Problem
Making playlists gets repetitive
Frequent listeners organize their music by genre only and turn to third-party apps, because Spotify offers few ways to personalize their playlists.
← Projects / Case study · Mobile app · Study project and redesign
More control over your playlists, inside Spotify.
- Role
- UX/UI design Comments and redesign
- Project
- 2024, team of four Redesigned in 2026
- Platform
- iOS mobile app 430 × 932 · Spotify 2026
- Tools
- Figma
Redesign screens · Swipe to explore
Solution
Four native features for your playlists
Harmony AI builds playlists from a description, tags filter songs, editing changes the look, and comments live on each song.
Outcome
44 screens in the Spotify 2026 look
I picked the team project back up and brought it into the app’s current style, applying the design critique feedback to every feature.
01 · The problem
More control, so making playlists never gets dull
We worked through a six-phase Design Sprint: Foundation, Define, Sketch, Decide, Prototype and Validate. The challenge: how might we explore new ways to build playlists so users have more control and don’t get bored?
Playlists by genre, and nothing else
Frequent listeners sort their music by genre. Inside a playlist, they have no other way to organize or find it.
Third-party apps for the basics
They use third-party tools to see stats or organize their music, because the app doesn’t offer it.
Listening is an isolated experience
There’s no place inside a song to share with friends how it feels to listen to it.
Design question
How might we make playlist creation faster for some users and richer and more complete for others?
“I want to create my own categories to sort songs the way I like.”
User story · 2024 Design Sprint“I want to comment and read comments on a song to share my thoughts with my friends.”
User story · 2024 Design Sprint“I want a clear, organized interface so I don’t get lost among icons and buttons.”
User story · 2024 Design Sprint
Source: an interview with a frequent Premium user, a benchmark of Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer, and the team’s user stories.
02 · Users
A curious listener who wants to organize their music
The Foundation interview shaped the sprint persona. The journey shows where each feature comes in.
Frequent listener
Student in Colombia · 20
“I use Spotify every day, I have Premium and I’m always looking for new music.”
Needs
Create playlists to save and categorize different tastes, discover new music and organize songs.
Mindset
Open, curious and creative about mixing genres: rock, electronic, bachata, jazz, soul, pop and country.
Product goal
Value hypothesis
“If making playlists is easier and more personal, people will use the app more and have more reasons to pay for Premium.”
Signals
More use of “Add to playlist,” without relying on third-party apps.
Metrics
More playlists created, more plays of their songs and more followers per playlist.
- 01
Discover
Explores recommendations
In the redesignHarmony builds the playlist from a description
- 02
Create
Name, description and cover
In the redesignCover, header color and a note
- 03
Organize
Searches and adjusts songs
In the redesignColor tags, folders and hidden songs
- 04
Share
Gets comments from friends
In the redesignTimestamped comments on the song
- 05
Iterate
Updates and experiments
In the redesignAdd songs by mood
03 · Starting point
Four features, four owners
Each team member designed one feature, and we joined them into a single task: create a playlist with AI, personalize it and comment on a song. In 2026 I picked up all four to bring them into Spotify’s current look.
Feature 1
Comments
My part of the project: comment, like, reply, report, edit and delete from the song.
Feature 2
Harmony AI
Juan Miguel Betancur: an assistant that builds playlists from a description.
Feature 3
Tags
Juan Camilo: color labels to sort and filter songs within a playlist.
Feature 4
Editing
Eddy: cover, header color, folders, notes and songs by mood.
Wireframes and high fidelity using Avenir Next and Spotify’s palette at the time. Each feature had its own visual language.
The same four features unified with Figtree, color variables and shared components, following the current app.
Every change in the redesign responds to a comment from the design critique or a finding from the 2024 tests.
04 · Decisions
From critique feedback to applied change
Decision 01
Harmony talks like a chat
Your messages sit on the right and Harmony’s on the left. The generated playlist menu went from many buttons to three actions (Save, Open and Regenerate) plus chips to refine it, such as “More upbeat.” It also accepts voice.
