App
Spotify Feature Redesign
Adding songs to a playlist
Personal Project
Problem
Adding songs to a playlist requires multiple steps (at least four swipes/taps), making saving multiple songs tedious. Given Spotify's focus on music discovery, why is this process so cumbersome?
Goal
Design a shortcut to streamline this workflow and allow users to add songs to playlists quickly and efficiently with less taps.
Note: This feature is an addition to the existing method, not a replacement.
Demo of original flow
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Video
Step 4
Solution 1 - Quick Add
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Users can press and hold a song to quickly add it to a single playlist, only requiring two taps. This feature is useful for users who want to discover songs and add them into playlists seamlessly.
While limited to one playlist at a time, adding to multiple playlists remains available through existing features.
Solution 2 - Multiple Select
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The user can long press the song to go into "select mode," allowing them to choose multiple songs and add them to a playlist simultaneously. This streamlines the process of bulk-saving songs.
Solution 2B - Multiple Select to Loop Songs
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With the same multiselect feature, users can create a temporary playlist of selected songs to be played in a loop. To exit the loop, they simply press another song or the shuffle icon.
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Temporary playlists are not currently a feature on Spotify but have always been something I’ve wanted to see.
Design Process
User Research Insights
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I collected feedback from four friends about the add to playlist feature.
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Overall, users agreed the current process of adding songs to playlists is frustrating.
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Many wished for a way to select and add multiple songs to a playlist on the mobile app. One stated that they currently rely on the desktop version for this functionality.
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Most users didn't frequently always a single songs to multiple playlists at once.​
Ideation / Wireframing notes
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I created several wireframes to explore and test various user flows aimed at speeding up the process of adding songs to playlists. These included drag-and-drop, new buttons, multi-select, and press-and-hold interactions to open overlays
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These wireframes were assessed on the number of taps and usability.
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I preferred press-and-hold interactions to open short-cuts over extra buttons to avoid cluttering of the interface.
Mid-Fi Prototyping notes
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Drag and drop was clunky and made it difficult to search different playlists or scroll through playlists. Press and hold provided more flexibility.
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Prioritised usability over expanded functionality by enabling users to add a song to only one playlist at a time. This decision reduces the number of taps required (taking into account that the original add to playlist button still exists)
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Press-and-hold interactions required a >400 ms delay to avoid confusion with standard clicks.
Drag and drop