UX Design Case Study
Spotify
Add-A-Feature
Fostering expression, connection, and exploration for Spotify users through customization within the user profile
The Background
Spotify has been a dominant force in the music industry and has revolutionized the culture of listening to and discovering music for many years now. Since its inception in 2008, Spotify now has over 678 million users worldwide becoming the biggest audio streaming service out there, covering not just music markets but expanding into podcast and audiobook markets, as well. As a user myself since 2015, I have seen many of the changes Spotify has made to its platforms over the years, introducing numerous new design overhauls and feature additions. However, the one area of the platform that has stayed relatively the same all this time is the user profile. That is what this project is focusing on.
The Problem Statement
Currently, Spotify users have very little methods of customization when it comes to their profiles or what they can show publicly - there is a lack of personal expression on the platform. The current main source of customization is within playlists and their respective pages, or within a user’s library. But profiles themselves have very little options: you are limited to editing your display name and profile picture, deciding whether or not your playlists are listed as public or private, and/or deciding whether or not to show your recently played artists and your followers and following lists. Therefore, I think it would be interesting to explore this space and look into designing a feature set centered around expanding the profile, furthering the ability to customize it so that the profile becomes a better space to express yourself, leading to expansive possibilities, connections, and/or discoveries.
The Solution
So, the need to come up with something that enhances the user experience while still adding something new to the platform and profile is evident. Here, the goal is three things:
allow for better personal expression of music taste through a curated user profile
foster a better connection between users through (shared) music
deepen users’ music tastes by enabling them to explore others’ profiles and seeing what they like to listen to
My solution to this problem involves two new tabs within the profile: the User Profile and the Taste Profile.
The User Profile is about adding your own touch to your profile with your favorites (playlists, artists, tracks, albums), as well as various prompts you can choose from.
The Taste Profile is more algorithmically based, showcasing your recent listening habits of the past month (artists, tracks, albums, genres), as well as digging into your personal taste profile.
Notes:
This project was created within the first half of 2025, so any design choices were in accordance with what the current design specs of Spotify were at this time.
This design is based on the iPhone and Macbook app designs (my personal devices), which allowed me to understand exactly the specs I needed to imitate to make this design accurate.
This project focuses moreso on the music side of Spotify due to it being the main type of media streamed and due to data from the research/interview section of this project. Though it could also expand into podcast and audiobook territory, as those are important aspects of Spotify’s library in the current age, this project does not dive into those media types too much.
Hint: Click on any image to expand it and/or to see if there is the ability to scroll so that you can better see the details and small text.
Click on any step or substep to jump to it farther down the page.
Scope and Design Process
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RESEARcH
Research Goals and Objectives
To know how users currently interact with Spotify to understand how to improve their experience
Identify how users currently express and/or show off their music taste so that features can be designed around the best methods of expression
Figure out how customization fits into general listening habits and platform usage
Understand which users lean into the current customization features (and/or want more or less)
Get a sense of how people use music to make connections with each other
Research Methodologies
To get a better understanding of where the public sentiment lies in terms of user experience with Spotify and the greater music streaming industry, I first conducted a competitive analysis to see what features other apps are offering and how they stack up against Spotify. From there, I went on to conduct user interviews with 5 people to explore listening habits, platform and feature usage, and any customization preferences or ideas. Lastly, I used all the previous information to complete an affinity map to get into the details and understand the connections and patterns visible in users’ answers.
Competitive Analysis
Similar Capabilities:
All provide an app to use their platform, for easy access and on-the-go listening
All provide the same basic listening and organizational services
All have users that use and love each app for different reasons
Apparent Differences:
Spotify offers more social features than all the other platforms
Spotify currently allows for the most customization
Some platforms have the same type of features but they show up in different ways
ex. playlist pictures in Spotify/Apple Music vs YouTube Music are different
Key Learnings:
Spotify seems to be the most expressive platform when it comes to customization
Amazon Music seems to be the most limited platform when it comes to customization
There are some features that all platforms have, and some features that no platforms have
The best app for customization is Spotify, but even then it is still somewhat limited in total customization
Opportunities:
There are categories listed where nobody meets the criteria, so there is opportunity there to look into and develop some of these ideas, and run them by users to see if they would be applicable
Talk to users and see what they are missing when it comes to features on music streaming platforms
Potential for a year-round stats offer, but that could take away hype from the end-of-year wrap-ups
Take inspiration from other apps that allow for good user (profile) customization and see what they do well
User Interviews
In order to get to know the sentiments of users better, I conducted user interviews with 5 people, ages 23-36, who all use Spotify Premium. These users range from people who use Spotify every day to casual listeners, with a range of knowledge about the platform and its features and capabilities.