Addresses
“Your messages should be on the right” and “the menu has too many buttons”
Decision 02
Comments with context
You comment on a moment in the song (“at 1:24”), filter by Top, Recent or Friends, and can report with a reason. The sheet keeps the cover color, the most praised detail in the critique.
Addresses
“Can comments be reported?” and the idea of timestamps
Decision 03
Subtle tags, not micro-playlists
Tags went from blocks to color dots next to the artist. A song can have several, each with a color and an optional icon; Harmony suggests tags, and you can play just one.
Addresses
“Tags feel like micro-playlists”
Decision 04
Editing without losing the playlist
The header color comes from the cover, or you pick it. There are folders, a note for the playlist, and the option to hide songs without deleting them.
Addresses
“I want more ways to organize so I can find music more easily”
05 · Visual system
Designing inside a system that already exists
The challenge wasn’t inventing an identity, but making four new features feel native to Spotify. I built a system of variables, styles and components, and a logo of its own for Harmony.
Harmony logo
Equalizer bars forming an H over a green-to-blue gradient (#1ED760 → #4CB3FF). I chose the gradient so it isn’t mistaken for the Spotify logo.
Explorations
Three directions within Spotify’s language: A · Harmonic wave, B · Equalizer H and C · Sound spark.
- #121212BaseApp background
- #1F1F1FElevatedSheets and cards
- #1ED760GreenAccent and primary action
- #2A2A2AHighlightStates and active rows
- #B3B3B3Subdued textSecondary info
- #F3727FNegativeReport and delete
Typography
- Figtree
- Free stand-in for Spotify Mix · 11 styles
- Avenir Next
- Typeface of the 2024 project
Design system
A “Spotify 2026” variable collection, text styles and components. The figures count only what the 44 screens use.
- 11color variables in use
- 10base components in use
- 11text styles in use
Components
Status bar, bottom navigation, mini player, chips, song row, Harmony avatar, buttons, keyboard and toast, on top of a line icon set.
06 · Prototype and validation
Tested in 2024, redesigned with the feedback
In 2024 I tested comments with five participants in unmoderated sessions (three in person and two over video call), and the team ran five moderated interviews about Harmony. The 2026 redesign hasn’t been tested with users yet.
Screens
44
across four flows, plus a playlist that ties them together
Interactions
496
with bottom sheets, Smart Animate and automatic steps in the chat
Flows
6
free navigation, Harmony, comments, tags, editing and the central playlist
Components
10
base components on the Spotify 2026 variable collection
Comments test · 2024
Five participants aged 17 to 62, unmoderated
- T1
Like a comment.
Tested - T2
Reply to a comment.
Tested - T3
Report a comment.
Tested - T4
Post a comment of your own.
Tested
Participants are anonymous. The visual language of the comments sheet was evaluated with minimal intervention.
Key findings to act on
- Older participants struggled to find the comments button: the redesign adds a preview below the player.
- They asked to report by long-pressing a comment: options now open from the comment itself, and reporting asks for a reason.
- The critique asked for subtler tags and fewer buttons in Harmony: decisions 01 and 03.
What worked
- “I could finish the task quickly because the interface looks like other apps I already know by heart.” · Participant, comments test
- The icons are easy to understand, and the flow is quick to grasp and offers alternatives.
- “Everything is really well integrated; it looks like Spotify made it.” · Classmate, design critique
07 · Wrap-up
What I learned and what’s next
What I learned
Designing inside a system means learning to listen to it.
Proposing features for an app millions of people already know forced me to respect its patterns. My classmates’ critique was the best guide for iterating, and splitting the work by feature let us move in parallel without losing the shared task.
Next steps
- Test the 2026 redesign with five frequent listeners.
- Dedicated tests for tags and editing.
- Harmony’s limits and comment moderation.
- Friends-only and public comments on shared playlists.
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