SPOTIFY SOCIAL

The findings from these user interviews exposed that participants spend more time listening to music on their computers than mobiles. The participants expanded on their experiences with music sharing, expressing they like to share music with a close group of friends and would share and discover more if it were less difficult.

When asked the questions, “What are some shortcomings or flaws of Spotify?” participants expressed the following frustrations:

1. Sharing anything from Spotify is a hassle – requires multiple steps and devices

2. Users want some but not all music activity shared with their social network

3. There is a lack of community within the app

4. Difficult time discovery new music

5. Would like to have the old message and notification feature back

DISCOVERY

Persona

The primary persona of Spotify Social is Julie Lewis. Julie is a 28-year-old Software Developer from Seattle, WA and is an avid user of Spotify. The persona of Julie was created based on my user interviews and critical insights from my research of the music streaming service industry. The most common demographic for Spotify users is Millennials, ages of 25-34 years old.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

How might we enhance social features within Spotify by creating in-app sharing functionality that allow users to communicate and share music hassle free.

IDEATION/DESIGN

Brainstorming

Using the Product Prioritization Matrix method of what users expect and how much impact they have; I chose the top three features that would best convey my problem. I wanted to focus more on a solution or opportunity that would be adaptable to the issue of, “How might we enhance social features within Spotify by creating in-app sharing functionality that allow users to communicate and share music hassle free.” Each followed a similar theme of creating a way to connect users and facilitate conversation about music.

1. Provide a private friends list that is readily available and customizable. This will allow users to drag and drop songs to friends in the list.

2. Allow messaging between Spotify accounts.

3. Bring back the Spotify inbox and build it out to allow single message boxes and group messaging.

IDEATION/DESIGN

Wireframes

After sketching, I produced a first round of high fidelity wireframes to use in a prototype for usability testing. In the first round of hi-fi wireframes I emphasized on the new feature friends list to the right side of the desktop application. Users can easily drag and drop songs they find to their friends. This list has a customizable “Top Friends” that wont fluctuate in order to stay readily available for song sharing and messaging. I also brought back the old Spotify inbox that users requested. I fleshed it out with a group chat feature and a single chat box option. In the final wireframes and prototype I build the feature out to show its upgrade.

IDEATION/DESIGN

Prototypes & Usability Testing

To gather feedback on the new social features, I asked 4 participants to user test my prototype. The target audience for user testing focused on individuals who frequently used Spotify. The participants were given scenarios to go through the wireframes. All participants were able to complete the tasks; however, there were some challenges having to click through a drag and drop feature in the prototype.

* At the time, Sketch’s prototype did not allow the ability to simulate the drag and drop feature, so the feature was made click-able. *

After completing each user testing session, I asked the participants to provide user feedback on the new Spotify social features and functionality. They informed me of the following:

• Inform the users upon updating that this is a new feature

• Offer a search bar within the friends list to search names

• Give users the option to not have to leave the page to reply to a message. A pop up message feature like Facebook messenger would help not interrupt users.

Using the participant feedback, I was able to apply their feedback and create my final prototype. Please click through the prototype here:

REFLECTION

What I Learned

Creating Spotify Social resulted in a greater understanding of user behaviors within the music streaming service industry. I learned that users want to stay within an application to complete a task or they will not do it often, i.e. social features/interactions can improve user engagement and retention.  Although difficulties arouse, prototyping and user testing aided in the improvements needed to make Spotify a more social music streaming service app. It allowed me as a designer to refine my skills and understanding of creating functional user experiences that improve usability.