Role
UX Designer, UX Researcher
Timeline
Oct 2023 - Dec 2023
Tools
Figma
Problem
Music listeners often face a "music slump", where they struggle to find new and exciting music they enjoy. Despite Apple Music being one of the leading music streaming platforms, navigating their extensive library is frustrating.
Solution
I designed Previews, a new feature for Apple Music that plays snippets of songs. This feature aims to streamline the music discovery process and help users find their new favorites.
Design Outcome
By providing quick, curated previews, users can get a sense of a song's style and decide if they want to listen to the full track, ultimately enhancing their overall music discovery experience.
Why Redesigning Apple Music?
As an avid Apple Music user myself, I rely on its streaming services to enjoy my favorite songs. However, like many others, I found my usual playlists becoming repetitive, and searching for new music or discovering new artists in Apple Music's extensive catalog proved to be more challenging than I imagined. After several hours browsing through Today's Hits and New Releases, I still couldn't find any new favorites. This gave me the idea: is there a way to make the music search easier?
UNDERSTANDING PAIN POINTS
I interviewed 4 Apple Music users.
I wanted to identify frustrations with exploring new music within Apple Music and understand users' current music discovery methods. I gathered the following key insights:
1. Users mostly find new music outside the app.
"I find new songs I like when I'm listening to my friends play their music and when scrolling through social media like TikTok and Instagram Reels."
2. Users are confused by Apple Music’s recommendations.
"I'm not sure where to start [listening to new music] because there's so many playlists and albums on the home page."
3. Users find discovering new music within Apple Music to be time consuming.
"I only find one good song after listening to a whole playlist."
Using this information, I began brainstorming features that could resolve these issues.
IDEATION
How can users discover new music within the app?
With the help of 3 others, I brainstormed several solutions to address the user issues. 52 sticky notes later, we grouped them by theme, and considered strengths, weaknesses, and user needs.
After narrowing these down to three feature ideas, I drew exploratory sketches for each.
1. Artist of the day
A home bar destination that features a new artist, their music, and a brief biography every day.
Users don't have to choose from overwhelming options ✓
Limited options may be unsatisfying ✗
2. Trending artists/songs rankings
A section that displays rankings of popular artists and popular songs, with the ability to filter by genre and listen to it as a playlist.
Creates community aspect of Apple Music ✓
Trending songs are not necessarily what users like ✗
3. Previews song tab
A feature that displays short clips of songs, with buttons allowing users to like or dislike each preview and easily add it to their playlists.
Users can explore more songs in less time ✓
Requires more active screen time on app ✗
Winner: A Previews Song Tab
This would address the users' desire to explore songs efficiently, allow users to easily tailor results to their preferences, and create a designated location to explore music within the app.
DESIGN EXPLORATIONS
Fleshing out the feature
Short-form content is increasingly becoming more popular and more engaged with, across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. The high turnover of new content appeals to users because it is time efficient, highly shareable, and engaging.
For my “Preview” tab, I focused on designing a way to present short clips of songs and integrate this feature seamlessly into Apple Music’s existing interface.
Time Bar for Previews
The time bar is an important indicator to users about their position in a song, but a Preview clip is only a small section of a song. I compiled what information this feature's time bar needed to convey:
1. Full song length
2. Preview clip length
3. Timestamp for the currently playing part
4. Proportion of clip already played
The currently playing part (3) and song length (1) are represented by the left and right timestamps, respectively, while I visually represented preview clip length (2) with a medium opacity and proportion played (4) with the highest opacity.
"Love" Button Layout
During user research, I noted that users found it difficult for to “love” and “unlove” songs because it was tucked away in the dropdown menu. I explored locations to display this feature.
After user testing, critique, and feedback, I decided on iteration 3 for its relevant location, clean UI appearance, and intuitive function.
Navigating to the Next Song
I implemented two methods: swiping right and forward skipping. By allowing horizontal movement, users can easily swipe back and forth and sneak peek adjacent tracks. This grants users more control over their listening experience in an intuitive way. I drew inspiration from Spotify, where both swiping right and forward skipping can be used.
FINAL FEATURE
Seamless Entry and Exit Point
Rather than create a new home bar destination, I chose to add the Previews feature within Apple Music's "Listen Now" page to keep a familiar organization for users.
"Love" and "Unlove"
To address the issue of users being recommended music they dislike, I found that the best solution was involving users themselves. Tapping the heart influences the algorithm to recommend more songs similar to their favorites, while creating an archive of "Loved" songs to easily revisit these tracks. For actual implementation, I would consult developers to ensure this is technically feasible. The pop-up that appears after tapping is consistent with the current Apple Music UI.
"Keep Playing" and "Back to Preview"
Based on user research, users wanted the option to hear the full song. Adding a button that allows users to easily switch between the Preview Clip and full song aligns well with user interests.
Add to Playlist
I simplified Apple Music's previous dropdown menu options to emphasize the "Add to Playlist" function, allowing users to easily build playlists within this feature.
REFLECTIONS
Adapting to Users at Every Step
Throughout this process, every decision was based on user insights. Meticulous user research and feedback integration allowed me to prioritize user needs and create a satisfying listening and navigation experience.
Considering Broader Perspectives
If I had more time, I would survey a broader and more diverse user sample to capture a wider range of preferences and needs. While the initial user interviews provided valuable insights, expanding the research could offer a more comprehensive understanding.
Balancing Innovation and Familiarity
This process pushed me to think deeply about how the new feature would impact the app's existing flows and interactions. I ensured existing functionalities were not disrupted, so users wouldn't notice changes while using the app for other purposes. Given the large user group, I chose to maintain several components of Apple Music's current interface to align with users' existing mental models. However, I'm eager to discuss and learn more about the best approaches for redesigning apps with large user bases.
Thank you for reading through this case study! I hope you enjoyed learning about my design and thought process. This was my first time redesigning an existing app, and I'd love to hear your feedback and learn from you!
