Bring back
the love!
A save for later
story on Apple Music.
UX Case Study
Overview
BRIEF
I challenged myself to redesigning a stock iOS application by adding a feature or a service that is not available to the application.
DURATION
2 weeks
MY ROLE
I was responsible for all aspects of the design process from user interviews, surveys, synthesizing data, wireframes, prototyping and usability testing.
DESIGN PROCESS
Discover
User interviews
User surveys
Define
Problem statement
How might we?
Ideate
Sketches
Wireframes
Prototype
Interactive prototype
Usability test
WHY APPLE MUSIC
After conducting a few user interviews about their iPhones, I noticed a pattern emerge across my users using Apple Music. Users were having trouble returning to songs they enjoyed to later consume again.
User are struggling to
find value in the save for later feature.
I asked 7 iOS users to complete a task on Apple Music. While observing them, I was able to identify some pain points users were having while using the app.
Current view of Apple Music
Users have to open up to the song to access the save for later feature
Pain Points
“I don’t like how I’m not able to save a song quickly.”
Users want a quick way to save songs without having to go through too many touch points.
Insights
Feature is hidden
Pain Points
Users want an easier way to be able to go back to songs they have saved.
“When I’m listening to a playlist and a song I really like a song comes on, I don’t have a way
to save it to listen to it later, and most times I forget about the song.”
Insights
Confusing feature
Pain Points
Users don’t understand the purpose or value behind certain features.
“When I love a song, it doesn’t do anything other than have this
pop up about recommendations.”
Insights
Buried playlists without being able to organize them
Pain Points
Users can’t prioritize playlists that they have created.
“I can add a song to a playlist but sometimes that playlist gets buried with other playlists that I’ve created”
Insights
Problem
Statement
Apple music users need a better way to be able to save songs. Currently, they have to go through a long process that includes too many touchpoints and can feel very unintuitive to the user. Moreover, the location of the feature is hidden and difficult to find. Users are left confused about the value of the love feature since it is not recognized in order to provide them a service that is needed.
How might we better optimize the love function to cater to the users’ needs to save songs in a dedicated playlist for later?
How might we cut down the amount of touch points to get to that point?
Market Research
I took to market research to be able to get some inspiration on how to best optimize the favoriting feature in different music streaming apps. I looked at Youtube Music, Soundcloud, and the fan favourite, Spotify. After looking at what was being utilized by competitors, I found that they all have an easy and very intuitive way of saving songs.
Solution Statement
My redesign of Apple Music integrates a save a later feature so that users are able to access songs that they have saved in a dedicated playlist at a later point in time. This new feature will cut down on touch points as it would give them several opportunities to love a song where ever they are in the app, as well as saving them to a pinned playlist that can be always found at the top of their playlist section.
Let me show you my solution
integrated into the UI
Having more than one option to be able to love a song.
Dedicated playlist to loved song pinned to the top of the playlists list.
Prototype
Click
for Prototype
next steps
Conclusion
This project gave me the opportunity to explore a stock iOS app by improving it though a redesign.
The love feature is now optimized and better suits user needs. This way more users would stick to using Apple Music instead of switching to a competitor like Spotify for the same feature.
When it comes to further improving this experience, some next steps I would like to take are:
More usability testing in order to detect any user issues or opportunities to make a more intuitive interface.
Explore whether or not the feature needs more affordances.
Bring back the love!
A save for later story on Apple Music.
UX Case Study
BRIEF
To upskill and learn more about iOS applications, I created this case study to redesign a stock iOS application.
DURATION
2 weeks
MY ROLE
I was responsible for all aspects of the design process from user interviews, surveys, synthesizing data, wireframes, prototyping and usability testing.
DESIGN PROCESS
Discover
User interviews
User surveys
Define
Problem statement
How might we?
Ideate
Sketches
Wireframes
Prototype
Interactive prototype
Usability test
WHY APPLE MUSIC
After conducting a few user interviews about their iPhones, I noticed a pattern emerge across my users using Apple Music. Users were having trouble returning to songs they enjoyed to later consume again.
Overview
User are struggling to
find value in the save for
later feature.
I asked 7 iOS users to complete a task on Apple Music. While observing them, I was able to identify some pain points users were having while using the app.
Current view of Apple Music
Pain Points
“I don’t like how I’m not able to save a song quickly.”
Users want a quick way to save songs without having to go through too many touch points.
Users want an easier way to be able to go back to songs they have saved.
Users don’t understand the purpose or value behind certain features.
Users can’t prioritize playlists that they have created.
“When I love a song, it doesn’t do anything other than have this pop up about recommendations.”
“When I’m listening to a playlist and a song I really like a song comes on, I don’t have a way
to save it to listen to it later, and most times I forget about the song.”
