M2 Master A Better Spotify

Our unique selling point is our improved Startpage.

Customize the Startpage

Better Spotify changes that by replacing the Startpage with a widget system based on a grid layout. The widgets can be chosen by the user to give them the possibility of making the choice whether or not they want certain parts to be displayed.

Additionally, the widgets are moveable via drag-and-drop which makes it even easier for the user to customize the Homepage to their own needs and wishes. The grid adjusts while a widget is being moved and automatically shifts everything else to make space. This way, the user has a visual representation of where everything will end up once they drop the widget into its space.

Moreover, it is possible to change the widget’s size to their desire so that they can properly shift their homepages focus on whichever feature they need the most. This includes making more information visible as soon as the widget’s size increases and reducing the info displayed to make use of the fewer space left.

Finally, being able to add the favourite playlist to the homepage results in a faster use of the system. The user avoids long click iterations and gets to their desired screen a lot smoother.

*In comparison: Web Spotify’s Startpage is filled with content the user doesn’t need or doesn’t want on there, e.g. Podcasts. Instead of being greeted with the features and information, they do want, the user has to scroll a lot and doesn’t have the chance to customize it to their needs. *

Avoiding errors

To help the user on their way, we prepared the homepage with the most useful features for the wide variety of Better Spotify users and had them pre-arranged on the board. To ensure that there are no unintentional changes to the layout, the adjustment of the grid system needs to be activated via the press of the edit button. Only then will the editor appear. Otherwise, the Homepage is locked into place and usable as usual.

Another improvement of the system was adding a way to tag songs for the user. This was not possible with Spotify and was high on the priority list of our focus group which was why implementing a tag system was out of the question. After all, it is not always possible to present one’s own visions in a one-dimensional hierarchical concept, which is why cross-references are necessary.

With the tag system, a user has now the possibility to sort songs not just in one way via using the Playlist feature but also via using customizable tags. The user can create them themself and is free in naming them and choosing a distinct colour for them. This helps the user to get a visual clue when scrolling through song lists and aids in grouping songs accordingly.

Tags work as individual playlists for themselves. With a single click on the tag a list with all songs with the same tag will be displayed. This makes it a lot easier to adjust the tags on songs as well as check which songs belong to the tag and which don’t.

Besides all these improvements from Spotify, our version of Better Spotify naturally contains the necessary functions for a user to use a web player. Besides favouriting songs, putting them in playlists, viewing artists, albums, podcasts and more, there is also a discover page that helps the user find new music that should cater to their tastes.

Even those already existing functions have been reviewed and optimized to try and get a better user experience out of the application than what Spotify has to offer. While Spotify provides the music suggestions on the Startpage, which makes it overwhelming to scroll through the whole bunch of different categories, mixed with podcasts, audiobooks and music, Better Spotify offers the categories separately. That improves the interaction in the system and offers the user a faster way to achieve their desired goal and provides a better, general overview.

The last feature and focal point the team wanted to work on was improving the general design of the application without straying too far from what the user was used to. Instead of forcing them to learn an entirely new way of interacting with the system, the design was toned down into a more simplistic and cleaner version of Spotify.

With a sidebar that is minimizable to widen the main screen if wanted, headers that are much sleeker and smaller while still giving the same amount of information in a simpler way as well as a more visually distinguishable layout of album and playlist covers. Furthermore, Better Spotify provides a dark- and light mode.

All of these points were derived from the results of the focus group interview that was done in the beginning as well as multiple smaller feedback sessions with Spotify users, to ensure that a broad variety of users with different needs and desires for the app agreed to the design and reviewed it properly. In the end, more User Tests were done to solidify the design and features.

Better Spotify runs on the Spotify API and fetches data directly from the streaming platform itself. This means that Better Spotify itself is in no need to save anything other than the layout of the dashboard, the users country and the different tags created by the users themself.

To avoid any further unnecessary processing of data, everything is merely saved in the local storage of the user’s machine, making it easy for it to be reloaded whenever need be. The only way for the user to accidentally lose their data would be through a mistake on Spotify’s side or if the user manually deleted their local storage for some reason.

Better Spotify prides itself with not needing to process or retain any kind of data from the user, making it a safe space for anyone with an existing Spotify account.