Making discovering new music fun
Finding new music on Spotify was challenging due to its vast library and reliance on user preferences. Interaction design solved this with features like Discover Weekly and personalized playlists, which use algorithms to offer tailored recommendations. This made discovering new music easy and intuitive.
User Experience Designer
User Experience Designer
5 months
Problem
Paradox of Choice
The Paradox of Choice is a phenomenon where having too many options or choices can actually lead to increased anxiety, indecision, and dissatisfaction with the ultimate decision made. This is particularly relevant in a modern consumer society, where we are bombarded with an endless array of options for everything from toothpaste to smartphones.
Such is the case of Spotify; using its proprietary algorithms it analyzes the listening habits of its users, identifies patterns, and predicts the music its users would like to listen to in the future. The algorithm is eerily good and a testament to services understanding their customer really well. However, the algorithm is trained to suggest thousands of really good songs in a few minutes, which is arguably the same as your friend recommending one bad song.
Having too many choices can be overwhelming and frustrating for many people, resulting in listening to the same music again, and again.
What discovering new music actually is like
According to the initial research, people have distinct ways of discovering new music. For instance, while Gen Z is drawn to video games, commercials, and social media, millennials tend to rely on more traditional methods such as radio or recommendations from friends. To illustrate this point, the following figure depicts the user journey of Chloe, a 27-year-old who listens to music infrequently.
Research
Are people really frustrated with their song options?
Participants were recruited through various networks of communities namely Reddit, Spotify Community, and Benefit.Design, Designers Group for Good (DG4G), and Design Buddies.
When recruiting participants on Reddit, I came across rich discussions amongst Spotify users on various topics, from new update releases to make-shift fixes to crack Spotify. Amidst these were conversations about why some users prefer to Spotify for free, despite the lack of features and functionality. Using a mix of keywords I searched, scanned, and gathered data from two subreddits, r/Spotify and r/trueSpotify.
Simultaneously, I looked into existing experiences around discovering content on online platforms. This included social media, movie streaming, and music streaming services. Considering a large ecosystem of services was useful in identifying new opportunities and potential challenges when exploring and discovering new content. The goal was to understand the existing patterns familiar to users and draw inspiration from them.
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Ideation
How do we make it better?
Taking all the learnings from the past few weeks, I was excited to start sketching. Over the next few days, several designs came out of this exercise. Some were small, quick, and dirty and others were slightly more detailed. The constant refinement of ideas allowed me to continuously brainstorm and think creatively while remaining anchored to the research question.
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If it doesn't work for the end user why build it
After receiving feedback, I iterated on the concepts, refining my sketches into low-fidelity prototypes. This step allowed me to eliminate confusing details. I then created a virtual testing environment on FigJam for a second round of concept testing.
The two rounds of testing were beneficial: (1) I identified and addressed problems early, and (2) participant responses encouraged further ideation and exploration of new concepts.
Solution
The happy path
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Chloe gets a brief introduction to how the new feature can help her discover new music. The popup clearly explains the primary gestures and what she is expected to do.
She can do the following interactions: Select a playlist to start the exploration, Tap to listen to a song preview for 30 seconds, Hold (3D Touch) to get more suggestions; more tracks, albums, and appearances, and Like a song to curate a new playlist.
Chloe sees a bunch of options to start her exploration. She wants to try something new but since she’s trying the feature for the first time, she prefers starting with something that she is already comfortable with. She clicks ‘Liked Songs’ as a starting point.
Choosing a starting point gives the user control over what kind of music they are recommended later in the process.
The screen has a 4x4 grid of songs Chloe has added to her ‘Liked Songs’ playlist on Spotify. Chloe taps on a tile to start listening to Taylor Swift’s 1989. Upon clicking, the tile gets bigger providing audio and visual cues.
After listening to the 30-second preview, Chloe likes Taylor Swift’s 1989. The grid displays new songs that are similar to 1989, while those that are dissimilar vanish.
Recently Chloe got into the Beatles and she has been really enjoying their music. Unaware of what genre of music Beatles is known for, she decides to explore related tracks by holding (3D touch) the album art and tapping ‘More tracks’ from the menu (yellow outline).
This was crucial to exploring music that users were not aware of. For instance, learning about songs that The Beatles featured on but did not directly release as their own album.
