Designing an immersive XR learning experience for music history
A VR experience that teaches how early music technology worked, through guided interaction and storytelling.
Role: UX Designer
Timeline: 2024
Platform: VR/Unity
Summary
Sonidify XR teaches how gramophones worked and why they mattered. I designed and built it in Unity for VR, focusing on first-time users and accessibility.
Audience
Gen Z and millennials. New to VR, record players, or analog music.
Problem
Younger people rarely see how vinyl and gramophones worked. The hardware is expensive and hard to find.
Usability testing
Accessibility
VR
Promo poster for conference/event submissions.
Goals
Teach the history of vinyl records and gramophones.
Make vintage music technology feel worth caring about.
Keep it engaging with music playback and genre discovery.
User research
Research methods
Online survey, 15 responses
Usability tests
Secondary research: design precedents, plus videos on how gramophones work and get repaired
Insights
People want to know how a gramophone works without electricity.
They know vinyl, but not speeds or how playback differs.
They’re open to learning in VR if it’s easy for beginners.
The solution
Introducing Sonidify XR: Gramophone - an immersive journey into early music technology. Users explore a fictional Art Deco-inspired location, engaging in four learning modules covering vinyl record types, gramophone setup, machine workings, and an overview of the music recording process.
The experience’s rotating platform feature to navigate between modules is inspired by Disney's Carousel of Progress.
The narrated storytelling that compliments the interactive elements, and guides the player is inspired by the VR experience: Traveling While black, and the real-world location: Salem Witch Trials Museum in Massachusetts.
Key design decisions
Controllers over hand tracking.
I prototyped both. Controllers were more accessible and gave haptic feedback.
Color and black and white modes.
Users choose. It gives a vintage option and works for color-blind users. The red, gold and black palette holds up in grayscale.
A fixed rotating platform.
It keeps attention on the learning modules instead of on movement.
Features
Guided gramophone setup, with an optional tutorial panel
Quiz after each module
Shrink down to explore the inner mechanism
78 RPM playback, with a color or black and white switch
Style guide
Inspired by Art Deco design from the 1920s-1930s
I chose colors that would translate well to grayscale (since one of my features involves switching color modes for users who want a vintage aesthetic, but also color blind users)
Inspired by
Art Deco
In my VR world, the 1920s-1930s vibe naturally led me to Art Deco; it just made sense. I knew what I wanted. Research helped me grasp the style, allowing me to create a UI that resonated with the environment design. I envisioned users feeling as though they were in a fancy lounge, a luxury hotel, a or a stage—that was my goal.
Usability testing
5 moderated, in-person tests over a week. Everyone finished the experience.
The intro tutorial was what made navigation click, with no help from me
Issues: overlapping audio, shrinking felt too abrupt
Requests: grab records, shorter narration, subtitles
Everyone learned the basics and wanted more content
Usability opportunities
Small issues included multiple audios playing simultaneously, and the speed of shrinking/growing being too abrupt
Suggestions included ability to ‘grab’ records, making audio narration shorter, and include subtitles alongside the audio
All participants learned basic knowledge of gramophones, records and expressed interest in exploring future iterations and desired more content
Changes after usability test
Implemented a pop quiz mechanism after each learning module to help user solidify knowledge
Introduced closed captioning to go alongside audio clips for users who prefer to read more then listen
Demo video
Reflection
VR was new to me, so I learned the problem the way my users did. The big lesson was balancing accessibility and innovation: controllers with haptics, and a fixed platform instead of free movement. Next I’d like to try other formats, like an XR cassette or CD, each with a different way to navigate.