Swipe

Challenge

Finding new songs is HARD

Music enthusiasts often face frustration when attempting to discover new music through existing streaming platforms. While services like Spotify offer vast libraries and playlists, their recommendation systems frequently fall short, often prioritizing tracks already added to playlists or suggesting irrelevant songs that fail to match the user’s preferences. This repetitive and disjointed experience disrupts the flow of music discovery, particularly for users who seek out more niche, under-explored tracks. [source]

Additionally, users are burdened with navigating these extensive libraries to find new tunes that truly resonate with their taste. The challenge extends beyond just discovery; sharing these finds with friends or connecting with like-minded listeners can feel disconnected and cumbersome, leaving music enthusiasts with a fragmented experience both in discovering and sharing music.

Solution

Introducing Swipe: Find and Share Music Fast

Problem Space

How might we improve the way users discover and share music by overcoming inefficiencies?

Primary Research

Conducted surveys with the young audience

I took a step back and asked: how do people actually discover new music? Through my 200 surveys, forum engagement, interviews with music enthusiasts, and a comprehensive literature review, we uncovered the following insights:

Tiktok fuels music discovery
TikTok users are more inclined to both discover and share new music compared to the average user of social or short-form video (SFV) platforms. In our survey, 21.3% of respondents specifically mentioned TikTok as their go-to platform for music discovery, highlighting its growing influence in shaping how listeners find and engage with new tracks.

Listeners trust their own curation over generated playlists
Our data reveals that 80% of respondents prefer listening to music from their self-made playlists rather than relying on artist albums or playlists curated by others. Interviewees noted that algorithmically generated playlists often feel disconnected from their personal taste, as the system struggles to accurately capture their preferences.

No reliable way to save interesting music discoveries
Many users mentioned struggling to save music they’ve discovered, often losing track of songs after their initial encounter. Some even reported having to search extensively to find the same music again, while others simply lost the discovery altogether.

The disconnect between how users find new music and how they share it with others often leads to frustration, as discovery and sharing are treated as separate actions on many platforms. While users may enjoy discovering new music through algorithms or personal exploration, sharing that music with others tends to be a fragmented experience

Targeted audience

Persona: The Trend-Focused Explorer

Mia is a social media enthusiast who spends much of her free time on TikTok and Instagram Reels, where she discovers the latest trends, including popular music. She often comes across catchy songs featured in the videos she watches but struggles to identify and save those tracks. Despite using streaming platforms like Spotify, she feels frustrated that she can’t easily find or recall the music she’s heard in viral videos. 

Pain Points

• Frequently comes across catchy music in TikTok and Instagram Reels but doesn’t know how to find or save the songs.

• Struggles with the current methods of discovering the names of songs featured in social media content.

• Finds it frustrating to lose track of music she likes but can't identify.

• Feels disconnected from the music she enjoys in social media since she can't easily access it on her phone.

Behaviors

• Spends hours daily watching short-form content on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

• Loves discovering new songs through social media but finds it frustrating that these platforms don’t offer a straightforward way to save them.

• Enjoys sharing trendy music with her friends but struggles to identify the song titles or artists.

• Actively looks for ways to keep her playlists updated with new and popular music, but often feels behind when she can't find the right tracks.

Goals

• Keep track of the music she encounters on TikTok and Instagram.

• Identify trendy songs that pop up in content and be able to save them quickly.

• Stay updated on the latest viral music trends without missing out on popular tracks.

• Explore new music that resonates with her style but isn't always labeled clearly in the videos she watches.

Needs

• A better way to identify and save music from TikTok and Instagram.

• A more efficient method to track down and recall viral songs that resonate with her.

• To stay connected with trending music that reflects her tastes and the content she watches regularly.

Deck Research

What is the swipe left/right mentality?

The swipe left/right mentality represents a fast, intuitive decision-making process: swipe right to express interest, swipe left to dismiss. But why is the right side commonly associated with positive choices?

• Research by Daniel Casasanto and Evangelia G. Chrysikou suggests that individuals often link their dominant side with positive traits such as honesty and goodness.

• According to Scientific American, 70-95% of the population is right-handed, reinforcing a general tendency to favor the right side.

• Science Direct notes that our brain's right hemisphere controls global attention, while the left hemisphere focuses on details, potentially explaining why we pay more attention to things on our right.

Design Iterative

Assets

Song preview player
The Song Preview Player presents users with the most popular section of the song as soon as they swipe to it. These indicators guide users to the parts of the song that are most likely to resonate with them, based on overall listening trends.

Main interaction buttons
Like button: This button lets users like a song, either by swiping right or tapping the heart icon. When a song is liked, it helps the algorithm understand the user's preferences and recommends similar tracks.
Dislike button: This button is used to dismiss a song, either by swiping left or selecting the "X" button. It helps the algorithm learn what the user doesn't prefer, refining future recommendations.
Add to playlist button: This button allows users to directly add a song to their playlist, signaling to the algorithm to recommend more songs in line with the current selection.

Song swipe right motion
The card’s sliding motion visually indicates that the song has been "liked" and stored.

Design Exploration

Value Proposition

• For Trend-focused explorer: Instant and effortless access to viral and trendy music from Spotify, helping them quickly identify, save, and share the latest tracks from the content they watch.

• For Newcomers to music trends: Swipe simplifies the process of discovering trending music by automatically playing the most popular sections of songs, making it easy for users to stay updated on what's popular and save it for later.

• For Swipe: Swipe collects data from users’ swiping habits and music interactions, which helps improve its AI recommendations and further enhances its ability to provide tailored, trend-based music suggestions, building a stronger connection with trend-followers

User Testing

Spotify Shifts

• Many users felt limited by Swipe’s initial integration with only Spotify.

• Testers expressed a strong desire for compatibility with other streaming platforms, especially Apple Music.

• Users enjoyed the swiping interactions but wanted more flexibility in connecting with multiple music services.

• Feedback highlighted the importance of a seamless experience regardless of the user’s primary music platform.

Based on these insights, I redesigned Swipe as a standalone app that allows users to connect either their Spotify or Apple Music accounts, depending on their preference. This approach addressed user concerns about platform limitations and broadened Swipe’s appeal, creating a more inclusive music discovery experience. By integrating with both services, Swipe can now cater to a wider audience, making it the go-to destination for music enthusiasts across platforms.