Project: Feature Creation to an Existing App
Timeline: 4 weeks
Role: UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher
Tools: Figma, Maze
As the largest music streaming platform globally, Spotify faces strong competition in the industry. However, to solidify its position and increase user engagement even further, I proposed introducing new features that sets Spotify apart from its competitors. These additions will further demonstrate why Spotify remains at the forefront of the game.
The current process of sharing music with friends takes a lot of steps to just send a song. Not to mention, when trying to discover new music or simply find the right song, Spotify’s recommended playlists can also feel overwhelming for users.
The Problem
What’s it look like right now?
Sharing music
Spotify provides the user with many options to share throughout different apps. Jumping in between apps to just share a song doesn’t feel as intuitive as it should.
Discovering new music
Spotify has so many ways to discover new music that it can become overwhelming. They recently released a new feature called DJ, an AI bot that plays songs for you based on what it think you’d like. However, the feature is one-sided and there is no opportunity for user interaction with DJ.
As a result…
So, why is this important?
Sharing music with friends and others allow humans to connect on a deeper level that goes beyond mere words. It allows them to experience a particular emotion or connection with you, and understanding each other’s musical preferences creates a stronger bond.
That being said, Spotify should provide a more user-friendly and intuitive method for sharing music within the app, similar to how you share content on other social media platforms.
In order to enhance user engagement and satisfaction, I have redesigned Spotify's features. I have incorporated a chat function into the AI DJ, making the process of finding new music become more intuitive and user-friendly. Furthermore, I have introduced a convenient sharing feature that automatically creates a playlist between you and your friend every time you exchange songs.
The Solution
Social Interactions
Now you will have the ability to share songs with your friends through direct messaging. Whenever you send a song, it will automatically be added to a collaborative playlist that you and your friend can enjoy together. You will even be able to send songs to multiple friends or create a group to share music with.
I have also incorporated a feature similar to Spotify's Friend Activity on their desktop app. This feature enables you to see what music your friends are currently listening to. Additionally, you can also choose to listen to music in an Incognito mode, catering to the preferences of introverted listeners who prefer a more private listening experience.
AI DJ Chat Feature
Introducing the innovative AI DJ Chat, users can now engage with the DJ directly, resulting in enhanced search results and a fresh approach to exploring new music.
Helpful Benefits for Users include:
Music Recommendations
Playlist Creation
Song Identification
Concert and Event Information
Music Discovery
You might be wondering, how did we get here?
Competitive Analysis
Surveys
User Interviews
Affinity Mapping
Research
01
Ideation
User Flows
Wireframing
Design
02
03
Evaluate
Usability Testing
User Feedback
Conclusion
Research
Competitive Analysis
I looked into three of Spotify’s main competitors to see how they incorporate any social features or AI into their functionalities.
Breaking down their approaches, I found that:
Apps like Apple Music and Tidal integrates social features by allowing users to follow artists, friends, and influencers.
All apps utilize AI with music suggestions based on algorithm, personalized recommendations, and curated playlists. All of which are similar to how Spotify uses AI.
Soundcloud places a stronger emphasis on social interaction, by allowing users to comment on tracks and send music within the app easily.
Overall, all of these platforms slightly differ in specific implementations, sound quality, and user interface. However, it is important to acknowledge that all of them have a similar user goals, which are enhancing the music streaming experience and assist users in discovering new music.
Surveys & Interviews
In order to understand and empathize with music listeners, I conducted in-depth interviews with 3 individuals that regularly use Spotify and gathered qualitative data from a sample of 13 users through a survey. The common values and pain points they expressed are as followed:
Shareability
76% of users highly value sharing music with their friends and utilize Spotify’s collaborative playlists.
Artificial Intelligence
Some users would like to see the use of AI integrated with Spotify engaging in user interaction.
Dissatisfaction
60% of users expressed frustration when having to share music outside of the application.
Affinity Mapping
With the use of FigJam, I decided to create a quick affinity map to consolidate all the information from the interviews and surveys into one space. I organized the affinity map into 3 categories: pain points, would love to see, and as-is.
