Continue Music Across a Tour Bus, Watch, and Browser
Design a cross-device music player that adapts controls, context, and handoff behavior to very different environments.
The brief
Understand the problem
Background
A browser supports browsing and queue management, a watch supports quick control, and a vehicle dashboard needs glanceable operation. The same playback session should remain understandable across all three.
User context
Nia is a touring musician. She builds a rehearsal playlist on her laptop, controls it from her watch while setting up, and plays it through the tour bus system later.
Product problem
Copying one interface across devices creates unsafe or unusable controls. Device ownership, output selection, queue state, and interrupted handoff must stay coherent.
Objective
Create one playback system with device-specific controls and a reliable transfer of the active session.
What to design
Define the experience
Required experience
- Browser library and queue management
- Watch now-playing and essential controls
- Vehicle-safe now-playing view
- Playback transfer and conflict resolution
- Offline session state
Screens and states
- Browser queue
- Watch player
- Vehicle player
- Device transfer
- Offline conflict
Core user flow
Follow the critical path
- 01
Nia builds and reorders a rehearsal queue in the browser
- 02
She starts playback and controls volume from her watch
- 03
She transfers the session to the bus audio system
- 04
Another passenger tries to start a different session
- 05
Nia resolves ownership and preserves the original queue
Product rules
Requirements and constraints
Requirements
- Adapt available controls to attention and input limits on each device
- Show active output and controlling device clearly
- Preserve queue order, position, and playback state during transfer
- Require explicit confirmation before taking over another session
- Provide non-visual feedback for essential watch actions
- Keep vehicle interaction brief and glanceable
Constraints
- Devices may lose network or Bluetooth connectivity
- The watch has limited screen space and battery
- Vehicle controls must minimize attention demand
- Some tracks may not be downloaded on the target device
Reality check
States worth considering
Finish line
What to deliver
- Design five cross-device screens that demonstrate adaptive controls, handoff, ownership conflict, and offline behavior.
Optional direction
Visual resources
Use these as a starting constraint if you want one. They are not part of the required solution.