Introduction
In 2024, I worked as part of the Spotify Product Design team on a project called Messages — a new in-app feature that allows users to share and chat about music, podcasts, and audiobooks directly inside Spotify.
My role was to design an experience that felt seamless, expressive, and contextual, while staying true to Spotify’s music-first brand. This case study outlines my process from research through final delivery.
The Challenge
Spotify has always been about sharing music, but most conversations happened outside the app (WhatsApp, iMessage, Instagram). This caused friction:
Users left Spotify to talk about what they shared.
Sharing links felt impersonal.
Recommendations lacked context and conversation.
The challenge we defined was:
“How might we keep music sharing and discussion inside Spotify without making it feel like a separate chat app?”
My Role
As a Product Designer on the Messages feature, I:
Partnered with UX Research to identify pain points in current sharing behavior.
Designed user journeys for sharing and chatting inside the app.
Created low-fi flows, wireframes, and hi-fi prototypes.
Defined the visual system for conversations — typography, message bubbles, reactions, inline previews.
Worked with engineers to refine interactions like quick-reply and message notifications.
Research & Insights
I collaborated with researchers to conduct user interviews and review behavioral data:
70% of participants said they copy links or take screenshots instead of using the native Share button.
Users described sharing as “a one-way action” — they wanted a conversation attached to it.
Data showed that shared links had a high drop-off rate, meaning people weren’t engaging once they left the app.
From this, we saw an opportunity: make sharing conversational, personal, and instant — directly tied to the listening experience.
Design Goals
From the insights, I defined four design goals:
Seamless → sharing should not interrupt the listening flow.
Expressive → allow emojis, reactions, and short replies.
Contextual → every message should carry the content with it (song, playlist, podcast).
Safe → provide privacy settings and control over who can send messages.
Design Process
a. Early Exploration
I started with flow sketches exploring where messaging would live. Options included:
Inline within Now Playing
A separate “Inbox” tab
Integration into existing Notifications
We tested prototypes, and users gravitated toward a dedicated Messages tab + inline share from Now Playing.
b. Wireframes & Prototyping
I created wireframes to define:
Message list view
Conversation view with inline track previews
Quick-reply interaction
These were tested internally before moving to hi-fi.
c. Hi-Fi Design
The visual language needed to feel Spotify-native while introducing familiar messaging patterns.
Message bubbles kept minimal, using Spotify’s dark theme.
Inline previews show album art and metadata for tracks.
Emoji reactions provide lightweight expressiveness.
The Solution
The final design included:
New Messages Tab → hub for all conversations.
In-Context Sharing → send songs, playlists, podcasts directly from Now Playing.
Rich Conversations → inline previews, emoji reactions, quick replies.
Privacy Settings → “Friends only” or “Anyone can message.”
Outcome
After launch, the feature showed strong engagement:
+28% increase in in-app sharing within the first 3 months.
Drop in external link sharing, showing conversations were staying inside Spotify.
Positive feedback from users who said sharing now felt personal and frictionless.
Reflection
This project taught me the importance of designing features that extend existing user behaviors instead of forcing new ones. Users were already sharing and chatting — we just brought that experience inside Spotify in a way that felt natural, contextual, and brand-aligned.
I’m proud to have contributed to shaping a feature that makes Spotify not only a place to listen, but also a place to connect.
