Discover with Someone Else

—

An individual project designed a new discover feature for Spotify

[a]

People often experience "music deserts" that they get bored with their playlists but can't efficiently discover new music that they like.

I designed a new Spotify feature that helps users discover “liked” music more successfully. In this feature, users choose a representative music avatar to interact with another user and enjoy their blend playlist in real time.‍

[b]

Hats I wear:

UX researcher,
UX designer,
‍
Dec 2021-Jan 2022 (4 weeks)

Current music discover features

[Difficulties]

- Limited way to discover new music
- Unlikely to find “liked” music via current discover-music features
- Restrained in similar music due to algorithm

[Hypothesis]

- More way to discover music
- Discover “liked” music with a higher success rate
- Break music boundary & expand music taste

Contextual inquiry and speed dating

I conducted 8 contextual user-interviews with 6 Spotify users and 2 other music app users to understand their music habits and ways to discover new music that they will save to their “liked” playlist. Then I designed a low-fidelity prototype and interviewed 6 Spotify users using speed-dating method via zoom to test user flow and refine design decisions.

[Screenshot of zoom interview]

[Notes from interviews]

Insights and ideation

Design challenges and goals

[a]

Match with Spotify’s current design language

[b]

Fuse and enrich Spotify’s visual style

[c]

Adapt to Spotify’s functional visual element

[spotify.design]

[newsroom.spotify]

[spotify.design]

[spotify app]

Final solution

A Spotify feature that helps users discover “liked” music more successfully by choosing a representative music avatar to interact with another user and enjoying blend playlist in real time.

Set up.

Personalized music adventure made for you

Express.

Your unique representation in the music world

Interact.

Adequate interaction you need with another user

Callout

User flow

Back to work

pinyangl@stanford.edu