Time to do some thinking…
Design
Ideation
Typically, in most projects I would start ideation by creating user personas, but since we are just adding features to an existing app, the audience we are designing for spreads across all users of Spotify. Therefore, I opted to create user stories to begin my approach to designing new features. User stories I settled on are as followed:
As a Spotify listener,
I want to be able to…
send songs to my friends within the app, so that I can easily see all the music shared between us.
I want to be able to…
search for new songs based on my mood, because sometimes Idon’t know what to listen to.
I want to be able to…
interact with the AI DJ, because the current process for discovering music can feel overwhelming.
I want to be able to…
see what my friends are listening to, so that it helps me gain insight into their musical preferences.
With this approach, I am able to start imagining the structure and flow for these new features. I looked at various social media apps, like Instagram and TikTok, to understand the user flow when sending content to a friend. Additionally, I studied the user-friendliness of multiple AI bots, such as ChatGPT, in order to find the most optimal approach for developing an engaging AI DJ experience within Spotify.
My goal here was to create an intuitive user experience that takes minimal effort from the user’s side. By sticking to a similar structure as the other apps, the user is more likely to utilize features that feel familiar.
User Flows
I quickly created some user flows to understand and determine a good starting point for designing wireframes.
Wireframes
Following the user flows, I quickly sketched out some low-fidelity wireframes as a preliminary step before beginning the design work on Figma. Given the time limitations, I decided that constructing mid-fidelity wireframes was not essential for this particular project. Especially with an app like Spotify, I decided to focus on aligning my wireframe structure with their existing interface, as it provided a solid foundation.
Here I present the final screens for Spotify’s new features:
With the addition of shared playlists, every time you send a song to a friend, it will automatically add it to your shared playlist. Additionally, Spotify can now show what your friends are listening to, with a new option to listen in an “Incognito Mode”, catering to the more introverted music listeners.
Direct Messaging & Friend Activity
A new way to easily share songs with friends and create groups, all kept within the app.
Song Sharing - Main Flow
AI DJ - Song Identification, Playlist Creation, Concert & Event Information
AI DJ - Music Recommendations
Now there’s only one thing to do…
Let’s Test It!
Evaluate
Usability Testing
In order to assess the usability of this prototype, I used Maze as a testing tool. Given that these features are fairly familiar with other apps, I conducted the testing process with a different approach. Since the majority of users are already acquainted with Spotify, my main objective was to gather valuable insights and feedback. The sole task I evaluated was the ability to share a song, which was successfully accomplished by 13 out of the 14 users who participated in the test.
User Feedback
Out of the 14 users tested, I received positive feedback on the visual design and overall usability of the features from all the users. Here’s how users felt about the new features:
90% of users expressed it was not difficult to learn and understand the features.
67% of the users rated a 4 out of 5 satisfaction rating, while 33% of users rated a 5 out of 5.
Some users expressed that they would like to see more ideas of functionality of the AI DJ, and even adding voice recognition.
Here are some quotes from the users tested:
“Very cool!! I like how you can communicate with your friends directly from the app.”
“I liked the dms and would use them if Spotify added it. The AI DJ not so much bc I don’t really use AI”
“Great machine learning features that tailors to your specific genre of one song, would definitely use it!”
“I liked the AI feature where I could ask questions about the artist's tour and recognize the song.”
Conclusion - Challenges & Future Steps
As a UX designer, there will always be challenges and restrictions to consider as you approach any project. With this project, I understand that when there are new features introduced to any application, you need to give the user a good reason to use the feature, otherwise it will be known as a dead feature.
My goal with this project was to increase user engagement and demonstrate Spotify as the world’s best music streaming platform. Though it was a challenge, I felt as if the pros outweighed the cons with the addition of these features, which are as followed:
Pros
Users already share songs with each other, keeping it all within the app will make it easier for users to keep track of the songs shared between each other
Cons
Users may dislike Spotify being too much of a social app with the addition of DMs, may take away from the purpose of only being a music streaming platform.
Pros
AI DJ becomes interactive with user, making the possibilities of asking DJ for anything becomes endless.
Cons
There is a risk that the AI DJ's recommendations may become repetitive or fail to offer unexpected surprises, limiting the discovery of new music and variety.
If I were to further continue with this project, I would be interested in exploring these additional enhancements to elevate the user experience even further.
Further Implementation of Group Chats or Group Playlists
AI Voice Recognition Commands
Filtering & Sorting Functions with AI DJ