based on user feedback and business direction to ensure growth.
Results
Sparkyard won the prestigious Music and Drama Education Awards for being an Outstanding Education Resource.
“Hiring Deckchair was the single most important and impactful decision I made in managing this project. Their skill and experience is beyond question, and their willingness to understand our particular ethos, strengths, weaknesses and pressures has been truly invaluable in bringing to life a complex and challenging product. If we hadn’t employed Deckchair for this work, we’d have taken three times as long to get a quarter of the impact.”
Antony Copus, Head of Education Development