“I can add a song to a playlist but sometimes that playlist gets buried with other playlists that I’ve created”
Insights
Feature is hidden
Confusing feature
Buried playlists without being able to organize them
Users have to open up to the song to access the save for later feature
Market Research
Solution Statement
Problem Statement
How might we better optimize the love function to cater to the users’ needs to save songs in a dedicated playlist for later?
How might we cut down the amount of touch points to get to that point?
Apple music users need a better way to be able to save songs. Currently, they have to go through a long process that includes too many touchpoints and can feel very unintuitive to the user. Moreover, the location of the feature is hidden and difficult to find. Users are left confused about the value of the love feature since it is not recognized in order to provide them a service that is needed.
I took to market research to be able to get some inspiration on how to best optimize the favoriting feature in different music streaming apps. I looked at Youtube Music, Soundcloud, and the fan favourite, Spotify. After looking at what was being utilized by competitors, I found that they all have an easy and very intuitive way of saving songs.
My redesign of Apple Music integrates a save a later feature so that users are able to access songs that they have saved in a dedicated playlist at a later point in time. This new feature will cut down on touch points as it would give them several opportunities to love a song where ever they are in the app, as well as saving them to a pinned playlist that can be always found at the top of their playlist section.
Let me show you my solution
integrated into the UI
Having more than one option to be able to love a song.
Dedicated playlist to loved song pinned to the top of the playlists list.
Prototype
Click here
for Prototype
next steps
Conclusion
This project gave me the opportunity to explore a stock iOS app by improving it though a redesign. The love feature is now optimized and better suits user needs. This way more users would stick to using Apple Music instead of switching to a competitor like Spotify for the same feature.
When it comes to further improving this experience, some next steps I would like to take are:
More usability testing in order to detect any user issues or opportunities to make a more intuitive interface.
Explore whether or not the feature needs more affordances.
Bring back the love!
A save for later story on Apple Music.
User are struggling to find value
in the save for later feature.
BRIEF
To upskill and learn more about iOS applications, I created this case study to redesign a stock iOS application.
DURATION
2 weeks
MY ROLE
I was responsible for all aspects of the design process from user interviews, surveys, synthesizing data, wireframes, prototyping and usability testing.
DESIGN PROCESS
Discover
User interviews
User surveys
Define
Problem statement
How might we?
Ideate
Sketches
Wireframes
Prototype
Interactive prototype
Usability test
WHY APPLE MUSIC
After conducting a few user interviews about their iPhones, I noticed a pattern emerge across my users using Apple Music. Users were having trouble returning to songs they enjoyed to later consume again.
I asked 7 iOS users to complete a task on Apple Music. While observing them, I was able to identify some pain points users were having while using the app.
Current view of Apple Music
Pain Points
“I don’t like how I’m not able to save a song quickly.”
Users want a quick way to save songs without having to go through too many touch points.
Users want an easier way to be able to go back to songs they have saved.
Users don’t understand the purpose or value behind certain features.
Users can’t prioritize playlists that they have created.
“When I love a song, it doesn’t do anything other than have this
pop up about recommendations.”
“When I’m listening to a playlist and a song I really like a song comes on, I don’t have a way
to save it to listen to it later, and most times I forget about the song.”
“I can add a song to a playlist but sometimes that playlist gets buried with other playlists that I’ve created”
Insights
Market Research
Solution Statement
next steps
Problem Statement
Let me show you my solution
integrated into the UI
Prototype
Conclusion
How might we better optimize the love function to cater to the users’ needs to save songs in a dedicated playlist for later?
How might we cut down the amount of touch points to get to that point?
Apple music users need a better way to be able to save songs. Currently, they have to go through a long process that includes too many touchpoints and can feel very unintuitive to the user. Moreover, the location of the feature is hidden and difficult to find. Users are left confused about the value of the love feature since it is not recognized in order to provide them a service that is needed.
I took to market research to be able to get some inspiration on how to best optimize the favoriting feature in different music streaming apps. I looked at Youtube Music, Soundcloud, and the fan favourite, Spotify. After looking at what was being utilized by competitors, I found that they all have an easy and very intuitive way of saving songs.
My redesign of Apple Music integrates a save a later feature so that users are able to access songs that they have saved in a dedicated playlist at a later point in time. This new feature will cut down on touch points as it would give them several opportunities to love a song where ever they are in the app, as well as saving them to a pinned playlist that can be always found at the top of their playlist section.
Having more than one option to be able to love a song.
This project gave me the opportunity to explore a stock iOS app by improving it though a redesign. The love feature is now optimized and better suits user needs. This way more users would stick to using Apple Music instead of switching to a competitor like Spotify for the same feature.
When it comes to further improving this experience, some next steps I would like to take are:
More usability testing in order to detect any user issues or opportunities to make a more intuitive interface.
Explore whether or not the feature needs more affordances.
Dedicated playlist to loved song pinned to the top of the playlists list.
Overview
Click here
for Prototype
Feature is hidden
Confusing feature
Buried playlists without being able to organize them
Users have to open up to the song to access the save for later feature
UX Case Study