Musical ensembles are groups of people performing music together, often with large collections of sheet music and a need for appropriate tools to stay organised. Ompa is a concept for a digital tool for archiving, planning, and collaboration within an ensemble. This project has focused on the user experience and interface of Ompa.

Insights revealed frustrations in specific task processes within an ensemble, as well as a lack of existing functionality to support them. Through a design process of co-evolution, the focus shifted to administrative roles within an ensemble and their largely unexplored workflows from a UX design perspective.

Prototypes were designed, tested, and iterated, with a central principle of lowering the barrier between the physical and digital spheres. For example, the standardised order of instruments in a musical score was used as a spatial analogy in the design to support users’ mental models.

The project resulted in user-tested designs for administrative workflows, along with a user interface and visual identity that strengthens Ompa as a brand by communicating playfulness, movement, and community.