To prep for the interviews, I created an interview guide and thought of questions focusing on listening habits, platform usage, sharing music, and social aspects. The insights I gained from these interviews helped to shape the direction of the rest of the project and to know which areas I should be focusing on in the greater scheme of the original idea.
Affinity Mapping
After completing the competitive analysis and conducting the initial interviews, I was able to get a clearer picture of where people stand when it comes to how they listen to music and use Spotify. With all of these insights, I put them together in an affinity map to better understand the various patterns that emerged from all this data.
Listening Habits
Desires, Wishes, Suggestions, Frustrations
Organization and Customization
Discovering, Exploring, Sharing
Other Apps
Platform Usage
Social
Main Takeaway
There has been expressed interest for more profile customization, but people don't really think about it now because there's currently nothing super prominent in the apps that would allow for it.
Main Takeaway
Spotify Wrapped is an important social feature to the interviewees, where they get to participate in sharing the end-of-year presentation on social media or with friends.
Main Takeaway
A lot of users are unaware of the current social/profile features and some were not aware of certain ones until I pointed them out or mentioned them in their interview.
Main Takeaway
The main two devices used most are desktop and mobile. There is a somewhat even usage between the two, but mobile does seem to have the slight majority for the main device used.
Takeaway
Most people have used another music streaming app in the past, but all tend to stick with or switch to Spotify as their main platform.
Takeaway
Most people use Spotify mainly to listen to music, but podcasts are still listened to - just not as much as music. No one interviewed uses the audiobook feature.
Takeaway
Users have been on the platform for many years at this point, with all interviewees using Spotify for 5 years or more, with most being more than that.
Takeaway
People love using Spotify and use it almost every day, if not daily.
Main Takeaway
There has been expressed interest in expanded Spotify profile features, noting that the existence of third-party apps trying to integrate with Spotify highlight potential gaps in the platform's offerings.
Main Takeaway
Most people see music streaming services as separate from social media apps, but still similar or connected. Spotify has some social features but not anything like that of true social media apps.
Main Takeaway
Music discovery tends to take place within many different mediums, from social media, in person sharing, messaging each other, Spotify algorithms, and/or discovering other users’ content.
Takeaway
There are a lot of playlist-makers but some people participate in the customization features and some don't.
Takeaway
People use Spotify for a range of tasks or activities from doing housework, to doing their job, to doing course work, to driving or commuting, to listening for fun.
Takeaway
Spotify focuses on music streaming, listening, or exploration, rather than being focused on social features.
Takeaway
Everyone pays for the premium subscription version of Spotify.
These insights grounded my next steps. I analyzed and synthesized the research into personas, project goals, and a feature set, helping to realize real user feelings, habits, experiences, sentiments, relationships, usage, and pain points. This became the foundation for my profile update solution: one designed not just to customize, but to truly empower users for better expression, connection, and exploration through music.
DEFINE
User Personas
After the research was done - and the synthesis of that research, as well - I noticed two general directions from the data I gathered that encompassed many of the qualities of my interview participants. This led me to highlight two different sides of Spotify users - The Music Nerd and The Casual Listener. Here in these personas, you can see that the essential goals of this project are present: the desire for better expression, better connection, and better exploration.
Project Goals and Constraints
When thinking about how to complete this project there are certain constraints that I would need to consider when deciding on what features to include and how to build them. Based on all the information I collected prior, I made this Venn diagram highlighting important ideas to take into account for different sectors of UX Design: the business side, the user side, and the technical side, as well as the intersections between them all.
Feature Set
After creating the personas and considering the project goals and constraints, it was time to take all the information I have gathered up to this point and think about what features I would actually be building. This table highlights and describes the various ideas I came up with based on research and synthesis, what I could have developed, and which ones I actually did continue with.
