Spotify “ Top Picks by Country”
New feature for music streaming service
Product type:
Personal project,
Proof of concept (not associated with Spotify)
Role:
UX/UI, Research
Interaction Design
Tools:
Figma
Otto.ai
Constraints
4 weeks/ 80 + hours
Working within existing design system
Overview
The "Top Picks by Country" feature to Spotify allows users to explore curated music recommendations based on the top tracks in different countries. Users can further personalize their experience by choosing between daily, weekly, or monthly updates for these country-specific selections.
The Problem
Spotify's platform revolutionized music listening forever when it was launched back in 2008. Despite gaining popularity among the younger generation, it lacks a social dimension allowing users to connect over shared musical tastes/ interests and discuss their thoughts on songs/podcasts/ audiobooks in real-time.
There has been significant demand for more social integration over the years. Features like Spotify Friend Activity, the ability to share playlists, and the ability to see what friends are listening to have been relatively popular.
Additionally, surveys and market research indicate that many Spotify users have shown interest in more social features, such as collaborative playlists, better sharing capabilities, or integration with social media platforms.
User Research
Competitive Research
I compared 3 other most used music streaming service apps (Apple music, SoundCloud, Youtube Music) out on the market along with Spotify to analyze their strengths, weaknesses, features and pricing.
Spotify
Strengths: Personalized playlists, vast catalog, podcasts, audiobooks, cross-platform, free tier, collaborative playlists.Weaknesses: Limited social features, no deep artist interaction, adds for free users
SoundCloud
Strengths: Indie music, interactive comments, wide range of content (remixes, podcasts, DJ sets)Weaknesses: Clunky interface, smaller catalog, inconsistent audio quality, monetization challenges for creators.
Apple Music
Strengths: High-quality audio, seamless Apple ecosystem integration, exclusive content, family sharing.Weaknesses: Limited music discovery, no free tier, weak social features, crowded UI.
Youtube Music
Strengths: Video integration, massive catalog, seamless YouTube transition, customizable playlistsWeaknesses: Clunky UI, weak music discovery, less focus on audio-only experience, ads for free users.
My Opportunities:
Deeper Artist and Fan Interaction: Similar to YouTube Music’s artist-focused content, I could integrate live sessions or behind-the-scenes content within Spotify.
Enhanced Social Discovery: Drawing inspiration from SoundCloud's community features, I could allow users to interact with and discuss tracks directly within the app (“comment feature”).
2. User Interview
I interviewed 5 Spotify users between the ages 22 to 43 (4 females, 1 male) and it helped me gather qualitative insights about my users, which can inform the development of the feature that is more alighed with their real needs and expectations
Research Goal:
Understand current user behavior and pain points (what methods users are currently using to achieve interactions with others)
Identify desired social interactions (what goal users are trying to achieve by having more engagements with others)
Explore what social features users enjoy currently through other music streaming platform.
After conducting user interviews, I put all the info I gathered into an affinity map in order to help organize and synthesize insights gathered during the interviews to identify patterns, themes, and actionable takeaways.
Based on the feedback from the interviews, it became clear that social features—such as commenting or engaging with others while listening to music—weren't a priority for most users. Many indicated that they typically listen to music while occupied with other tasks, leaving little desire for social interaction in that context.
However, they expressed a stronger interest in connecting with others during podcast or audiobook listening, particularly when there were topics of discussion or points worth sharing. As a result, I decided to pivot my focus towards designing social features specifically for podcasts and audiobooks.
I conceived the idea for this feature toward the end of July, but upon revisiting Spotify, I discovered that they had already implemented a comment feature with podcasts approximately two weeks prior. As a result, I decided to pursue the second biggest opportunity from the research.
Insights:
Users expressed a desire to discover more new music through more recommendations.
Many users want to see what their friends are listening to, facilitating music discovery through social connections.
Users are interested in knowing what songs are currently popular or trending among other listeners.
There is a strong desire for the ability to like content in order to easily identify what others have enjoyed or recommend.
I've decided to design a feature that allows users to view daily, weekly, and monthly top picks based on their selected location. This approach aligns with the primary user goal of discovering new music.
Define
The competitive analysis and user interviews provided valuable insights into the needs and preferences of Spotify's users. I used these findings to create detailed visualizations, which helped me better understand the users' perspectives and define the feature more clearly.
User Persona
Creating the user persona helped me build a more effective, user-friendly feature that is tailored to real people’s needs, ultimately increasing the chances of adoption and success for the new feature.
POV/HMW
I’d like to explore ways to help music enthusiasts to discover new music because they are looking to explore other genres and artists.
How might we help music enthusiasts to discover new music when they can’t see what are popular among other listeners?
Solution: “Top pick by Country Feature”
I've decided to design a feature that allows users to view daily, weekly, and monthly top picks based on their selected location. This approach aligns with the primary user goal of discovering new music.
Ideation
User Flow
The user's primary path with the "Top Pick by Country" feature involves selecting a location from a dropdown menu, then choosing whether they want daily, weekly, or monthly top picks. Based on these selections, Spotify will generate new curated top pick mixes for the user.
High Fidelity Wireframe
The high-fidelity wireframes are intended for comprehensive testing, providing a realistic user experience and showcasing the final design. I adhered to the established design guidelines and patterns of Spotify, incorporating the same interaction styles to ensure the feature feels native to the platform and integrates smoothly into the existing user interface.
Prototype & Test
Usability testing
I did usability testing with 5 potential users between ages 19 to 31 and it allowed me to uncover usability issues and gain insights into user behavior, preferences, and difficulties while interacting with the added feature.
5/5 participants indicated that "Top Picks by Country" feature for Spotify is a feature that would be really helpful to them when it discovering new music . Also the feature is easy to use, user friendly, simple enough to understand.5/5 participants did not have any confusion/ frustrations when testing the feature.1/5 participants thought this would be great when traveling to check at songs that are popular at the destination.
Conclusion
The “ Top picks by Country” feature is a successfully new conceptual feature that people like Zach would use & find valuable.
One of the key lessons I learned while designing this feature is that my initial idea or solution may not align with the actual needs of the users. This highlights the importance of thoroughly exploring the User Research phase to gain a deeper understanding and ensure we're addressing the problem in the most effective way possible.
If I had additional time, I would conduct more user interviews during the research phase to gather further insights.
