Spotify
Add a Feature to Spotify’s Existing Platform
Challenge
There are a few different concepts that have been explored, one of which had low engagement amongst users. The UX designer for this project will need to follow the existing brand and seamlessly integrate a new feature that allows individuals to connect with one another.
Solutions
Integrate a Streaming Party feature that enables users to listen to songs with one another
Tools
Figma
Project Background
Spotify, a leader in music, is aiming to further deepen relationships between individuals through the means of music. The aim is to ideally foster greater human and/or emotional connection amongst users.
Project Scope
Integrating a novel feature into Spotify
Role
UX Designer
“Music has bonding power. It is primal social cement.”
- Oliver Sachs
Empathize
Research Plan
I wanted to begin by creating a research plan in order to determine the research goals, assumptions, questions, and methodologies prior to initiating the research process. This enabled me to have a guideline and structure to work off of when conducting my research. It also would serve as a reference when determining whether the research is complete and can be used to communicate the expectations of the research process to stakeholders and clients.
Research Goals
To determine Spotify’s primary use
To determine the selling points and pain points of Spotify
To understand the users desires
Research Questions
What motivates a customer to use Spotify?
What makes Spotify successful and what is a detriment?
What are the customers looking for when using Spotify?
Research Assumptions
People turn to Spotify for entertainment
Individuals are more likely to use Spotify during specific activities (e.g. exercising/showering)
Individuals are more likely to use Spotify on holidays (e.g. Christmas, New Years)
Individuals turn to Spotify for easy access to music
Research Methodologies
Primary
1-on-1 Interviews
Complete via phone/in-phone with audio recording
Interview individuals who have the most recent premium version of Spotify
Secondary
Market Research
Determine market trends and information about target customers
Competitive analysis
Determine who the local competitors of this business are
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of this business
Provisional persona (based on Market Research)
Determine typical customers of Spotify to proceed to interview process
Market Research
Market research was completed in order to determine the statistics, demographics, competitors, and outlook in order to have a better understanding of the user base and market. A deep foundational understanding of these aspects is essential in order to better grasp Spotify’s ability to generate revenue. Conducting market research also helped me to create provisional personas.
Demographics
Millennials represent 55% of the user base
29% are between 25-34 years old
26% are between 18-24
Only 36% of Americans between the ages of 18-29 do not have Spotify
44% of users who created shower playlists were between the ages of 18-24
Compared to competitors, Spotify has the youngest user base. Over half of users are under 34 years old.
Desktop users only represented 45% of users, making mobile the primary means to access Spotify
Background & Market Size
Spotify accounted for 35% of the market size,
followed by Apple music at 19% and Amazon at 15%
The music industry growth is expected to be 6% per year
COVID-19 is expected to have a favorable impact on the music industry
Outlook
Spotify announced on Feb 23, 2021 that there will be new offerings for listeners, musicians, podcasters, and advertisers. These new podcast deals are likely contributing to Spotify’s stock surge and leading to an increase in about 138% over the past twelve months.
Provisional Personas
The demographics section from the market research served as a guide as to how the provisional personas would be. These personas reflect the typical Spotify users and serve as a guidance for who to recruit for the 1-on-1 interview. I was able to uncover three personas: the college student, busy professional, and the intellectual. Once these categories were established, I determined the goals and pain points for each.
Goals
Listen to music in the background while studying
Turn to relaxing music when needing to de-stress
Easily finding music when on the go
Pain Points
Finding the right song to play while also trying to
focus on school work
Not knowing what song to choose
Goals
Finding songs to play while driving to and from work
Relieving stress during lunch break by listening to favorite songs
Pain Points
Having to find a song to play
Not knowing which song to choose
Goals
Listening to podcasts
Learning about new topics
Listening to instrumental music
Pain Points
Having access to podcasts of interest
Finding enough educational podcasts
Competitor Analysis
A part of the secondary research that I conducted involved analyzing Spotify’s competitors. This allowed me to have a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of similar apps. This step was essential in order to better determine the level of competition and how to leverage Spotify above other businesses that are offering similar products.
Indirect Competitors
Direct Competitors
Amazon Music
Strengths
- 30 day free trial
- With one account, you can use it on up to
10 devices
- Hands-free listening through Alexa
- Listen off-line with unlimited skips
Weaknesses
- Counterintuitive user interface: navigating the
app has been deemed confusing and that it’s
difficult to navigate.
