Spotify “Energy”
Conceptual New Feature for the Music Streaming Service
Role
Research, Ideation, Prototyping, Testing
Project Type
Personal project, Proof of concept (not associated with Spotify)
Constraints
80 hours over the course of 4 weeks & working within existing design system
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Maze
THE PROBLEM
Spotify is already a popular and robust product that is used by hundreds of millions of people. The challenge was to create a conceptual new feature for the app - one that balanced user & business goals, and is one that people would want to use.
THE SOLUTION
Spotify “Energy” allows on-the-go young professionals to set the tone for their day, their way.
Select energy + genres. Listen to favorites + curated jams.
CONNECTING TO PRODUCT + AUDIENCE
I narrowed down my target audience to a group I knew I would be able to effectively connect with & research further, due to time and resource constraints:
Spotify Subscribers
Adults 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s
Mix of genders
Primarily based on USA
Being in a similar demographic to my audience, I started really interacting with the features and functions available on Spotify. I wanted to get an initial read on both the WOW factors and potential challenges.
The opportunity to explore better alignment with how users are feeling stood out in preliminary discovery.
〰️〰️〰️
DEEPER RESEARCH
I needed a more comprehensive understanding of Spotify’s history, existing marketplace and existing customers. Through a competitive analysis and interviewing with my target audience, I set out to…
Understand what keeps users coming back to Spotify
Determine challenges and barriers faces when using Spotify
Determine features and content users currently find most valuable
Uncover opportunities in marketplace
🔑 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS KEY OPPORTUNITY
Potential to leverage user data to improve personalized recommendations and experiences..
The majority of my research time was spent interviewing users to gain a deep understanding of their experiences with Spotify:
I focused on when, how, where, and why this user group was currently using Spotify. This framework provided me with insight into how subscribers were currently interacting with this tool and where additional opportunities lied.
“I keep coming back to Spotify for the hope of finding new music that I will love.”
INSIGHTS
⛰️ WIDE RANGE OF USERS
Even within the narrowed scope, there are still a wide range of users from from active and on-the-go young adults to work-from-home parents
💡 DISCOVERING NEW MUSIC
Discovering new music and having music suggested within taste & interest is a primary draw that keeps users returning to the platform
🎛️ INTUITVE CONTROLS & ORGANIZATION
Users desire a more intuitive way to control, curate, and organize their music collection
👥 CONNECT TO OTHERS
Music is a way that users connect with others - artists, cultures, friends, family, etc.
CONNECTING TO THE PRIMARY USER
Though I had already tried to narrow the scope users through research phase - I still came away with 2 vastly different types of users with 2 distinct journeys.
I ultimately decided to focus on users like Kari, as she was a representation of the majority of users that I connected with and I needed to limit the scope due to constraints. I dug deep into Kari’s journey which allowed me to uncover opportunities that arose from her goals, actions, thoughts, and emotions.
🔑 USER JOURNEY KEY OPPORTUNITY
Provide easier access to and more niche categories of music related to how users are feeling.
〰️〰️〰️
IDEATING & LANDING THE SOLUTION
🎯 FEATURE GOALS
Personalized engagement with and discovery of music
Robust, all inclusive solution for audio streaming
Build connections to self & others through music
These feature goals were the shared goals between user & business. Paired with my insights & user journey - they were the bedrock for brainstorming solutions.
2 viable solutions presented themselves - each targeted at solving a different problem. I quickly sketched out both solutions to gut check with people like Kari, which ultimately helped me land my path forward.
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• Problem = users need consistent easy access music that aligns with their taste / mood + discovery of new music that aligns with taste / mood
• Solution = “Energy” feature - users input how they are feeling and receive a set of music combines most played with newly discovered)
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• Problem = users want a way to connect with self / others (friends, artists, cultures, etc) through music, but don’t want an intrusive social feature
• Solution = “Your Trends” or dashboard feature that allows users to connect with their primary genres, songs, artists, etc. over time
⭐️ SOLUTION
I successfully landed on Spotify “Energy” after seeking feedback from 5 different on-the-go young professional's. The consistent sentiment was that the “energy” feature would provide more value to their Spotify experience.
In practice…
Kari inputs her energy for the day
She is brought to a playlist where she is able to dial it in to a more specific energy
Playlist is populated with songs/artists/etc user has engaged with in past + new selections
Connect with other members of the Spotify community
MAKING “ENERGY” COME TO LIFE
As I was developing a task flow, a companion feature to “energy” emerged (called “wavelength”) as a way to actualize the part of the solution that connects users to other members of the Spotify community. They seemed a natural connection at this stage.
“Energy” primarily supporting the feature goal of personalized engagement with and discovery of music
“Wavelength” primarily supporting the feature goal of building connections to self & others through music
I started putting pen to paper after my task flow was developed. I played around with design options for “energy” (and subsequently “wavelength”) and landed on the 5 most viable screens to start digitizing.
Questions started to arise as I was compiling the first iteration of the high fidelity design: how are “energy” and “wavelength” truly connected? How could users access “wavelength” if not through the energy feature? Is “wavelength” fleshed out enough?
I decided to stay the course with the design for testing before making significant changes - to hear thoughts from users first hand and approach the next design iteration holistically based on their feedback.
USER TESTING & ANALYSIS
I sought to understand the following questions through my user testing…
Do users find the “energy” and “wavelength” features valuable?
Is there a feature between “energy” and “wavelength” that resonate more with users?
What challenges are users running into when navigating to & between “energy” and “wavelength” features?
What additional information or functionality would provide a more seamless user experience?
8 people like Kari participated in the test and came away with 3 key takeaways and an understanding of where to focus the final design iterations.
🔑 USER TESTING KEY TAKEAWAYS
Both “energy” and “wavelength” features resonated with users - however, the “wavelength” option needs more research and development before it can be fully landed
Focus on expanding capabilities with the “energy” feature, as this is the feature that the majority of users connected with
Users still want to feel a sense of connection over music - but will need to tap into existing functionality based on project constraints
FINAL DESIGN ITERATIONS
Problem: Users love the discovery aspect of Spotify, but not all users were clear that the playlist is a mix of favorite songs + suggestions
Solutions:
• Add “[username] + Spotify” to clarify the playlist based on user preferred songs
• Add “Spotify” or user logo next to each song - indication of user favorites vs. Spotify
Problem: Users want the ability to connect with genres (mixed reviews on current “energy” tags)
Solution: Adjust primary energies to more consistent words for moods (happy, sad, etc) & sub options to genres of music. This is more in line with user expectations and needs.
Problem: Users want higher level of control over their energy playlist
Solution: Provide user the ability to control their playlist by liking or disliking songs
Problem: Users still want to feel a level of connection with others over music
Solution: Provide user with easier access to the existing “share” functionality
FINAL PROTOTYPE
KEY TAKEAWAYS
🏆 Biggest Win… successfully designed a new conceptual feature that people like Kari would use & find valuable!
🏔 Biggest Challenge… overall project constraints (time, access to resources & collaborators) for such a complex product with a vast user base
📖 Biggest Learning… take time needed up front to work through the details of what exactly you will be designing and how it will work (to avoid scope creep or adding features on top of features)
⌛️ If I had more time… I would have liked to completed another round of user testing with the final design