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DZCO is an early stage startup building an interactive music discovery experience powered by movement and social connection.
As the Junior Product Designer on contract, I collaborated remotely with a small cross-functional team to shape user research, journey mapping, patent renders, and UI specifications that guided DZCO toward a more intuitive and engaging product.
Jr. Product Designer
6 months
Figma
Tanishka Sharma
Stephen Zeof
Ryan McGee
Bianca Cheng
DZCO faced a critical hurdle: users from major music platforms were hesitant to onboard and explore its novel features. The challenge was to uncover where friction occurred, translate those insights into actionable design recommendations, and support the product’s evolution with clear specifications and visuals for patent expansion.
To address adoption and usability challenges, I conducted exploratory user research and early usability testing to uncover how new users approached DZCO compared to familiar platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. These insights informed clear, prioritized design recommendations focused on reducing onboarding friction and clarifying value.
Working closely with the development team, I translated findings into detailed UI specs and technical guidelines, ensuring every proposed improvement was both feasible and aligned with business strategy. This process established a foundation for DZCO’s next design phase—user-centered, technically sound, and strategically focused.
I conducted extensive user interviews with early adopters migrating from Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music to uncover their motivations, expectations, and pain points. Insights from this research directly informed the MVP’s core flows and feature priorities, which we then validated through usability testing with both returning participants and new users.
Through journey mapping, persona development, and heuristic analysis, we then identified onboarding friction points (particularly around playlist imports and feature discoverability) and created a plan to simplify first-time use.
My work spanned both creative and technical domains. I designed the dynamic icon pointer system, where icons like 🔥 (trending) and 🪩 (DJ/leader) guided users across the DZCO map in real time.
I also created high-fidelity product renders to support updated patent filings, ensuring visual accuracy while aligning with the product’s evolving UI.
The project delivered a research-backed UX optimization plan, detailed spec sheets, and patent-ready product visuals. These outputs gave the startup a clearer sense of user priorities and a tangible design framework to continue building on.
At DZCO, I learned to translate extensive user research into design solutions that met both user needs and business goals. Working closely with the development team, I refined specs to ensure every interaction and visual element was technically feasible while maintaining the integrity of the design vision. The experience taught me how to balance evidence-based UX decisions with strategic constraints, navigate team dynamics, and advocate for the user without losing sight of the product’s objectives.
