How to ideate innovative solutions using Abstraction Hierarchy
Since its creation, music as an art form has been made and enjoyed in many ways. Today, the form factors we are most familiar with are music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. Mobile or desktop/laptop based music player applications have replaced traditional physical media based listening experiences such as CDs, records, and tapes. With the shift of media, music playback devices such as the radio, tape deck, reel-to-reel, and turntable have been dematerialized while today’s most common music playback set-up is a smartphone with earbuds.
If you were to design and innovate the next generation music experience, where should you start? Should you start with the questions, “What did the CD or streaming services achieve and how might we iterate and innovate off of that?” Or should you start with more abstract questions such as, “In what forms can music be heard? How does music work? What is the purpose of music?” If you ask me, I believe the best answer is the latter, more abstract questions. To invent and ideate new unique solutions and experiences, you should not begin with the analysis of current or aged solutions. There is limited potential if…