- User reports indicate that there is an extensive
battery drainage from using apple music
Apple Music
Strengths
- 3 months free trial
- Cheaper family plan ($14.99 for 6 people
versus $29.99 for 5 people with Spotify)
- Provides access to Beats Radio, which is a
24/7 free radio station that allows broadcasting
to 100 countries
Weaknesses
- Many users state that it is difficult to use - Music selection is limited compared to Spotify
Youtube Music
Strengths
- Can find live performances and songs easily -- simply by describing the song or searching some of the lyrics
- Premium is ads free
- Play music off-line
Weaknesses
- Youtube Premium is $2 more expensive than Spotify
Premium
- Less playlists than Spotify
Soundcloud
Strengths
- Far more songs available compared to Spotify (200 million vs 70 million)
- Everyone can upload music onto Soundcloud
- Provides alternative style music
Weaknesses
- Does not provide as many mainstream artists
- More songs does not equate to better quality
- Not as well-organized as Spotify
User Interviews
I utilized the provisional personas that I had created in order to determine who to recruit for the 1-on-1 interviews. The interview process enabled me to quickly gather user data and gain insight into user motivations, frustrations, goals, and needs. This was the precursor to synthesizing my findings via an empathy map.
Examples of Interview Questions
1) How did you decide to use Spotify?
2) How frequently do you use Spotify?
3) Tell me about how you usually share music with friends
4) Tell me about your experience with different features of Spotify
5) Can you explain what kind of activities you do when using Spotify?
Participants
8 participants
5 female, 3 male
19-35 years old
Has Spotify Premium Subscription
Latest Spotify Premium
Research Synthesis
Empathy Map
I referred to my interview transcripts in order to uncover patterns via an empathy map. This was done by using sticky notes to cluster the different patterns into unique groups, which were then translated into insights and needs. After the insights and needs are established, I would be able to later formulate HMW questions. This process also enabled me to create a user persona that reflects the typical Spotify user.
Needs
Users need Spotify to be user-friendly
Users need Spotify to connect with friends
Users need Spotify to provide background music while completing activities
Users need Spotify to be organized to improve its experience
Insights
4/7 Users reference Spotify's song suggestions to determine what to listen to
4/7 Users connect with friends through Spotify
6/7 Individuals are inclined to use Spotify as background music while doing activities
4. 4/7 Users are concerned about Spotify's organization
User Persona
My findings allowed me to transition into creating a user persona. This step would enable me to create a specific, rather than generic, user in mind when completing the subsequent stages of the design process. I wanted to create the most accurate representation of the typical Spotify user whose needs, goals, frustrations, and motivations would be reflected concisely. For this project, my persona is Austin Myers, a 28 year old Business Analyst from San Francisco.
“It’s great to have music playing while i
do my work, hang out with friends, and while I drive”
Austin Myers, 28, San Francisco, CA
Business Analyst
Frustrations
Having to scroll a lot when searching for desired song
Lack of transparency regarding what the features are
Seeing suggested songs that are irrelevant to interests
Goals
To have relevant song suggestions
Connect with friends through Spotify
Use Spotify as a means to have background music
Have an organized platform to easily find and play music on
Motivations
Having a library of music that can be accessed online and offline
Having a broad-spectrum of song options
Having an easier access to music
Needs
To have Spotify provide relevant song suggestions
To be able to easily share music through Spotify
To have Spotify provide background music while completing activities
To have Spotify’s music be more organized so the songs are easily accessible
Define & Ideate
POV Statements & HMW Questions
The empathy map that I had completed during the Empathize stage enabled me to create insights and needs. As discussed, these insights and needs would then be translated into POV and HMW questions. With the HMW questions established, I can then begin the brainstorming process in order to generate as many possible solutions to each question.
HMW
How might we make Spotify’s song suggestions more relevant to Austin?
How might we help Austin easily share music so that he can connect with friends?
How might we help Austin have background music because he wants to listen to music while completing activities
How might we make Spotify’s music more organized so that songs are more easily accessible for Austin?
POV
Austin needs Spotify to provide relevant song suggestions because he references Spotify’s song suggestions to determine what to listen to
Austin needs to be able to easily share music through Spotify because he wants to connect with friends
Austin needs Spotify to provide background music because he wants to listen to music while completing activities
Austin needs Spotify’s music to be more organized because he wants to easily access music
Individual Brainstorming
The HMW questions allowed me to seamlessly seg-way into the brainstorming process. I completed timed brainstorming sessions where I came up with as many ideas as possible for each followed by an additional round of brainstorming. My focus was to garner as many ideas as possible within a short time frame. The ideas generated from here, coupled with those from the group brainstorming process, would enable me to have a plethora of ideas. The best solutions from these steps would be further developed in subsequent stages.
