Main Objective

The primary objective of this capstone is to revamp Leep Inc.’s user experience and add key social-collaboration features, transforming the existing MVP into a polished, market-ready platform that enhances artist discovery and engagement.

Tasks & Activities

Learners will work in interdisciplinary teams to:

1. UX Research & Redesign

• Conduct user interviews and usability tests on the current MVP to identify pain points.
• Create detailed personas and user journey maps to guide design decisions.
• Develop wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes in Figma or Adobe XD.

1. Front-End Development

• Build static prototypes of new features (interactive radio, hybrid swipe communication, music editor) using HTML5, CSS3, and vanilla JavaScript.
• Refactor prototypes into React components, integrate with stubbed APIs, and ensure responsive design.

1. Back-End & API Integration

• Implement server-side endpoints (Node.js or Django) for new social features (voting, remix uploads, geo-search).
• Secure APIs with JWT authentication and document each endpoint using Swagger/OpenAPI.

1. Algorithm Design

• Research and implement a collaborative-filtering taste-matching system in Python or JavaScript ML libraries.
• Evaluate algorithm performance (precision, recall) against a seed dataset.

1. End-to-End Workflow Mastery

• Use Git for version control, set up CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions), and write unit tests (Jest or Mocha).
• Deploy the full stack to AWS, Heroku, or Netlify, demonstrating bundling, testing, and monitoring.

1. UX Validation & Iteration

• Conduct A/B tests, refine prototypes based on user feedback, and ensure accessibility compliance (WCAG).
• Measure improvements via key metrics (task success rate, time-on-task, Net Promoter Score).

Deliverables

By project end, each team will submit:

1. UX Design Proposal: Personas, journey maps, wireframes, and usability test reports.
2. Interactive Prototype: A live React demo of revamped onboarding, collaboration hub, and music editor.
3. Recommendation Algorithm Report: Code, data model, evaluation metrics, and demo of taste-matching feature.
4. API Documentation & Deployment: Swagger docs, CI/CD scripts, and deployed URLs.
5. Final Capstone Report: Comprehensive write-up covering research findings, technical architecture, design rationale, and next-steps roadmap.

Project Outcomes & Deliverables

1. Weekly Progress Reports

• Submit concise updates every week, detailing accomplishments, blockers, and next steps, as seen in the University of Rhode Island capstone model

1. UX Research Report

• Conduct 8–10 user interviews and 20+ usability tests on Leep’s MVP.
• Produce personas, journey maps, and a 5-page analysis of pain points, aligning with NYU’s capstone expectations for analytic reports

1. Wireframes & Prototypes

• Create low-fidelity wireframes for onboarding, collaboration hub, and music editor.
• Develop high-fidelity clickable prototypes in Figma or Adobe XD, as required by MIT’s studio pedagogy .

1. Front-End Implementation

• Build static HTML/CSS/JavaScript versions of key features (interactive radio, hybrid swipe communication).
• Refactor into React (or Vue) components with responsive design, meeting Fung Institute’s technical deliverables standard

1. Back-End & API Development

• Implement Node.js (or Django) REST endpoints for remix uploads, voting, and geo-search.
• Secure APIs with JWT, document using Swagger/OpenAPI, as recommended by UT Austin’s guidelines

1. Recommendation Algorithm

• Code a collaborative-filtering model in Python or JavaScript ML libraries.
• Produce a report with precision/recall metrics and a Jupyter-notebook demo, reflecting CS capstone best practices

1. CI/CD & Testing

• Set up GitHub Actions pipelines for linting, unit tests (Jest/Mocha), and automated deployments.
• Provide test coverage reports and deployment scripts (Terraform/CloudFormation), per industry-aligned workflows

1. Usability Validation

• Execute A/B tests on redesigned flows, collect quantitative metrics (task success rate, time-on-task) and qualitative feedback.
• Deliver a 3-page validation summary, adhering to ABET/CDIO outcome-based assessment

1. Final Demonstration & Presentation

• Host a live demo or recorded walkthrough of all features.
• Prepare a 20-minute slide deck summarizing problem, methodology, results, and recommendations, mirroring HDO Capstone Presentation requirements

1. Comprehensive Final Report

• Compile an 18–20 page document encompassing research, design, technical architecture, algorithm details, deployment guide, and future work.
• Include appendices for code snippets, test logs, and user-test transcripts, following CMU Heinz College deliverable standards