Role

UI/UX Designer

Team

1 UI/UX Designer + 2 Engineers

Duration

Oct 2022 - Mar 2023

CONTEXT

Taiwan Music Copyright Association (TMCA) manages song rights for their members, which include lyricists and composers. Anyone wanting to use the music of these artists publicly must apply with, be approved by, and pay TMCA.

TMCA came to us with a paper-based process, with the goal of creating a platform and digitalizing their process. As the sole UI/UX designer on the project, I created an online platform to streamline the application process, and manage membership as well as financial data, significantly improving operational efficiency.

ACHIEVEMENT

35%

Reduction in customer churn

53%

Increase in profit-sharing accuracy rate

PROBLEM

Inefficient and disorganized manual processes

Paper-based operations resulted in frequent errors and delays. These issues caused customer dissatisfaction due to lost or hard-to-find records, and ultimately led to increasing customer churn.

GOAL

Phase 1 - internal platform development

📝 Transitioned from paper-based operations to a digital platform

Digitalized the existing paper-based application process to enhance the speed and accuracy of data handling.

✨ Simplified workflow processes

Streamlined the workflow to eliminate the need for employees to handwrite forms and send them back and forth, allowing for online form completion.

📊 Optimized data management and cost savings

Provided digital access to data, reducing costs related to physical storage and establishing traceability.

CHALLENGES

The challenges I encountered...

❌ Tight deadlines

❌ Lack of standardized processes

❌ Sensitive regulations

❌ Scalability & Flexibility

THE SOLUTION

Transitioning from paper to digital

Online application

No more paperwork. Employees can now submit and manage applications digitally.

Simple admin management

Easily manage applications, member info, and invoices all in one place.

Smart Profit Distribution

Upload a report, and the system takes care of profit sharing, accurately and efficiently.

Clear dashboard

A quick overview of total submissions and new member activity for easier tracking.

RESEARCH

TMCA lost 20% of their customers and continued to receive complaints

RESEARCH INSIGHTS

What we learned from users...

😩 High error rate

“My profit sharing amount is incorrect and appears to be assigned to the wrong person.”

😩 Lost credibility

"I haven’t received any of my profit sharing since I joined two years ago."

😫 Not efficient at all

“The application process is really inconvenient, have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and then mail it back”

STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

High cost and low efficiency

We conducted stakeholder interviews with the majority of the TMCA team. We spoke with individuals from marketing, finance, and sales. These were the insights we gathered from those interviews.

🎯Business goals

Reduce costs and manual work
Manage member/application data effectively
Reduce customer churn

👥 User needs

Reduce the error rate
Distribute profits on time
Simplify the application process

💾 Technical requirements

Data collection and cleaning from other platforms

ANALYSIS

Manual process = Inefficient, misleading, and error-prone

I visualized the existing workflows using swimlane diagrams to clarify the responsibilities, activities, and interactions of various roles and departments.

Optimized application process

I converted the manual process of issuing invoices and certificates to an automated process with a platform that generated the documents and emails members automatically.

IDEATE

Transitioning to new digital processes

After understanding the processes, I examined two main user flows.

User flow A

Sarah, an employee of TMCA, is using online applications to assist clients with completing new applications or renewals.

User flow B

Sarah adds the music and music ownership ratio under a member, which will help the system accurately calculate profit distributions.

TESTING + ITERATION

Improvements in my design

I continued to iterate on the design, implementing 2 major improvements based on feedback from 6 stakeholders.

1. Further simplification

Based on feedback from stakeholders, users felt confused when faced with numerous blanks to fill in.

I streamlined the application hierarchy by sectioning it into a two-step flow and grouping related information together to reduce the time needed to complete the task.

Version 1

Final Version

2. Improved ease of use

For music information, I modified the design to allow flexibility in adding or removing multiple creators (composers and lyricists).

I added a disable switch, allowing music to be temporarily suspended in special circumstances without being permanently deleted.