Pandora
A music streaming Case Study
Issues researched:
User needs & pain points when they stream music
Product:
A new version of Pandora's music App with added features to improve function
Tasks:
UX Research:
• Competitive Analysis, • User Interviews, • Affinity Mapping, • User Persona, • HMW's • Usability Testing
UX Design & Writing:
• Hi-Fi wireframes, • Prototype, • Original copy tailored to users
The Issue:
Improving Pandora's Interface
Pandora is a subscription-based, music streaming service. It recommends songs to users based on musical traits & composition. I took a critical look at the service to reflect on what's working and what feature upgrades might improve the user experience.​
The Research:
Understanding Pandora's Users
Competitive Analysis
First, I took stock of the overall music streaming industry to get a sense of the features users currently enjoy.
• Unlimited music:
Pandora
(1% market share)
Spotify
(31% market share)
Apple Music
(14% market share)
YouTube
(15% market share)
Features:
• +Unlimited podcasts
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• +Unlimited audiobooks
• Like & dislike buttons
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• Basic lyrics
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• Sing-along lyrics
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• Fast-forward/rewind/skip
* Searchable/saveable music
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• Option to create playlists
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• Music recs from the App
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• Music recs from other users
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User Interviews:
To get some insight into what changes or additional features users might want, I located 5 avid music streamers & chatted with them. *This is not a clinically significant sample size; the data is anecdotal.
My Key Insights:
Users are highly mobile: Increasingly, users listen to the majority of music on their phones, with bluetooth or speaker, while doing other activities. They want easy access to their music from anywhere, without having to pay too much attention to their phones.
Users still prefer a personal touch in music suggestions: Users rely on suggestions from Spotify & Pandora, but many supplement with music they find uploaded on YouTube channels they subscribe to. The channels are created by 'Youtubers', people whose taste they trust & follow.
Users want to discover music that's not too similar to what they already listen to: A number of users complained that Spotify's 'suggested' playlists were repetitive or too similar to genres or artists they already listened to, & Pandora's were often limited to just a few artists. Not addressed
Users want to have control over the music they listen to: They like to pause, speed up music, follow lyrics, & easily view their library, particular artists, or songs while the music is playing.
Affinity Map:
How did I gather these insights?
These post-it notes show the feedback I got clustered as insights into what users want in a music streaming App.
User Persona:
Meet Sara, a typical user
Creating a persona with typical traits helped bring into focus the user I'm designing for. *It's useful because Pandora users tend to fit a certain demographic.
About
Sarah is a graphic designer who lives on the Lower East Side. She identifies as creative & eccentric, & she occasionally dies her hair pink or blue. Music is a big part of her life; she streams regularly & loves to share music with friends. She's constantly looking to expand her repertoire of funk, techno, & alternative rock.
Needs
• To have quick, easy access to the music she loves in mobile-friendly form;
• To discover new artists regularly that she finds interesting
Frustrations
• Music ruts, difficulty finding new music that inspires her
• Aggressive ads that distract or annoy her
Vibe
• Extroverted, passionate, quirky
The Designs:
Brainstorming Ideas
HMW's:
How might Pandora better serve Sarah?
Asking how to help a user like Sarah generated ideas for improvements to Pandora's interface & features.
1. HMW give users greater influence over what music they hear & how they play it?
2. HMW suggest music to users in a way that feels more personalized, or reflects the taste of someone they can relate to?
3. HMW suggest music to users in ways that catch their attention & spark their interest in the content?
New Features:
Here are some ideas...
1. Thumbs up, thumbs down...
My users generally wanted to have more influence over the music Pandora suggested to them. The App currently offers a thumbs up/down option to let them rate music they hear on Pandora Radio. This feature is very popular.
The feature could be offered for all streaming songs to give users a louder voice in expressing their music tastes.
Pandora's play screen:
A user can collect a song he plays from an album, but not rate it.
New play screen:
The thumbs up highlights when selected
The thumbs up/down lets a user rate any song he plays.
2. For lyrics: make it a sing-along.
My users told me that they actively stream music: sometimes they sing along or they just follow songs closely. Pandora provides lyrics, but they're hard to spot & not all users I spoke to even knew they're available. ​
Pandora's play & lyrics screens:
On the play screen, the lyrics aren't visible.
The lyrics don't pop up until the users scrolls down.
Clicking on 'More Lyrics' connects to a lyrics screen
This suggested layout makes lyrics easier to spot. They also scroll so that users can sing along while listening to the song.
Revised play & lyrics screens:
The user sees 'View lyrics' on the play screen.
The lyrics screen scrolls so he can follow along.
3. Let users follow other users & play their playlists.
Pandora can predict users' music taste with real success. But no technology can substitute the need for human interaction when it comes to music. The users I spoke to all sought music guidance from influencers they could relate to on YouTube.
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This suggested feature lets users find & play playlists made by other users who show personality & taste.
New public playlist screens
On the Discover tab, a user can select a playlist by popular curators.
The user can play songs on the playlist or see other playlists by that curator.
The user can view that curator's profile. S/he can 'collect' & follow him.
Note: Copy for the browse tab was changed from 'For You' to "Discover' for clarity.
The Designs:
Testing & Refining
Usability Testing
To test these proposed features, I asked a few people to sample a prototype & offer feedback. *This tests whether users would find the features intuitive, not whether they would want or use them.
General Feedback:
Most users I spoke to found Pandora's simple interface to be a bit spartan. I got comments about too much white space, for example.
Specific Feedback 1: Make the Lyrics more accessible. Accepted√
Users complained that the 'i' button that I had designed for 'lyrics' was unclear & easy to miss. I agreed that it could be more visible.
My original play screen:
The user hits the 'i' button in the top right to find lyrics.
My revised play screen:
The user sees 'View lyrics' underlined & in bold.
Specific Feedback 2: Get rid of extra space. RejectedX
Users complained that the play screen had too much white space. Spotify shows lyrics on its play screen but that has a scroll feature to accommodate them. Without it, the lyrics seem cramped.
My original play screen (unchanged):
This play screen has only a View lyrics button.
Pandora's Play screen (for reference):
The lyrics are on the play screen, but the screen scrolls down.
I did expand the lyrics on the lyrics screen...
My original lyrics screen:
The lyrics are partially shown with an expand option.
My revised lyrics screen:
The full lyrics are shown & scroll down.
The prototype brings the changes to life:
