Disney Music Group Product Designer Case — Cross‑Franchise Soundtrack Discovery and Engagement

This case mirrors Disney’s real interview style: story‑first, Guest‑centric, highly collaborative, and mindful of brand/IP stewardship. You will design an end‑to‑end feature for Disney Music Group (DMG)—home to Hollywood Records, Walt Disney Records, Disney Music Publishing, Buena Vista Records, and Disney Concerts—that helps multi‑generational Guests discover, collect, and share music moments from franchises like Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and marquee artists (e.g., Queen in North America). The session emphasizes thoughtful trade‑offs, accessibility, legal/rights constraints, and cross‑team orchestration. Case prompt: Design a cross‑franchise “Music Moments” experience that: (1) surfaces soundtrack and score content tied to upcoming and legacy titles (e.g., Frozen, Encanto, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars); (2) supports pre‑save/preview flows and time‑boxed releases; (3) connects to Disney Concerts and event programming when relevant; and (4) respects content embargoes and territory rights. Your solution should work within Disney’s digital ecosystem (existing DMG web/app surfaces, Disney+, owned marketing channels) and link out responsibly to external DSPs. Focus areas the panel will probe: - Guest experience and storytelling: Serve kids, parents, and fans without spoilers; create moments of delight consistent with Disney’s tone. Consider parental trust, age‑appropriate surfaces, and clear microcopy. - Accessibility and inclusion: Design to WCAG 2.2 AA; captions/lyrics legibility, color contrast for album art‑heavy layouts, focus order, motion sensitivity, language support, and family‑friendly defaults. - Brand/IP integrity and legal: Handle embargoed tracks, staggered release windows, composer attribution, and artist/label co‑branding; avoid revealing plot through track titles and art before premiere dates. - Rights, territories, and release orchestration: Reflect regional availability, metadata/ISRC alignment, and different cutdowns (theatrical vs. series). Show how the UI communicates “coming soon,” pre‑save, and unlock states. - Ecosystem and integrations: Respect the realities of linking to Spotify/Apple Music/YouTube Music, Disney+, DMG CMS, and concert ticketing; plan graceful fallbacks when services aren’t available. - Data, metrics, and ethics: Define success (e.g., pre‑save conversion, listen‑through, playlist adds, concert uplift, OST sales) with privacy‑preserving telemetry—especially for under‑13 Guests (COPPA considerations) and household accounts. - Delivery and collaboration: Demonstrate how you’d partner with Label Marketing, Publishing, Legal, Engineering, Data Science, and Accessibility. Show phased delivery and how you communicate trade‑offs. Format and timeline (60 minutes): - 0–5 min: Brief intros; you restate the problem and constraints. - 5–20 min: Discovery and scope. Identify primary Guests, jobs‑to‑be‑done, key moments (pre‑release, launch day, long‑tail), and constraints (rights, spoilers, localization). - 20–40 min: Solution sketching. Produce a simple flow and 2–3 wireframes (e.g., franchise hub, track detail with safe previews, pre‑save state, and a concert tie‑in). Call out content states (locked/unlocked), error states, and offline. - 40–50 min: Metrics, risks, and roll‑out. Define success metrics, experiment plan (A/B for pre‑save CTA vs. teaser clip), phased roadmap (90‑day MVP vs. 6‑month), and risk mitigations (embargo leaks, traffic spikes on premiere days). - 50–60 min: Q&A and follow‑ups (e.g., how you’d localize titles/lyrics, handle a surprise single drop, or integrate a composer spotlight like For Scores). Constraints (assume unless you re‑negotiate): - Team capacity for MVP: 2 FE, 1 iOS, 1 backend, shared QA for one quarter; use the existing internal design system. - Global launch in English first, with plan for 12 languages; territory‑based availability and catalog differences apply. - No net‑new standalone app; build within current DMG surfaces and owned channels, with links to external DSPs. What good looks like at Disney: - Clear framing and elegant Guest journeys that feel magical yet practical. - Strong IP stewardship and spoiler‑safe design. - Concrete accessibility decisions, not just principles. - Measured, data‑informed thinking with ethical guardrails for families. - Collaborative posture with cross‑functional partners; crisp written and visual communication. Common panel prompts (be ready): - “How do you protect story surprises while still building hype?” - “What ships in 90 days vs. what waits for 6 months?” - “How do you design for kids and adults sharing a device?” - “How would you handle surge traffic on opening weekend?” - “How do you represent Queen’s catalog alongside family content respectfully?”