Spotify — Andy Yu

OVERVIEW

README
This is a double case study

In September of 2018, I had done a case study in which I implemented a sleep timer to the Spotify app. Fast forward to May and December of 2019, the function was implemented for Android and iOS users, respectively. However, because of the poor design architecture of the feature, no one knows that it even exists. This case study is a revision of my feature implementation concept, and now is a case study regarding the redesign of the existing timer on the app. This case study is a combination of the two.

PROBLEM
There's a huge demand.

Music is played in tandem with everyday activities: studying, exercising, cooking, and even sleeping- it's an integral component in our lives. Many of us are so caught up with our activities that we don't even realize that our Spotify playist has been playing on loop for the past few hours! Most people who fall asleep to music either deal with their phones running overnight, or resort to third-party sleep timer apps to turn off their music while asleep.

The constant music stream drains battery life and reduces the overall lifespan of your device. This particularly happens with users who sleep with music in the background. Although Spotify has a sleep timer feature, no one knows where it is.

SOLUTION
Introducing the improved sleep timer feature.

I designed and improved the existing Sleep Timer feature so people don't have to wake up with a drained device.

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

RESEARCH
Millions of downloads for third-party sleep timer apps.

Screen Shot 2020-01-15 at 1.20.30 PM.png

There are 250 apps on the Google Play store when you search for sleep timer. These apps use a variety of methods that halts activity such as putting your device to sleep, or force quitting a specific app (Spotify or Netflix, for example). Moreover, the number of downloads for these apps range from the hundreds to millions. There's a huge demand for them, especially for big entertainment streaming apps.

RESEARCH
The existing feature is hidden.

The problem with this design is that the sleep timer feature should be a primary feature. However, it's tucked into the app as a secondary feature, as displayed in the graphic below.

As a result, every person I interviewed stated that they didn't realize Spotify had a such a feature in its app.

DESIGN

I determined which icon was the most effective at conveying its purpose as it will be incorporated into the main playing screen of the UI.

The prototypes of the sleep timer feature. Notice on the main playing screen that the sleep timer is now displayed as a primary feature, highlighted in the red box.

Prototypes A & B were taken from the original design, but translated to two different ways in going about using the feature. In this case, predefined times were given to the user (times were optimized based on research).

A is a screen overlay/lightbox list embedded in the main playing screen.
B takes you to a separate page to choose from your options.

Prototypes C & D were taken from the feature where you connect your music to an external device. This took you to a separate page to that individual feature. In this case, you could manually input your desired listening time.

C gives you the option to input time in the format of ‘hours’ and ‘minutes’.
D gives you the option to input time in the format of only ‘minutes’.

Users narrowed their preferences down to A & D, and ultimately gave the gold to Prototype D. Although A is more in-line with the existing timer feature, users liked how they had the autonomy of setting their own time. They also appreciated how they could check how much time they have left. This is not possible in the current feature on Spotify. This design also followed the design format of the primary features.

Extensive research and prototyping went into minimizing the complexity while maximizing the effectiveness of this feature. Every user said they would use this feature in a heartbeat if implemented.

REFLECTION

This was such a rewarding case study to work with because this was a continuation of my previous case study. To see this feature being implemented in the app after having conceptualized it beforehand was amazing, and seeing how I would improve upon it myself was a fun project to work on. It's ironic because despite knowing that Spotfiy's sleep timer function does exist in the app (now), I still use a third-party app to turn off my music every night, just because of how poorly implemented it is (poor placement/architecture hierarchy). It just goes to show that a even a minor inconvenience is enough to deter a user from using a desired feature. I'd totally use my design every night though! 😂

Much love,
Andy