HMW #3 How might we make Spotify's music more organized so that song are more easily accessible to Austin? (Round 1)
Have tags
Have subplaylists
Organize by morning/day/night music
Display songs in alphabetical order within playlists
Organize by associated activity (e.g. shower playlist)
HMW #3 How might we make Spotify's music more organized so that songs are more easily accessible to Austin? (Round 2)
Organize alphabetically
Organize based on mood
Homepage can have tabs for different music genres
Color code different types of songs
HMW #4 How might we help Austin easily share music so that he can connect with friends? (Round 1)
Friends that are nearby will automaticlaly display songs currently being listened to
Notify Austin when his friends are on Spotify and what his online friends are listening to
Be able to tweet songs (via twitter) currently listening to
Have a way to share through multiple social media platforms simultaneously
HMW #4 How might we help Austin easily share music so that he can connect with friends? (Round 2)
Provide more social media connections (Snapchat, etc.)
Have a “songs your friends are listening to” section that updates in real time
Have a section that says “my friends are listening to “x” artist right now
HMW #1 How might we make Spotify's song suggestions more relevant to Austin? (Round 1)
Only show songs of genres that user listens to
only show songs that are by similar artists of most frequently played songs
Show songs that are by artists that user has listened to
HMW #1 How might we make Spotify's song suggestions more relevant to Austin? (Round 2)
Only display songs that are similar to previously played
Only display songs based on previously liked songs
Have friends recommend songs and display these
HMW #2 How might we help Austin have background music to listen to while completing activities? (Round 1)
Have a “background music” suggestions list
Have a set of songs for each activity (e.g. playlist for cleaning, driving, etc.)
Provide a list of songs that friends recommend for background music
HMW #2 How might we help Austin have background music to listen to while completing activities? (Round 2)
Have song tags for playlist
Have background songs associated with mood
Have background musi that is associated with time of day
Group Brainstorming
I wanted to further explore different solutions to my HMW questions. Thus, following the individual brainstorming, I also completed a group brainstorming with four participants. During this process, participants first completed a Round Robin session where each individual was free to propose 1-2 potential solutions to each question. This was then coupled with the brain netting technique, which enabled participants to jot down potential solutions on a Google document with a few minutes spent per question. I then referred to both these solutions and those from the individual brainstorming to complete the subsequent stages of the design process.
3. How might we help users have background music to listen to while completing activities?
Tags great idea; maybe user can pick which activity they are doing and spotify generates playlist off of that
Creating tags for moods or specific playlists
Introduce additional (more specific) categories/genres so people can be more selective with the type of background music they’d like to listen to while completing activities.
4. How might we make users music more organized so that songs are more easily accessible to users?
Making playlist do more within each one, ability to crop into further subset to avoid making multiple playlists with the same songs.
Overhaul of playlist system; make it easier to search songs; tags; clean presentable basic user analytics; incorporate Siri-like features...Spotify, play me a sad song
Introduce user ability to add Metatags so that you’re easily able to search through your liked songs to find something you want. Introduce ability to see friends’ tagged songs, as well.
Same as above with ability to tag or turn liked songs in a range in to a playlist that can be tagged as “summer” etc.
1. How might we make Spotify's song suggestions more relevant to users?
Pretty good job already; happy with radio
Allow to include/not include specific genres in suggestion considerations.
Instead of simply using algos, consider user input selections as well (better for not common/pop genres). Additionally, consider per-playlist song suggestions/thumbs down to be more precise per playlist.
Ability to thumbs down artist or even genre
2. How might we help users easily share music so that users can connect with friends?
Pretty good job with session parties already; perhaps make user data available of which songs were listened to most by their friends
Mostly use text SMS sharing, airdrop sharing maybe?
Sharing is pretty well thought out at this point. Perhaps additional integrations with various programs/apps to make sharing more available (i.e. to people that may not have Spotify installed).
Choosing who to follow more thoroughly and who to follow sporadically
Allow for video watch party as well as sharing feature
Strategy
Project Goals
In order to prioritize features in my product feature roadmap, I needed to establish the business and user goals. Online research that I conducted on Spotify allowed me to determine the business goals. User goals were determined from the persona and the commonalities between them were also established by seeing commonalities between each.
Product Feature Roadmap
I was able to create a product feature roadmap with the use of Airtable. This was created with the assistance of the business and user goals from the previous step. This product feature roadmap prioritized each feature into categories of “must have,” “nice to have,” “surprising and delightful” and “can come later.” I prioritized each by considering factors such as level of importance, effort invested for each, and number of goals that each would address. This provided a clearer path to subsequent steps of the design process.
Information Architecture
App Map
I referenced my product feature roadmap when creating my app map, as it was essential to include the features that I was planning on developing. This app map organized the different features and allowed me to demonstrate where the added feature would be placed in the existing organization. Creating this appmap assisted in making the task flows for the app.
UI Requirements
The UI Requirements were documented and compiled and explained for two task flows. This enabled me to ensure that all the required elements were incorporated and provided elaborate detail as to what they are. With this completed, I could create a visual representation of the task and user flows.