These are the main features I took to the next step to develop further:
P1:
Tops/Pinned/Favorites
P1:
Personal Anthem
P1:
Pinned Playlists
P2:
Taste Profile
P3:
Now Listening To... on profile
DESIGN
User Flows
At this point, the profile update has started to take shape - the ideas are flowing and the concepts are materializing. With the feature set decided, it was time to think more about structure and how users would be navigating through this new feature set. Here, I designed two user flows that highlight adding an album to your profile and adding a personal anthem to your profile.
One thing to note is that these flows have changed throughout the course of this project (see: testing and iterations). I have highlighted both the original and final user flows below.
This first chart is the flow of a user adding an album to their profile:
This second chart is the flow of a user adding a personal anthem to their profile:
First Sketches
When thinking about how to actually design the visuals in this new feature, it was important for me to get some ideas down on paper - its easy, its cheap, and it works!
My focus here was to take the already existing profile structure on both mobile and desktop (since I think there are still good bones there, just nothing much expanded on) and enhance it, while still adding the necessary new features that make up this project. I needed to take the familiar user experience and seamlessly introduce a new feature into the already existing structure.
Mobile Sketches
Click here for a closer look at the mobile sketch
Trying out different profile headers/hero sections
Expanding on the current design patterns Spotify employs
Fitting the personal anthem into the profile
The banner-in-background idea that never made it past this stage...
Here we have the features that Spotify offers on their current profile setup
Here are the features I am looking into adding
This is where the Taste Title that I continued with into the final design was born
Expanding on the current design patterns once again
This is where the tab system that I continued with into the final design was born
Whether or not to put the Personal Anthem inside or outside the tab system...
Playing around with what to put into the header/hero section - Edit button, Now Listening To...
Desktop Sketches
Click here for a closer look at the desktop sketch
“Something to consider: whether or not to have multiple columns/pages or have one big profile page stream/feed”
Playing around with how to configure the profile page to fit everything I was thinking of: one big column (current Spotify design) with the tab system or make it into two different columns without the tab system
Header/hero section largely unchanged from current design
“Challenge: Finding what to take from Spotify’s design system and what to newly design myself. Re: artists’ pages vs profile”
Since Taste Title got carried over from the mobile design, I also thought of a Taste Playlist which is new here
Expanding on the current profile design patterns once again
The tab system shows up here again, carried over from the mobile designs
Deciding how to configure Personal Anthem and Now Listening To... into the profile
Brand Guidelines
When it comes to imitating Spotify and its design principles, rules, and systems, I found this Spotify for Developers website to use as a reference for certain parts of the project.
For the colors of each section, I often color picked each color from screenshots I took on the desktop and mobile apps, since the Developer website only lists out the main three colors. This led to a very simple and easy 1:1 match for each color of the screens, from various shapes that make up the display to the color of each word, and every detail I needed to capture and bring over to my designs.
For fonts, they have a couple listed on the Developer website to use in place of their main font; however, I instead chose to use Avenir Next for my screens as I think it looks and feels much more similar to the current Spotify font. What they use now is Spotify Mix - an exclusive font designed just for them - meaning it’s not easily available to the public - so I had to resort to using a similar font.
Desktop Fonts+Sizes
AN Bold 97pt
Avenir Next Bold 24pt
Avenir Next DemiBold 24pt
Avenir Next DemiBold 20pt
Avenir Next Medium 20pt
Avenir Next Medium 17pt
Avenir Next DemiBold 16pt
Avenir Next Medium 16pt
Avenir Next Medium 14pt
Avenir Next DemiBold 13pt
Mobile Fonts+Sizes
Avenir Next Bold 24pt
Avenir Next DemiBold 20pt
Avenir Next DemiBold 16pt
Avenir Next Medium 16pt
Avenir Next Medium 14pt
Avenir Next DemiBold 13pt
Avenir Next Medium 13pt
Typography
#181818
#282828
#333333
#353535
#3D3D41
#3E3E3E
#59595E
#6B6B6D
#FEFEFE
Secondary Color Usage
#1ED760
#000000
#121212
#1F1F1F
#7C7C7C
#B3B3B3
#B8B8B8
#FFFFFF
Primary Color Usage
Color Palette
Midfi Wireframes
Based on my sketches, I started to transfer the designs to Figma and digitize them. I used the design patterns and colors of Spotify right away in these early wireframes, since these assets are already readily available to work with - it wouldn't be worth the time to do both greyscale lofi wireframes and then somewhat-filled-in midfi wireframes as well. These aspects of Spotify design aren't going to be changing much anytime soon, so this allowed me to jump right into midfi wireframing.
