Timeline
The Challenges
Time—I was given 80 hours to complete this project from start to finish.
Expanding on an existing design system had called for intentionality behind every design decision, specifically balancing distinction with existing UI.
Business Impacts
Refining the search process will add a unique competitive advantage to Spotify—which is critical in the current competitive music streaming market.
The feature will encourage more premium subscriptions if it is introduced as a premium-only function.
THE FINAL PROTOTYPE
OVERVIEW
Spotify is one of the world’s leading music streaming platforms. For this project, I created an advanced search functionality that would enable for users to conduct more refined searches of discovering new music they want to listen to.
The Problem
The current Spotify experience recycles music suggestions.
Users listen to the same music repeatedly and have trouble discovering music that fits their specific palate. Users consistently seek to discover new music.
Why are we designing this?
Spotify is facing a decline in its user base. A multitude of factors contribute to this, including the rise of alternative platforms with unique features.
Spotify users also face the issue of repetitive and predictable music suggestions.
Who are we designing for?
Spotify users (direct) and users of digital streaming platforms (indirect) are both target audiences. There is a focus on those seeking to discover new music.
When and where will our audience be?
There are likely more listeners on mobile than desktop. Users listen to music everywhere—and are often in the mindset of wanting something new to listen to.
What are some possible solutions?
Some of the ideas that I had were:
Advanced Searching with artist-specific filters (listeners, genre, etc.)
Trending and Fan Favorites
Expanding Spotify's Tiktok-style music scrolling
Prioritizing
Potential Revenue—The music streaming market is incredibly competitive, and reimagining the search experience can help get a leg up in revenue increases.
Value for Consumer—Users should feel that their needs for finding new music to be met.
Impact and Success Metrics
Business:
Engagement—how many users are using this new function?
NPS—Are users enjoying the new feature? Would they recommend Spotify?
User:
Discover more music that they enjoy.
Streaming numbers could indirectly measure this.
The Goal
Empower users to filter and discover music they actually want to listen to.
This will transfer the power from AI and algorithms into the hands of the user.
RESEARCH
I virtually interviewed 5 adults who regularly use Spotify to better fill in the gaps for my research goal:
Learn what users value in discovering new music to further refine the current process and encourage greater user retention and subscription rates.
My research goal was catalyzed by 2 research objectives:
Identify and understand the user’s pain points in the process of discovering new music.
Understand the reasons for why and how often users seek to discover new music.
SYNTHESIS
You can view the full affinity map and synthesis here.
Key User Pain Points
Users face repetitive song suggestions from Spotify’s suggested songs algorithm.
Users have to put in a lot of unnecessary effort into discovering new music they enjoy.
The Takeaway
There is an opportunity to put the power of discovering new music in the hands of users while moving away from reliance on algorithm-based suggestions.
HEURISTIC ANALYSIS / UX AUDIT
After conducting interviews, I conducted a heuristic analysis of the existing experience in discovering new music on Spotify.
From the audit, I created a priority matrix of current issues that I sought to fix, with user impact and technical feasibility holding the most weight.
You can view the full UX audit here.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Apple Music is Spotify’s strongest competitor, highlighting popular songs along with other unique features. Users are also able to search the lyrics for a song they like but don’t know.
Soundcloud’s main strength is its communal approach to music through live-commenting on tracks.
YouTube music is gaining popularity as a streaming platform, but may not contain a UI as functional as Apple Music or Spotify.
IDEA EXPLORATION
Scrapped Mobile Ideas
Spotify’s existing song cards allows for users to quickly scroll through and explore different sub-genres of songs. However, users are currently unable to view more than 3 cards. An explored solution would be to add an expanded screen.
Unlike Apple Music, Spotify users are currently unable to track trending and fan-favorite songs. Adding this subtle feature would help users discover and dive into an artist’s discography with greater direction.
Selected Mobile Idea
However, placing the autonomy of discovering new music directly into the hands of users would guide my design direction.
I sought to implement an advanced search where users would be enabled to conduct refined searches for artists/albums with all-new parameters. For example, searching for a #r&b and #neosoul artist between 500k-750k monthly listeners. This would provide users with complete autonomy over what music they can discover.
Potential Revenue—The music streaming market is incredibly competitive, and reimagining the search experience can help get a leg up in revenue increases
Value for Consumer—Users should feel that their needs for finding new music to be met.
USER FLOWS AND WIREFRAMES
This first flow is designed to demonstrate the usage of “Soundscapes”, a form of advanced searching. It will help to facilitate a more refined and specific approach for users to search for music they actually want to hear.
Soundscapes offers an opportunity for users to skip the frustration of algorithm’s and AI-generated song-suggestions. The feature is for users to take control of their unique listening experience.
In an ever-so-competitive music market, this distinguishes Spotify amongst competitors. This functionality won’t just attract users of other platforms, but incentivize premium subscriptions.
This flow demonstrates the usage of hashtag functionality to help users identify the specific type of music that they want to listen to. This will help to streamline the process of discovering new music.
The current music market does not offer a precise way to conduct a refined music search. The current experience relies more on algorithm-based results, thus opening an opportunity for a more user-based approach.
The unique advantage to create a personalized music search will distinguish Spotify. This will lead to greater brand reputation and attract new users while retaining existing.
WIREFRAMES
I created low-fidelity wireframes with Soundscapes as an extension of Spotify’s existing search function, with sliders and buttons that users would be enabled to interact with.
To further polish and represent the feature, I moved onto high-fidelity wireframes and prototyped a user flow (searching for an artist).
View all the wireframes here.
To test my prototype, I conducted usability tests to gain some feedback for iteration.
TESTING
The severity and frequency of the feedback would be the main guide for my iterations. With this, I would be able to address user impact as well.
Hierarchy—I created a card to highlight and better market the Soundscapes feature. Usability testing participants expressed it needing to be of greater hierarchy in order for them to use it. As a result, I included it on the home screen.
Action Button—Spotify’s existing neon-green color makes buttons seem as if they are already clicked. I experimented and enhanced the visual hierarchy of the primary action button and feature.
View the full prototype here.
CONCLUSIONS
Challenges and Constraints
I was assigned 80 total hours for this project—which restricted me to the addition of only one feature. With more time, I would’ve loved to expand the project to include:
Trending and fan-favorite songs
“Spotify x Tiktok” screens explored in ideation
Working within the existing design system of Spotify is both an advantage and constraint.
Takeaways
Consider mental models a bit more when designing. What do users already know?
Test and research your ideas where unsure.
OTHER PROJECTS
© Richard Du 2023
Spotify Soundscapes
Shifting the music discovery experience from algorithms to the user's taste.
Design Systems
Visual Design
Wireframing
User Research
Role
UX/UI Designer
Tools Used
Figma
Google Suite
Maze
Timeline
Aug. - Sep. '23
The Challenges
Time—I was given 80 hours to complete this project from start to finish.
Expanding on an existing design system had called for intentionality behind every design decision, specifically balancing distinction with existing UI.
Business Impacts
Refining the search process will add a unique competitive advantage to Spotify—which is critical in the current competitive music streaming market.
The feature will encourage more premium subscriptions if it is introduced as a premium-only function.
*This is a conceptual project within the curriculum of Designlab’s UX Academy.*