Everything I need to know about doing UX, I (re)learned by spinning at Turntable.fm

If you’ll remember, Turntable.fm was a sweet little online experience that combined music and being social.

You’d create a virtual “room” and up to five DJs — positioned on a raised platform above a gathered crowd of Mii-like avatars — would spin from a near-bottomless musical library while everyone in the room listened and bonded.

There was visual flair for the DJs, a reputation economy that encouraged DJ skillz, and little ways to personalize the experience that seemed perfect for the thing. Before Spotify, you could have it running in the background at work and listen to your coworking friends spin tunes. If you had a spare moment you could virtually duck into the room, bob your head, or spin yourself. I wrote the following post for the Sears UX blog in July 2011, about what I learned as a virtual DJ, and how that informed my practice of UX.

The following list of what I (re)learned is presented all as one big unordered list, sort of similar to the experience of walking into a club and listening to music.

You have to have a sense for your current audience; just replaying what rocked in another room is a recipe for fail — Amazing ideas are almost obvious, from the first time you experience them — There are an infinite number of ways to succeed… but it’s still rarely easy — Almost everything done alone is better when it’s done with others — It takes a lot of time to be awesome, but you can be lame in moments. Also it’s harder to go from lame to awesome, than from unknown to awesome. — You do your best work in a place that makes you smile, that you have a feeling and a passion for. — Magic can come from being first with new stuff, but a better plan might be getting a feel for what works, mastering that while amping it up just a bit, and cutting loose more and more once you have their trust. — Anyone can be a practitioner and follow the rules to get points, make money. But if you’re an artist, you’ll dominate over those people every time. — On the web and in front of the turntable, long-term brand success is about relationships, conversation, and making people smile. — New forums for your art are opening up all the time. — Once you put your own stuff up for the world to experience, it’s there for someone else to use, maybe better than you did. Learn from this. — Sometimes all you have to do to start over is don a new name, new avatar, and a new outlook. — Create a space where people can enjoy themselves, invest, and bring their culture in with them; they’ll repay you with loyalty. — A blend of familiar favorites and newness that appeals is intoxicating. — Starting with a huge base of fans doesn’t insure success… but it rarely hurts. — The tools for success are all around you, free for the taking. You just need the guts to step up, read the crowd, and put yourself out there. -– know thyself; figure out how you’re unique, and use your art and that of others to work your magic upon the world.

He wear no shoe shine, he got
toe-jam football, he got
monkey finger,
He shoot
coca-cola.

He say ‘I know you, you know me;
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free.’