Click a name to see that persona.
David Maylees
- Hide the features he's not using
- Keep his commute simple and low-stress
- Overwhelmed being forced to see everything at once
- Switches between music and audiobooks, not both
"I need an app that shows me the content I actually use, and is simple, easy, and personalized for me."
Craig Simmers
- Use Spotify in light mode
- A consistent experience across all his apps
- Dark-mode default strains his aging eyes
- Abrupt contrast vs. his other light-mode apps
"Why is this the one app that won't just match everything else I use?"
Audrey Smiths
- Feature only the music she actually enjoys
- Recommendations that match her taste
- Never listens to podcasts or audiobooks
- Forced to see them on her home screen anyway
"That's all I use the app for, so why am I forced to look at the rest?"
A home screen that feels like yours.
Every control sits on the screen you are already looking at, and the panel only opens when you want to change what is on it.
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Closed
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Open
- 01Hide a shelf from the shelf itself. One minus on the section header. No panel, no settings, no menu.
- 02Everything reachable from the header. Notifications, history, settings and add, all one tap from home.
- 03Three destinations, not five. Home, Search, Your Library. The tabs that existed to promote content are gone.
- 04Saved: bring anything back. Every shelf is listed here. Wrapped is switched off, so it is simply not on the page.
- 05Light mode as a preference. One switch, on the screen you are already looking at.
Drag to swap the panel for the in-place control
Hiding a section used to mean leaving it.
Round 1 kept the controls in a panel. Testers reached for the section itself first, so the control moved to where they were already looking.
- 01Before: open the panel, find the row. Sections were switched off from a separate Saved list, so hiding something meant leaving the thing you wanted to hide.
- 02After: minus, then Hide. The control sits on the section. Press the minus, press Hide, and it is gone without the screen changing.
- 03Why it changed. Testers preferred the minus because it took fewer steps than the panel route.
- 04What stayed. The Saved list still exists for bringing a hidden section back, the one job it was genuinely good at.
Drag to swap the icon on the same screen
The icon was telling people the wrong thing.
Round 2 put a menu icon on every section header. Testers read it as something to grab and drag, not something that removes, so the icon changed to match what it actually does.
- 01Before: a menu icon doing two jobs. The same three lines were meant to open removal options, but the shape reads as a grab handle.
- 02After: a minus, because it removes. One icon, one meaning, no interpretation needed.
- 03Straight from testing. Testers said they preferred the menu icon for dragging and the minus for removing, which is exactly the split the final uses.
- 04The lesson. An icon is a promise about what happens next. This one was promising the wrong thing.
Drag to switch the theme
One layout, two moods.
Light mode is a preference. Both themes run on the same structure, so nothing moves when you switch. Only the surface changes.
- 01Nothing moves. Same grid, same spacing, same order. Switching themes should feel like turning on a lamp.
- 02Contrast rebuilt, not inverted. Every grey was re-picked against a pale ground so text keeps the same weight it had on near-black.
- 03The album art is the constant. Covers carry the color in both themes, which is why the interface around them can stay this quiet.