Spotify is one of the leading music and podcast streaming platforms today. To help them remain a leader in the field, they plan to roll out a new social feature to “improve engagement and retention in the app”.
These are the final mobile wireframes where I added my new features to Spotify. Keep scrolling for more detail about how I got to this point.
These are the final desktop wireframes where I added my new features to Spotify. Keep scrolling for more detail about how I got to this point.
Background
For this project, I was given the the prompt to help Spotify add a new feature to allow users to further connect with their music. While users can follow one another and their favorite artists, the company wanted to add further social capabilities to their product without losing focus on why users come to Spotify–for the music. They also did not have a clear idea of what the social-oriented feature will be.
With 4 weeks to complete my project, I conducted surveys and interviews to get a sense of what types of social features users would and wouldn’t like, brainstormed features that met those needs, and created both low and high-fidelity wireframes to illustrate the new features. This culminated with a functional, high-fidelity prototype.
Surveys
I began my research with surveys to better understand what type of social features Spotify users would want, if any. Listening to music is a deeply personal activity and some users may prefer to keep it that way. Additionally, Spotify users have been frustrated with frequent updates to Spotify’s UX in the past, so I knew any potential changes would be potentially divisive.
While more than 78% of respondents said they enjoy sharing music with their friends, the ability to do so did not affect which streaming service they would use. On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 5 being “strongly agree”, more than 70% didn’t feel that their choice of streaming service would be changed based off of the social features provided.
Additionally, nearly 80% of respondents strongly agreed that Spotify allows them to share music with their friends, but only about 35% felt that Spotify allows them to experience music with their friends.
Overall, the respondents generally didn’t see the need for more social features from Spotify, with their answers painting Spotify as an almost asocial app. However, more than 80% collaborate on a shared playlist at least once a week, and more than 50% listen to algorithm-generated playlists that combine users’ tastes at least once a week. This led me to believe that while there is a place for additional social feature(s) for Spotify, it had to be done with a delicate touch and it couldn’t interfere with the main reason people use Spotify–the music.
Respondents were satisfied with Spotify's performance overall.
Compared to their general satisfaction, there was more room for improvement for its social features.
The ability to make playlists with their friends was the favorite feature of half of respondents. A playlist-related feature was the favorite of more than 85% of those surveyed.
Despite their relative dissatisfaction with Spotify's current social features, respondents did not particularly see a need for new features.
Interviews
After synthesizing the results of the survey, I then interviewed 3 Spotify users to further pare down the options for the social feature(s) I would be adding. Each respondent had been a Spotify user for 7+ years and despite stating an overall satisfaction with Spotify, had plenty of critiques when prompted. Many of these frustrations were related to the layout of the Spotify app. Changes to the interface and a lack of continuity in what information was displayed were two of the larger issues.
For example, Spotify will display groups of playlists or albums like “New Releases” on the user’s homepage, but if the user goes to another page in the app, then returns to the homepage, the same playlist groupings may not be displayed, and they can be hard to search.
With regards to the social aspect of Spotify, the responses varied widely. One user felt that listening to music is a largely private, peaceful experience that she doesn’t want to be sullied by the peeping eyes of her peers. Other respondents expressed polar opposite opinions, suggesting that there were many areas Spotify could expand their social offering. There was even a desire for a Twitter-esque feed of other users’ listening activity.
Ultimately, each human’s relationship with music is unique and deeply personal, so it makes sense that that individuality and almost protectiveness in some instances carries into users’ experience with their music streaming service. Having a delicate touch and maintaining Spotify’s reputation for personalization will be important while progressing through this project.
Using my previous research, I created user personas to give a more robust idea of who these new features would be affecting.
Using my previous research, I created user personas to give a more robust idea of who these new features would be affecting.
Sitemap & Sketches
After conducting the interviews, I then began to brainstorm ideas for new social features based on the feedback I had gotten. I settled on three:
A social tab that featured a live feed of friends’ recent listening history as well as artist releases and updates.
A friends’ recent listening group on the user’s homepage, which would include a curation of artists, playlists, and albums that the user’s friends have had on repeat lately.
A preview of what artists your friends follow, both on the friend’s profile and the artist’s profile.
Before creating wireframes, I sketched out the new features to get show how they would look within their respective pages as a whole. I’ve included my sketches and notes for reference.
The sitemap includes the new Social tab and highlights some of the new recommend categories.
These user flows illustrate how a user would find their friend's profile and how they can access the new Artist Release Feed.
Wireframes
From the sketches, I created basic wireframes on Figma to further illustrate the new features. I’ve included the mobile and desktop versions for reference. The added features are highlighted with red outlines.
The mobile screens include the homepage and new friends’ recent listening section, as well as the social tab and the toggle between the friend and artist feeds. The desktop screens only illustrate the social feeds.
User testing validated the overall design, with respondents commenting that the new social feed was easy to find, while the additional playlist sections blended well with the existing homepage layout.
Final Screens
Following Spotify’s design guidelines and referencing their existing layout, I created the high-fidelity models seen here.
The mobile screens include the updated homepage, user and artist profile pages, as well as the new social feed. The mutually followed artists can be clicked to navigate to that artist’s profile and the follower preview on the artist page leads to the user’s profile. For a demonstration of this function, feel free to contact me and I can provide a walkthrough of my prototype.
The desktop screens provide a preview of the friend and artist social feeds.
A contextualized version of the updated homepage, with new sections for playlists influenced by the user's friends' favorites.
Although friend's listening history is available on desktop, respondents asked for this feature to be added to mobile as well.
The user can toggle between their Friends and Artists feeds at the top of the screen.
Users can click on their friends' profiles to view their playlists, favorite artist, and more.
On the artist page, users can now see which of their friends follows the artist in question.
A contextualized Friends feed on a desktop.
A contextualized Artists feed on a desktop.
Conclusion
Throughout the design process, I struggled with the balance of adding new social features that enhanced the users’ experience and allowed them to better connect with their friends while at the same time not impeding too much on their current listening process. As noted previously, listening to music is deeply personal to many people and feeling forced to share that experience may cause a negative perception of Spotify. I believe that the features I created are a positive first step towards a more connected listening experience without totally up-ending the user’s current processes.
One of my interviewees mentioned that “in real life”, music is a very communal experience. When I thought about it, he’s right: concerts can vary from must-attend social soirees to cathartic, near-religious experiences. Music colors in our lives, whether in the car, in a store, at home, or any other number of places, we experience music with others. What I created in the last 4 weeks are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Spotify can do to try and create an online community for music listeners.