Task Flows
The UI requirements outlined the user interface elements that would be included in the task flows. With this complete, the task flows can also be determined in order to demonstrate the pages and actions that would be involved for each task. We can again reference Austin, the user persona, and demonstrate the steps he would be completing for each.
User Flow
After creating the task flows, I combined the two in order to create a user flow. This enabled me to explore the different avenues that Austin may take when using the app by considering additional possibilities in each — including what he would have to do if he wanted to invite more friends or listen to additional artists.
Wireframe Sketches
With my app map, task flow and user flows complete, I was able to initiate the low-fidelity wireframing process. This enabled me to further expand on what I had already established and determine what would be potentially appropriate for each screen prior to undergoing usability testing. I have the first task illustrated on the left and second task in the middle and right images.
High Fidelity Wireframes
After establishing the low-fidelity wireframes, I constructed the high fidelity wireframes. This was created for the Apple iPhone with the brand attributes, color, typography and images in mind. It was important to seamlessly integrate these prior to developing the prototype and undergoing the usability testing process.
Opening App
Return to Streaming Party Page with Friends Present
Home Page with Streaming Party Feature
Artist Page (Paused)
Streaming Party Page
Artist Page (Playing)
Invite Friends Page
Added Sections on Home Page
High Fidelity Wireframes Prototype
After creating the high fidelity wireframes, the next step was to test them via a usability test. Thus, I used Figma to connect the wireframes and establish a functional prototype. The prototype involved the different tasks that had been established in previous steps. With the connections established, I could then proceed to create a usability test plan, and subsequently conduct a usability test, in order to determine how successful the integration of the feature was.
Usability Testing
Usability Testing Plan
After completing my prototype, I wanted to establish a clear usability testing plan in order to determine the guidelines for the usability test. This would include the objectives, test methodology, test method, participants, and tasks. Furthermore, a script would be created in order to determine what would be stated in each usability test. Once the usability test is complete the findings will be synthesized with an affinity map.
Method
Think aloud usability test. This usability test will be conducted via Zoom and/or Skype. There will be an audio recording of each user stating aloud their thought processes while completing each task.
Participants
Number of participants: 5-10
Age range: 18-35 years old Gender: Female and male
User traits: Have Spotify premium
Tasks
Scenario 1: You are interested in listening to songs by artists that your friends listen to.
◦ Task 1: Find the means to listen to songs that your friends listen to.Scenario 2: You heard that Spotify has a cool new feature to listen to music with your friends. You decide that you want to test it out with a couple of friends and listen to “See you again” by Charlie Puth.
◦ Task 2: Invite a couple of friends to a streaming party and find and play“See you again” by Charlie Puth.
Objectives
1. Determine the user's ability to complete two user scenarios
2. Identify user's pain points
3. Determine user's thought processes while completing the tasks 4. Record research findings
5. Improve the functionality of the design based on user feedback
Methodology
Evaluative Research
Affinity Map
An affinity map was completed in order to synthesize the findings gleaned from the usability testing process. The patterns were determined, insights were gathered, and the insights were then translated into recommendations. The recommendations were then prioritized as a precursor to the priority revisions process. Completing the affinity map allowed for deeper insight as to what needs to be modified in order to have a more user-friendly and intuitive product.
Priority Revisions
I utilized the findings that I gained from the affinity map to address the primary issue: how to utilize the streaming party feature. Based on the feedback that I received and to increase ease-of-use, I added a streaming party feature icon on the song list section. Therefore, in addition to being able to access the streaming party feature from the home page, one could also access it from the song selection page as well. The before and after images are presented below.
Final Touches
In addition to creating the modifications based on the information that I received from the affinity map, I added additional wireframes and made modifications to make the wireframes more presentable (for example, removing the box on the “Streaming Party Page” and having a separate page that displays the listeners). These new set of wireframes can also undergo the usability test process in order to ensure that they are well-received by users.
UI Kit
With the high fidelity wireframes and prototype complete, it was time to create a UI kit in order for other individuals within the team to be able to refer to it for future use. This would enable different disciplines to have access to the various elements when making updates to the app in the future.
Summary
Next Steps
Subsequent steps would require a collaboration with developers and passing my work along to them so that the new feature could be programmed.
There will likely be updates needed in the future, and the UI Kit would assist in making the necessary updates to the app.
Reflections
This was a challenging project due to the need of integrating a new feature into an existing product. However, it was also educational and taught me how to work with the existing structure.
I enjoyed facilitating a group session, completing the usability test, and conducting interviews for this project. Working with Spotify users across multiple steps of this process was undoubtedly valuable when developing the most optimal end-product.
A valuable skill that I gained from this project is learning how to maintain the existing brand of the app while integrating a new feature.
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