A Journey to an Ultimate Driving Experience
or What is the matter with Spotify’s Car View mode? a UI/UX study
My name is Ainat Landau, I am a web and product designer and also a student of the Advanced UI/UX Digital product design course by Sagi Shrieber at Studio 6B.
We have come a long way since Wayne pulled out a Queen cassette and played Bohemian Rhapsody on tape in the 1992 film ‘Wayne’s World’.
Like many people, I still need some rock’n’roll when I drive. This is why in January 2019, Spotify launched Car view, which offers a more driver-friendly “Now Playing” interface while connected to a car’s Bluetooth.
Music streaming apps have changed the way I and others listen to music. Spotify is my favorite one. I use it most while I drive, commute or just a trip with the kids on a Saturday. No need to equip the car with CDs, MP3 devices or listen to not-my-kind-of-a-choice music on the radio. I have access to all music with this cute app at the tip of my finger.
Spotify identified the need for a car view in recent years, and after several versions, they launched its latest iteration in January 2019. According to research from Billboard in 2018, 56 percent of drivers prefer AM/FM radio over 12 percent that prefer music streaming apps. Spotify has 170 million unique users, half of those are premium customers.
The number of survey respondents who have used online streaming at least once in the car has grown over the last five years, from 26 percent to 44 percent while car use has doubled.
According to another Billboard article, Spotify states that 30 percent of its users use the app while driving. This is a part of a “context-aware” overall vision to mold into the individual user’s tastes and behaviors, across multiple devices and environments.
Intentions are good but the output … not so much
While I was driving using car view, listening to my favorite 90’s playlist.
My screen locked, as it does after 3 minutes of inactivity. I needed to unlock the phone with the touch screen to continue interacting with the app.
Not so safe so far.
The visualization of the song’s timeline is too close to the next button, causing me to accidentally tap the line instead of the next icon.
Navigation with Waze shows only the next turn, not a hint on where I was on the map. Going back to Waze with the tiniest icon, I tapped on it a couple of times to switch it back to Waze, accidentally pressing on the Spotify menu dots. After I jumping back and forth from one app to another I just stayed with Waze.
Because safety comes first and Rock’n’roll second, Waze gives you the option to fully operate Spotify and navigate at the same time.
Also, I have an option to keep my screen unlocked while I use the app.
Spotify, Get your gear together!
I have a couple of simple suggestions to improve Car View.
1. Let's take care of that lock screen
A simple option to override the screen lock when you use the app in car view.
2. General interface issues
There is no need for the option to navigate within the song. It is not something you should be thinking about in the middle of driving.
We can visualize the song’s playback progress, as a reference on the play button and the number below indicates how much time until the song ends.
3. Better navigation
Gives the user an option to see some piece of the map, some kind of a hint of the navigation status. When the user chooses to focus on the music and the navigation is casual, it enables him to stay in Spotify and not switch to Waze.
This is not the end
I touched the tip of the iceberg here, I would love to hear your comments and develop this study to the greater beyond.