USABILITY TESTING
Usability Testing
To get better feedback on my designs and to see if they are working for users, I conducted two rounds of moderated usability testing. Both rounds consisted of 5 people and I used the Figma prototyping feature and Zoom combined with a notetaker to get the most out of these interviews. This allowed me to get direct feedback on these screens while also being able to stay present in the conversation and have the opportunity to really understand the problems the testers were having with the designs and flows.
The file below goes in-depth into all of the iterations and decisions I was making throughout this process, with many due to user feedback or personal design choices. It also highlights each step in the process, going from sketches to midfi to hifi to final. Read past the file to see an overview of the described design decisions.
First Round Usability Testing (FRUT)
My main focus with this first round is to test the main flows of the new design and how users are responding it.
Goals
To find out if the designs are easily navigable and make sense to users
Users are able to add elements to their profile in multiple ways
Users are able to recognize patterns already established by Spotify that I used in the design(s)
Task Flows/Agenda
0.0 - Exploring the updated desktop profile screens (2)
1.1 - Adding album from search
1.2 - Adding album from album page
2.1 - Adding personal anthem from song page
2.2 - Adding personal anthem from song search
2.3 - Adding personal anthem from profile
3.0 - Exploring the updated mobile profile screens (2)
Overview of FRUT Iterations
The biggest problem with this first design was the flow itself. All the testers became confused with how I was trying to set things up in this flow, from the process of searching for an album and adding it to your profile to the way of adding a personal anthem through editing the profile. After testing, I decided to change the flow of how you add things to your profile which resulted in a complete overhaul of that flow - this includes a system where you can add the desired media straight from the profile instead.
This round of testing is also where the idea of prompts was brought up, which led it to be implemented in the next iteration. Testers had issues with how the personal anthem was being added, and they also expressed the desire to add more than that, so the personal anthem idea simply became the prompts system, thanks to super insightful user feedback.
Other notable design decisions and changes include layout and structure changes, text and design hierarchy changes, resizing of things, icon changes, and the jump from midfi to hifi.
Second Round Usability Testing (SRUT)
My main focus with this second round is to test the new flow of things in addition to some new design aspects. Before starting the second round of testing, I implemented the feedback from the first round, while also upgrading the fidelity to use a hifi wireframe for testing in the second round.
Goals
Users enjoying and understanding the new flows and design aspects
Looking to get feedback on various design changes I have made
Giving testers various visual options for certain design choices to get feedback on which one they like best / looks best / makes the most sense
Task Flows/Agenda
Desktop - Adding Album/Year
Mobile - Adding Album/Year
Getting feedback on variable design choices (adding to profile on mobile, etc.)
Final Design critiques/feedback
Overview of SRUT Iterations
This round of testing went much better than the first. Here, the main issues were with minor details and minor design choices, of which were easily changeable. The testers liked this version of both the flow and the design a lot better than the previous iteration - it makes more sense to users, as well as having everything you would need to customize your profile, while staying within the profile page.
As I was making the necessary changes to the wireframes with feedback from the second round of testing, I finally decided to implement components and variables into my workflow. Since Spotify utilizes hover states for almost everything on the desktop app, I decided to figure it out for myself and incorporate that into my hifi wireframes/final prototype to imitate the real app. (process listed below)
Other notable design decisions and changes include button visual/text changes, heading/subheading changes, icon changes/additions, text/subheading hierarchy, text style/color changes, filling in empty screens, adding more pages, and many changes to the prompt-choosing screens.
Components and Variables
When it comes to Spotify’s desktop app, the company utilizes hover states for just about everything, from cards to titles to buttons, from the home page to music pages to your profile - they are everywhere. So, when I was working on the iterations from the information I received during the second round of usability testing, I finally took it upon myself to implement this feature into my designs, as I know its also used widely in the industry. I have played around with components and variables before, but not to this level. To do this, I matched everything in my designs to everything that has a hover state in the real app to embellish my final prototype. Complete with various hover states for all types of elements, my work in hover states includes color changes, underlines, overlays (by clicking), dis/appearing card backgrounds, and a pop-up confirmation message that disappears with time.
