After reviewing Spotify’s operational model, I wanted to learn more about its audience. And what better way to do so than to use principles of UX/UI design. After all, designing a successful digital product, or any product for that matter, requires an understanding of how it will fit into the life of the people who are going to use it.
So let’s begin this journey.
Development of the User Problem
In the age of digital communications, countless apps drop on the app store that attempt to extend in-person interactions. Whether they are broad-based social media platforms or group video streaming apps, developers throughout the world are focused on providing unique ways for people to come together, on the platforms themselves.
Interestingly, the case of Spotify is a bit different.
Spotify’s user profiles are stored away in the settings menu of the mobile app. This lack of emphasis on digital communication among users within the app contrasts the aforementioned trends.
After completing preliminary market research, which is summarized in a previous post, I was interested in learning more about the motivations for using the platform. Finding that the top playlists were curated by Spotify, why not engage with user-generated playlists or other users in general?
The results from my survey, which included questions like “What are your music consumption habits?” and “How do you discover new music?”, largely complimented my preliminary research.
Of the 17 respondents that used Spotify, 12 of them reported browsing through Spotify suggestions to find new music, with 5 specifically citing the “Discover Weekly” playlist. Furthermore, when asked “If you wanted to see what your friends are listening to, how would you do that?”, the majority of the respondents said they would just ask their friends verbally or through text. A few even said they would not do that, thinking it is “creepy”.
Collectively, I found that Spotify users are not concerned with interacting with other users directly on the app; the motivation for Spotify use largely complements communication in-person or through other means.
Nonetheless, discovering new music is still a major motivation for Spotify use. Specifically, the majority of surveyors stated that they like discovering new artists (82.6%) and listen to Spotify recommendations (89.5%) but do not necessarily follow favorite artists or playlists.
Through these results, I defined my user problem — the problem that users may have when using the app and for which I want to develop a solution — as discovering and navigating through Spotify recommendations more efficiently.
Feature Brainstorming
Next was the brainstorming phase. To start, I separated my user problem into two main parts: discovering new music and getting to recommendations quicker.
After coming up with various potential solutions, I performed SWOT and Feasibility/Impact analyses on five major solutions:
- Follow Genres
- Show Trending Songs/Artists Outside of a Playlist
- Pin Playlists to Home Page
- Quick Link to Top Charts on Home Page
- Search Button on Home Page
Based on these analyses, I determined the feature that would address both parts of my user problem: Show Trending Songs/Artists Outside of a Playlist (Component 1) and Quick Link to Charts on Home Page (Component 2).
It is important to mention that Component 1 would allow users to not only discover new music but discover new music that would allow them to connect with others. This is an important aspect of music consumption that I had overlooked when defining my initial user problem.
While I found that Spotify users are not too inclined to interact with others on the platform or share their streaming history in general, they still communicate with others about their music tastes and interests off of the platform. Obviously, charting songs and artists are ones that are commonly played by a population; they’re played at restaurants, bars, private parties, etc. Conversations can even begin with “Hey, did you hear that new Drake song?”, a song that is likely on the charts. By listening to music on the top charts, people become increasingly familiar with music that they may have heard somewhere else, with someone else, thereby, fostering a pseudo-connection.
Component 1, together with Component 2, addresses the user problem by emphasizing new, popular music and making it easier to find.
Prototyping
Now came the time to start thinking about how the feature will be displayed; specifically, how the information of this feature will be displayed.
I figured that the best solution to the user problem was to develop two sections: one that displays the top 5 songs on the Top Charts playlist with a link to the playlist itself (On the Charts) and one that displays trending artists.
After a few low-fidelity sketches, I ultimately decided to develop two prototypes. Both sections on both prototypes have horizontal scrolling to remain consistent with Spotify’s native environment and to limit the amount of space the feature takes up on the home page.
The first section, On the Charts, is the same in both prototypes. This part of the feature contains the artwork, title, and artist(s) for the top 5 tracks on the United States Top 50 playlist. In place of a song’s artwork, the final block in this section relates to the United States Top 50 playlist artwork; upon tapping the icon, the playlist opens. And, of course, the playlist would change depending on the user’s location.
The second section, Trending Artists, is a bit different between the two prototypes both in terms of content and design. Prototype 1 contains a circular profile photo, name, and the number of monthly streams of each artist. This provides essential information about the artists while remaining consistent with the way links to an artist’s profile are natively shown in the search menu.
Prototype 2 contains the photo, name, weekly and monthly streams, and two popular tracks of each artist within a dedicated block. The added information about weekly streams and top tracks may provide more context about the artists’ popularity to users.
To test such considerations, a study is needed. Due to limited resources, however, the prototypes were tested by one participant so the generalizability of the study is low.
In terms of the overall experience, the test revealed that the On The Charts and Trending Artists sections in both prototypes are effective in showing the user new songs and artists that he/she is inclined to talk about with others.
The Trending Artists section of Prototype 2 was determined to be the better solution because it is harder to overlook, more visually appealing, and more accurate. The accuracy characteristic was due to the greater credibility of the algorithm given by the added information in Prototype 2 as compared to Prototype 1.
Prototype 2 was determined to contain a better feature overall at addressing the user problem.
Bringing it All Together
You can try out my final prototype here!
Though the development of my prototype is an ongoing process, this journey has provided me with significant insight into the social aspect of Spotify user behavior and experience. From describing a user problem using primary and secondary inquiries to designing a prototype to address this problem, I developed a feature that reflects people’s interest in finding ways to connect with others.
