SpotChat

SEAMLESSLY SHARE SONGS & CHAT WITH FRIENDS





SpotChat - A Spotify Feature
Wireframing, Visual Systems & UX Exploration

Solo project for Interaction Design 
Figma
Jan 2023 - Mar 2023




PROBLEM
Spotify’s in-app music sharing features are limited, especially for Gen Z users who expect fast, fluid, and socially embedded digital experiences. Users currently have to leave the app to share music, creating friction and missed connection moments.


USER RESEARCH + INSIGHTS

  • Users rely on external messaging apps. Peer interviews and surveys revealed most sharing happens on iMessage, Instagram, or Snapchat, breaking the flow of music discovery inside Spotify.

  • Seamless, in-app sharing is preferred. Embedding a conversational feature directly within Spotify would reduce friction and keep the experience self-contained.

  • Lightweight, non-disruptive design is critical. A chat-style overlay allowed for real-time sharing without interrupting playback.

  • Familiar patterns reduce learning curve. Using interface conventions users already know (DM-style gestures, hierarchy, and visual language) aligned with mental models and encouraged adoption.

  • Reducing platform-switching improves engagement. Every design decision, from button placement to overlay flow, was guided by the goal of minimizing context-switching and making sharing feel effortless.





PERSONA DEVELOPMENT

I created a user persona to represent my core audience: a Gen Z student who sees music as a form of emotional communication. This helped me anchor my feature around their social habits, device usage, and desire for immediacy and authenticity.


IDEATION + CONCEPTING

I sketched six different feature concepts ranging from collaborative playlists to music-based messaging. The strongest direction was a "Direct Message"-style feature that allowed users to share songs with personalized notes in-app. Research showed users already use DMs for sharing songs outside Spotify (e.g. Instagram, iMessage). It mirrored a familiar pattern that felt natural, while keeping users inside the app.

    STORYBOARDING
    I translated this concept into a storyboard to visualize the full user journey — from finding a song to sending a friend a message — which clarified interaction flows and guided our UX priorities. Sharing had to be fast and non-disruptive. Users wanted one-tap sharing, lightweight interaction, and no clutter in their listening journey. The clear UX priority was to minimize friction.






    PAPER WIREFRAMES & USABILITY TESTING

    I created early-stage paper wireframes and conducted quick user tests to evaluate usability and clarity. In parallel, I ran a heuristic evaluation using Nielsen’s principles, identifying issues related to visual hierarchy, consistency, and minimalism.

    These methods helped me spot moments of confusion in the interaction flow—particularly around navigation and feedback cues. As a result, I refined the user flow to reduce visual clutter, clarify call-to-action buttons, and ensure consistency across screens before moving into digital prototyping.






    LOFI WIREFRAMES

    I translated the refined user flow into low-fidelity wireframes to establish layout, hierarchy, and core interactions. This stage emphasized clarity and navigation, ensuring that users could share music quickly and intuitively without added friction.

    Research insights shaped the design: Gen Z users wanted speed, personalization, and familiarity. Pain points included clunky multi-step sharing and the lack of contextual notes. These informed decisions around button placement for one-tap sharing, streamlined screen progression, and chat-like gestures that matched users’ existing communication habits.









    HIFI WIREFRAMES

    I brought the feature to life through a high-fidelity prototype that emphasized clean visual hierarchy, Gen Z–aligned aesthetics, and seamless social interaction patterns. Built in Figma, the prototype closely reflected the final product, incorporating microinteractions and messaging cues designed to make music sharing feel more intuitive, personal, and in-app.

    Every visual and interaction decision—color, typography, icon placement—was made to reduce cognitive load and enhance emotional connection between users. The final prototype enabled users to send songs directly, add context through a quick message, and receive friend recommendations without leaving the Spotify ecosystem.


    BRIGHT POINTS + PAIN POINTS






    CHALLENGES

    A core challenge was designing a new feature that felt seamless within Spotify’s mature ecosystem. Users were already comfortable with the app’s flow, so any addition risked feeling disruptive or redundant. The task was to balance innovation with familiarity: introducing new social functionality while respecting the established design system.

    Another challenge was ensuring the social layer genuinely added value. Users told us they disliked clunky, multi-step sharing and felt that existing tools like Jam Sessions cluttered their experience without deepening connection. I needed to design a solution that enhanced relationships around music while avoiding visual or functional noise.

    SOLUTIONS

    To maintain consistency, I anchored SpotChat within Spotify’s existing design system by borrowing components like cards, buttons, and typography, while extending them to support a direct messaging flow.

    Key UX decisions were guided by Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics and my research findings:
    • Clarity & Efficiency → Simplified sharing to a single tap to address frustration with multi-step flows.
    • Context & Personalization → Introduced the ability to add notes when sending a song, solving the lack of context users highlighted.
    • Familiarity & Gestures → Used chat-like gestures (swiping, tapping) that matched Gen Z’s communication habits, making the feature feel intuitive.

    The final SpotChat design integrates lightweight messaging directly into Spotify, enabling seamless in-app sharing and meaningful connection without compromising the simplicity of the core music experience.




    FINAL WIREFRAMES






    REFLECTIONS

    This project strengthened my ability to design within the constraints of an existing design system. By reverse-engineering Spotify’s UI patterns and building Figma components, I developed a systematic approach to consistency, hierarchy, and interaction logic. Through user feedback and heuristic evaluations, I became more sensitive to usability issues like clutter, unclear entry points, and feature discoverability. If I were to continue, I’d explore deeper integration of SpotChat into the overall app flow and refine the process for finding and messaging friends. Overall, this project sharpened my eye for visual detail, deepened my knowledge of design systems, and helped me think critically about introducing new functionality into a well-established product.



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