FINAL
Hifi Wireframes - Desktop
Here, I have selected some designs to show off the various screens I created for this project, each showcasing a different style and step in the process.
Hifi Wireframes - Mobile
Here, I have selected some screens to show off the various designs I created for this project, each showcasing a different style and step in the process.
Wrapping Up
After finally completing this project, its now time for me to look back and reflect on everything I’ve worked on and learned from this work, while also taking a look at the future. This has been a very fun project to work on and I’m very happy with the result, and I hope you are too.
Reflection
By adding a feature to an existing product like Spotify, it taught me many valuable lessons of how to work within a preexisting design system for an already established company, as well as getting more experience fully flushing out a feature to add to an already existing product. By exploring ways to revamp the profile, I found ways to help users better express themselves and their music taste, which can allow for new or better connections down the line, as well as giving them the chance to further explore the kinds of music they like. To me, this is a project with a fresh take on a much needed profile upgrade.
Here are my main takeaways and main lessons learned from this project:
This project deepened my understanding of what its like to work on a feature for an already existing product. There was a lot to consider when shaping the designs:
trying to problem solve with mandatory constraints, like design systems, colors, fonts, shapes, corners, established functions, etc.
the existing methods of navigating the platform and all the intricacies of having multiple ways to perform the same task, and multiple paths to the same destination
thinking of new ways to use what is already there and creating a new feature based on the given materials, while also trying to match the aesthetics and functions of the main design
This project helped me to understand where to make the cutoff for various design decisions. It taught me how to and where to draw the line when it comes to what to include and what not to include, while also being able to give a reason why.
Another lesson learned was the value of user feedback. I already knew how valuable it is, but there were moments in this project where I thought I knew where it was headed only to be redirected by talking to users, whether in the research phase, testing phases, or somewhere in between. The main lesson here is to let go of any assumptions and listen to the users by letting them (and the research) talk, so that I can design for the user and not for what I think the user wants.
Additionally, and more functionally, there were new ways of creating and designing I tried out and learned about in this project - such as working heavily with components and variables, the process of iterating multiple times, and redesigning the same screens/flows/patterns in ways that better fit the users’ needs.
Next Steps - Looking Beyond the MVP
If there were more time and I was going to go farther into building this product out, one of the first things I would do is add access for podcast and audiobooks so that users could put that content onto their profiles as well. This was expanded on a bit in the various prompt choices, but that is as far as I got into developing this design for those types of media.
I would also go back and look at my Feature Set and research documents to consider adding those ideas into this design, namely:
Recommendation Features: expanding on the current recommendation systems by taking into account your profile to give recommendations of any type of media based on what you put on your profile or have recently been listening to
Playlist Design: expanding on playlist pages to better interact with them, like playlist tags or public likes
Friend Feed: a social feature that allows only your friends or followers to see when you make changes to your profile (and potentially library as well)
Alternate Album Covers: allow users to further shape their profiles by allowing them the choice of displaying the album cover variant they like the best (when available)
Common Taste: a feature that will show up when you have something in common with another profile, potentially in the form of some unique icon or using the profile picture in a circle somehow
Obviously, there are many more ideas to expand on and think of that aren't listed here or aren't though of yet, but these would be the main features I would think about implementing in the beginning when expanding on what I have already done here.
Potential Impacts
Although there isn’t really a great way to get any measurable impacts or feedback on this project, here are the ways in which I could envision it affecting Spotify:
Energizing the user base to use the platform more by having the users spend more time curating their profile
More engagement between users, generating more usage
More people will want to pay for the Premium subscription (potential to make this a premium-only feature)
Free users using the platform more, which means more ad revenue (assuming they're listening to something while using it)
Converting users from other music streaming platforms with a unique feature that no other app has
Making Spotify a more intentional platform rather than driven solely by the algorithm, leading to improved public prestige
Higher user satisfaction from being able to express themselves better, connecting more with other users or friends, and/or discovering new music
The Rise of the Spotify Creator
Once this feature has been implemented, there is the potential for certain users to gain a lot of followers based on how they curate their profiles. This can lead to profile promotion by way of other apps, which basically already happens with creators who have a focus on music, who then link their Spotify profile (usually a playlist they made) from Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, etc. A Spotify Creator would essentially be a music curator in the form of their profile, as well as any playlists they make.