Spotify

Empowering people to discover new music in everyday settings

Contributions

Concept Ideation
User Research
Wireframing
Prototyping
Interaction Design
Visual Design
User Testing

Role

Product Designer

Timeline

1 month

The Problem

How might we incorporate a music identification feature within Spotify's app without disrupting their current design system? Implementing a new feature within an existing platform is inevitable, however, if not done strategically, it could result in a problematic user interface.

The Solution

Placing the new feature within the search screen made the most sense from an information architecture standpoint because identifying a song by audio is similar to searching for a song by title.

01

Scoping out the Competition

Like most design processes, I started with user research and a competitive analysis to cultivate user empathy and gain better insight on similar products currently on the market. I spoke with 4 different participants - 2 Spotify users, 1 Apple Music user, and 1 Pandora user. The goal here was to gain insight on why each of these individuals chose their preferred music streaming platform and what factors needed to be present to entice them into using a music ID feature.

02

Designing for the User

I gathered all of the information that I collected during the research phase and created an empathy map to help me focus on the user's needs throughout the design of the feature.

Henry's Goals and Needs

To be able to quickly identify songs playing in his environment when he’s out and about
To be able to easily refer back to songs based on his listening activities
To be able to discover new music based on his music preferences

03

Where should the new feature live?

After spending hours brainstorming, I decided to place the new feature within the search screen since I figured it made the most sense from an information architecture standpoint. Identifying a song by audio is kind of like "searching" for the title of a song. I tested this idea out by creating a user flow that allowed me to visualize how a potential Spotify user might navigate through the app to find and use the added feature.

04

From Lo-Fi to Hi-Fi

After journey mapping and creating user flows to test out the placement of the feature, it was time to focus on the design of the feature itself. How might we design the feature so that it incorporates seamlessly with the rest of the Spotify product?

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

High-Fidelity Wireframes

05

The Solution

Placing the new feature within the search screen made the most sense from an information architecture standpoint because identifying a song by audio is similar to searching for a song by title. We conducted user testing to test out the discoverability of the new feature and found that:

On average, 50% of participants took 10 seconds or less to find the music identification feature on the app
Participants took 10 seconds or less to find the “Identified Songs” playlist
All participants were able to figure out how to successfully add the identified song into a playlist

View Prototype

Let’s create a memorable experience

Drop me an email:

tiffanyuxdesign@gmail.com