Heuristic Evaluation of Spotify
I listened to 75,664 minutes of music on Spotify last year.
Recently, I learned about heuristic evaluations and how they can be used to evaluate information that is not easily quantifiable. I turned to one of my most used apps, Spotify, to gain some experience performing heuristic evaluations.
I used Jakob Nielsen’s article 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design to base my research, and I suggest you check it out before continuing on because it will provide some context for my thought process.
Spotify and its features
Spotify is my music and podcast streaming service of choice and has been for years. The platform gives users access to millions of songs and allows them to listen across multiple devices. I primarily connect to Spotify using the app on my phone, but I also use it on my TV, computer, and iPad.
For the purposes of this evaluation, I have chosen to focus on the following four main features;
- Favoriting: How does it work to favorite songs? Artists? Genres?
- Sorting: Can I customize the organization of my music? How do playlists form?
- Sharing: How can I send the newest hit to my friends? Is there any social aspect to the app itself?
- Following: Can I follow artists? My friends?
Favoriting
I’ve been a devoted Spotify user for going on eight years now. My playlists are extensive, the longest containing 77 hours and 48 minutes worth of music. The favoriting process on Spotify is fairly simple and can be done in a few ways;
- clicking the three dots next to the song title and then choosing to “like” or “add to playlist”
- a short cut for liking a song is to slide the song title to the left
Overall, the system for favoriting (or liking) a song is very simple
Sorting
Spotify automatically adds songs to playlists in descending order, from the first song ever added to the most recent at the bottom. I found that I often want my most recently added songs, so I chose to organize my playlists from most recent at the top to oldest at the bottom. There are a few options for sorting, which can be seen in the left image below. The right image shows that I most recently added What I Wouldn’t Do by Jordan Davis.
Spotify gives users a lot of opportunities for customization with their sorting features, and it is clearly found at the top of each playlist. I think that this is a very successful feature.
Sharing
Overall, the system for sharing individual songs is easy, and the share button directly on the currently playing page makes it even simpler. Listeners can use the share button to send their song to multiple platforms, or copy the link. I would like to see a similar share button displayed more clearly on playlist overviews.
Following
I utilize the following feature to keep up with my favorite artists as well as a few of my friends. On Spotify, I am following Zach Bryan and I am not following Cody Johnson. This seems to be a clear system because the information is displayed near the top of the artists' page and within a button shape which indicates that it can be clicked to change its state.
Heuristic Evaluation — Ten Criteria
After learning about Jakob Nielsen’s Ten Usability Heuristics, I evaluated Spotify’s mobile app. Below are my findings for each of the ten categories, with a rating on a scale of 1–5, with 5 being the most successful.
1)Visibility of system status 4/5
Spotify is pretty good about letting the user know where they’re at within the app. You can see which main area of the app you’re in by looking at the lower menu. Users will always be within one of three main pages; home, search, or your library. Users can also easily tell how they have filtered a page based on the highlighted green word at the top of the screen.
The app also lets users know when their efforts were successful with a pop-up that says “Added to Liked Songs” or “Added to Queue.” I deducted a point here because the popups are toward the bottom of the screen and could easily be missed.
2) Match between the system and the real world 5/5
I gave Spotify a 5/5 in this category because all of the language used within the app is simple. There are no words thrown in that would require a dictionary, and the language used is straightforward. I think Spotify has done a great job in this category.
3) User control and freedom 5/5
Spotify has done a good job of giving users control and freedom within the app. It is easy to save a song, and it is just as easy to remove the song. Users can swipe an existing liked song to the left, which reveals a red heart and will un-like the track.
4) Consistency and standards 5/5
Spotify seems to keep up with industry standards and remains consistent across the board in terms of language. One example of a great industry standard is that frequently listened to or recently listened to playlists are found immediately upon launching the app. Users have the quickest access to their most listened-to music.
5) Error prevention 4/5
The app also asks users for confirmation before completing certain actions like deleting playlists. These actions would be disappointing if completed accidentally, so the popup requires users to answer the question “are you sure?” and offers the opportunity to cancel.
The reason I took off a point is that it is easy to accidentally like songs. As you’re using the app, it is easy to swipe slightly left and like a random song without true intent. I only took one point for this because it is simple to undo.
6) Recognition rather than recall 4/5
There are very few places within the app where a user would not be able to tell where they are or what they are doing. The app clearly displays what song is currently playing and lists what is set to play next. This allows listeners to clearly recognize what song they’re listening to and see whats coming next rather than trying to remember what they’ve added to the queue.
7) Flexibility and efficiency of use 3.5/5
Spotify makes it extremely easy for listeners to do two common actions; like songs and add songs to the queue. Rather than selecting the three dots, users can swipe the song to the left or right to like and queue songs.
I regularly utilize both of these shortcuts and find them to be one of my favorite features within the app. I decided to deduct points because there are instances where I’d like to see shortcuts that don’t exist. For example, adding multiple songs to a different playlist at one time.
8) Aesthetic and minimalist design 5/5
I think Spotify’s interface does a great job of balancing functionality and aesthetics. The app is visually appealing but does not include any unnecessary information. The designers have also done a good job of using color to draw attention to important information. For example, the green circle with the downward pointing arrow indicates that the song has been downloaded. The green hearts identify when a song has been liked.
9) Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors 3/5
To test this category, I turned my phone’s wifi and cellular service off. I found that Spotify displays only downloaded content because it can still be listened to without an internet connection.
I took off two points because the “Spotify is offline” message is very small and at the complete bottom of the page. This is not easily seen and could be confusing or unreadable for some users.
10) Help and documentation 2/5
I was unable to readily locate a clear help button or FAQ page within the app. I have never needed to use this feature, so I was looking for it as a new user would. I think that they need to offer a more clear help solution within the mobile app.
Spotify passes my heuristic evaluation
Overall, I think Spotify is doing a great job. Almost every category of heuristic evaluation received a high score and the areas where I deducted points could be easily addressed. It is clear why Spotify is one of the most used music streaming services.
