Overview

The mission... to create an add-on feature to an already established website or app. As someone who is always training for the next race and is always surrounded by motivated athletes that swim, run, paddle, row etc. I thought about my most used applications. Spotify was undeniably at the top of the list and I found this was case for many others.
I was curious to see how many athletes or even anyone who just consistently exercises (but doesn't consider themselves an athlete) use music to help them train. So I decided to build an add-on feature to Spotify that would allow users to create playlists based on Beats per Min.

Design Process

Discover

Define

Ideate

Prototype

Evaluation

- User Interviews
- Persona development
- Interview summary
- Empathy Map

- Competitor analysis
- Screening survey
- Spotify research

- Wireflow
- High-Fidelity Design

- Interactive prototype

- affinity mapping
- usability testing
- Iterations
- What's next

/ 01. Discover

Finding programs similar to the idea of this feature began my initial research where I found a few apps that focused on music as a tool to improve athletic performance. One app seemed to receive high reviews but was not available to U.S. Apple subscribers . It was surprising to see at least 5 apps that focused on beats per minute and music. I was worried that it was too specific of a concept that there wouldn't be a need. but by the look of past reviews and what current apps were offering it seemed like an idea that I could build on.

All apps seem to be targeting distance athletes or athletes in training.

Music seems to be the biggest defining factor between competitors. When working with muisc licenses and cost, what each app can offer is limited .

I was also pleasantly surprised to know of new technology specific to BPM and recorded music.

Secondary Research

Another surprising discovery was that Spotify
seemed to have a similar feature to their app. This feature was a part of the free app in 2015, called Spotify running. It was then pulled in 2018, it allowed users to listen to music based on the duration of the their step count. The app would read the users pace and begin playing songs appropriate to that tempo. However, there was still a limited amount of music. users may be stuck with music they didn't particulary like and sometimes the range was not always consistent. Despite the issues users were disappointed in Spotify's decision to remove the feature. It is still unclear why the feature was pulled, but in the statement that Spotify posted, they did not take the decision lighty .

User Interview - Results of the user interviews showed...

Participants worked out between 3-6 days a week. Experiencing a variety of exercises.

All participants use music as a tool to train but not during a race no matter the duration

All participants use different types of music specific to various conditioning

80% of participants astated the importnatce of listening to their perferred music but would also like to have some premade lists that they can customize.

After analyzing the information from participants, I found that most athletes that were already using music as a tool were either using the time consuming method of listening to music, then finding a general BPM, or were even listening to a metronome with their music to get an exact BPM.

Participants that are not purposefully using music as a tool but as distraction or motivation were interested in using BPM but were unsure of how to incorporate into their workout. Participants also had no idea where to start to find music by BPM.

Many participants that workout in the classes such as cycling, boxing, and zumba mentioned the importance of having music categorized by BPM but did not have a program to this easily. This became a new and unexpected addition to the persona.

Ultimately, participants new to BPM want easy, pre-made ways to create playlists. Those that were more seasoned wanted a hybrid of what they have been doing using their own playlists and their own method of finding the BPM.

Sketches for possible dropdown or button. I was trying to predict the most natural place to insert BPM playlist choice. I played with the idea of a toggle that would "turn on" the feature but I wanted the feature to be more in the forefront than just a element that users would have to search for.

INITIAL WORKFLOW

I began the wireflow from the dashboard. All participants were already familiar with the Spotify platform which allowed me to focus the usability testing to the add-on feature. ( indicated below in the green rectangle) . I was interested if I created a CTA with enough emphasis that would draw attention to it , as users are so used to the Spotify interface, that they would overlook new content.

/ 04. Prototype

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE

Using the wireflow, I continued to build the interactive prototype through Figma. I wanted to simulate Spotify as much as possible as I found that sometimes "pretendjng" an action should happen effects the way the users naturally use a product. I worked to make cursors blink and for fields to fill upon tapping the appropriate areas. This is something that I continue to learn as I build more prototypes.

Try it out!

/ 05. Evaluate

iterations

Qualitative testing was done through interviews and allowing participants to navigate the protoype without prompting. I was able to observe natural behaviors and instincts. Some testing was done by sending the prototype to users followed by a series of questions specific to the overall feeling of the add-on, if they found the flow intuitive or confusing.

Takeaways:

- Consider a fix through the settings or maybe a filter that would allow the BPM to appear when music is chosen for a playlists

- Suggestions to apply BOM to premade playlists not just to individual music

- Link to a BPM playlists tutorial or to aritcles that explain how a BPM playlist can enhance training

- Keep revising the layout in the dropdown or filter option

Final Evaluation and what is next?

Affinity mapping solidified the problem areas and gave me more insight when designing for a large range of users. After the affinity mapping I continued to iterate the prototype using the takeaways from above to guide my decisions. I am aware that Spotify has limitations, such as style guide, branding, programming licenses and copyrights of music. I believe that understanding those limits would make decisions on the designs easier. I enjoyed the challenge of working within certain limits in a project as well as the freedom to brainstorm and prototype various paths and possibilities.

Case Study

Add-a-Feature
Spotify BPM
Playlist

Overview

Design Process