Music search portal UX
Enhancing music discovery for B2B editing
Project for:
5 Alarm (Anthem Entertainment)
5 Alarm is an independent production music library for movies, television, radio and commercials. Their team and clients use a web-based app to tap into the company’s vast music library to find the right music for their projects.
They asked Standard Beagle to design a user-friendly experience for the app, focusing on usability and findability, as part of the overall music search portal UX.
Expertise
Our team provided UX strategy, user research, and product design expertise to the project.
Client
5 Alarm is the largest independent production music library. Founded in 2002, it was later purchased by Anthem Entertainment.
Timeline
We worked intensely with 5 Alarm for six months on this project, collaborating closely with a 5 Alarm executive stakeholder as well as a product manager.
Challenge
Modernize the UI and improve music portal search UX
The most important consideration on the music search portal app was how to make search easy and intuitive. Producers and editors needed to be able to easily use the search so that they could find a wide variety of tracks. Because the music catalog is so large, it was important to allow the user to filter as well as use additional search methods.
It was also important to understand current workflows for editors and build a journey that would be familiar but still update the UI. In addition, the team decided it would implement features of an AI search into the platform, and the design needed to clearly show what was AI and what was not.
Solution
User testing and highly functional prototype
We recommended starting with user research before jumping into design. While we could bring our expertise and knowledge of best practices to the project, we knew that understanding their users’ behavior would improve usability by leaps and bounds.
Following research, we recommended three key journeys to be designed in a high-fidelity prototype that would be built by the internal development team.
Impact
Our high-fidelity designs allowed 5 Alarm to demonstrate the app to executives.
Enhanced, user-friendly search
The design upgrade made significant changes in the overall user experience. One of the most important areas we considered was the search function. Editors needed to be able to search for and discover music from 5 Alarm’s vast catalog, including stems and subtracks. The search included an upgraded filtering system as well as an AI component.
Flexible and adaptable
Another key aspect of the music search portal UX was how editors would be able to add tracks to playlists. Editors wanted the flexibility to be able to create as many playlists as they wanted and be able to find tracks within those playlists. We implemented a modern drawer UI that users can collapse and expand.
Honors
Awards
2025 Muse Design Award: Silver Winner -Product Design UX / UI / IDX
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