The discovery and development of a Spotify-based chrome extension
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Overview
Project Duration: 2 Weeks.
Team: Solo Project.
Role: Product Developer, UI/UX Designer.
Tools/Techniques: Figma, User Research, Competitive Analysis, A/B Testing.
Inspiration
Founded in 2006, Spotify is now the world’s leading music streaming service with over 570 million active users. Spotify has expanded upon its influence of audio listening by incorporating podcasts and audiobooks in 2019 and 2023, respectively. With a seemingly increased effort to enhance users’ learning and day-to-day life by developing new features, what could be Spotify’s next launch? With their large influence to increase engagement between people and their activities through music, the idea of Productify was born: a Spotify-productivity Chrome extension that allows users to do tasks in timed flows while listening to music.
Guideline
Inspired by Spotify’s Design guides, “Collaboration Secrets: Design X Engineering,” and “Navigating the Discovery Phase” Productify was developed in the following 5 stages:
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User Research
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Competitive Analysis
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Lo-fi Wireframe & Ideation
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A/B Testing
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Hi-fi Wireframe
"The Scale:" A 5-step process in developing a product.
1. User Research
Demographic
A user survey of 15 random participants was conducted to gather information on Spotify and work habits. The majority of participants are young adults and students who use a timer and listen to music when performing tasks.
Work Habits
Participants have varying levels work/break times when doing tasks. Although the majority of participants have heard of the popular Pomodoro technique (80%), there are polarizing opinions on the length of the work and break times. Participants also claimed that while music is effective in helping them focus on their task, they sometimes get lost in the lyrics or sidetracked by making playlists.
How has your experience been with listening to music as you do your tasks – what works and what doesn't?
How would you rate Pomodoro as a productivity technique?
I love music too much sometimes i procrastinate by making playlists for studying.
It helps me focus on my tasks and keeps me from getting bored. Songs with lyrics get distracting sometimes.
The genre and type of songs depends, slower songs help me focus a lot better.
When I'm doing smaller tasks that don't require as much concentration it's nice and fun.
I like it because it allows me to be intentional of the work I am doing in that 25 minute period which boosts my efficiency.
I like how it helps me break down my tasks in shorter bits, but it doesn't work as well with more complex tasks becuase I can't get into a flow.
Main Themes: Helps to stay on task, can be distracting
Although 1/3rd of participants feel motivated or happy after completing a work session, the majority feel indifferent or tired.
Main Themes: Too short, useful for lighter tasks
Opinions on Spotify
Many participants believe that Spotify's personalized recommendations are its strongest feature, although it could provide users with more listening metrics
My favourite feature of Spotify is...
Personalized playlists like repeat rewind
Spotify wrapped!
Enhanced playlists are really cool
Creating and finding new playlists
Sorting by genre/mood in Liked Songs
Seeing friend's activity
What do you wish Spotify had more of?
More Spotify wrapped
A feature that creates playlists for me
I wish it provided more stats on my listening
Wrapped but more frequent
More stuff like wrapped
More stats
A user persona was developed with the collected data. The following are key takeaways from the research:
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Provide users with easy access to a music-based productivity platform
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Explore the idea of listening metrics as a gamified element to studying
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Minimize distractions music causes through study-oriented playlist recommendations
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Suggest to users various work flow times aside from Pomodoro
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Allow users to track their work sessions to increase feelings of productivity
2. Competitor Analysis
To gain insights of other chrome extension productivity platforms and third party platforms that provide song recommendations and listening metrics, Momentum and Last.fm was analyzed. This project developed would be an intersection of these two platforms, so diving into what these platforms do well and could improve upon will serve as a foundational basis.
3. Lo-fi Wireframe & Ideation
Study Features:
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Allow users to set work and break time intervals
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Provide a short guide on other work flows aside from Pomodoro – 52-17, and ultradian rhythms
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A to-do list users can add and check off tasks as they do work
Music Features:
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A song recommendation when a new tab is opened
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Personalized playlists to select from before studying
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Option for users to use their own playlist
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Easy control over music when studying – pause/play & skip controls
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Provide insights after each work session is ended – minutes studied, songs streamed, top genres and moods (valence, instrumentality, danceability, energy, acousticness, speechiness)
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Provide metrics into user's listening in the past 4 weeks, 6 months, and all-time: top tracks, albums, and artists
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A calendar that tracks work sessions, displaying the most listened-to artist that session
User Interface:
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Minimal and easy to navigate
4. A/B Testing
As the high-fidelity wireframe was being developed, two variants of the study page were made, and a simple A/B test was conducted to see where the recommended playlist should be placed. The metric for this test was the time it takes to switch the theme, enter the window to set work/break times, click into the playlist "5am Waltz," and then start a study session. The variant that takes less time to click through would suggest a cleaner and more organized UI, which is a primary consideration for this product given that it is a productivity chrome extention.
Test A
Test B
Each variant was tested with two participants, with Test A having an average time of 10.15 seconds and Test B having an average runtime of 11.28 seconds. Additionally, when asked about the user interface and navigability, participants of Test A provided much more positive comments – the study and music features are separated, the interface is simple, with the to-do list being the most noticeable feature.