Case Study

UX Developer/Designer

The current design of Apple Music’s user profiles and the content surrounding the feature are incredibly basic. Customers find their profile by pressing their profile picture in the top right corner, then pressing another button that takes them to their page. While I understand the continuity, the experience could be much more simplified if profile navigation and settings were separated into two different buttons.

Additionally, the profile itself could go further. Apple Music allows you to edit your profile picture, name, username, accessibility, and shared content (playlists and most recent music you have listened to). They also show who you are following and who follows you.

But, why not take advantage of the passionate nature of music lovers and lean into personalization? The friend who is always introducing their friends and followers to new music they have been obsessed with would love to select an album or artist of the month to display. The millennial who misses the nostalgia of discovering deep cuts would love to be able to add a song to their profile MySpace-style.

Apple Music is also missing the opportunity to repurpose content by not allowing people to share their annual recaps on their profile. These playlists are automated every year and users can see their own, but they are not listed alongside original playlists in the edit settings to show on your profile.

I started by building out Apple Music’s current design of the main pages I initially planned to target. After much mental-sketching and researching (getting feedback from my friends about my ideas), I landed on a design to implement the Myspace-style option to add songs to user’s profiles that both made use of the header space and previewed some information about the chosen song.

I knew the settings issue would be a quick change so I decided to get that done early. I replaced the “Edit” button with a three-lined menu bar that, when pressed, expanded into a dropdown for users to select whether they wanted to edit the categories listed on their library display or view settings. This revision (1) separates navigating to settings and navigating to profile in order to ultimately simplify the latter process and (2) gives users more insight into what they are actually editing.

Once this was finished, I shifted to the main focus of the project: redesigning the profile. I began with creating the options to add prompts for users to share their favorite artists and albums they are obsessed with. I also added the option for users to display a song lyric that resonated with them. I recreated parts of the original layout that I knew I would keep, the “Listening To” and “Playlists” sections, before moving on to brainstorm socialization features.

My initial idea was merging music and social networking into one app. Think: the ability to post statuses (similar to Facebook) on Apple Music and scroll through a feed of others’ shared content (similar to Instagram, Twitter/X, etc). Due to the time constraint of this project, I was not able to tackle the complete scope of this idea. However, I plan to go deeper and design this completely new offering in the future with my Emerging Media Capstone.

As a placeholder, I created the field that users can type in and later post. I also added icons that once pressed allows users to add songs, lyrics, photos, and voice recordings to their posts. They can also mention others using their username like one can on social media platforms.

Now that I mapped out all of these new additions, I redesigned the “Edit Profile” menu to reflect the change. I started with the original layout. Then, I added the prompts feature with a few more prompts to choose more. I moved the “Show on Profile” section above the “Shared Playlists” section so it was not hiding at the bottom and added a toggle to turn on/off the song lyric feature. Lastly, I recreated the “Shared Playlists” section, adding Apple Music’s annual recap playlists to the list.

After my design was complete, I spent some time adding more details to it and making minor improvements. Feel free to view the old and new customer experiences through my journey maps, and watch the walkthrough of my final prototype.

I am very proud of how this prototype turned out. This project merged my love of music with my love for design, and it is undoubtedly my favorite project that I have done in the Emerging Media program at the University of Georgia.

Building this redesign strengthened my understanding of Figma. I learned how to elevate a basic Figma File to a fully-functioning, interactive prototype through stitching and flows. This was the first time I took my design further, and I am leaving this project with a deeper knowledge of the possibilities of Figma.

I have a new spark of creativity that has brought me so much excitement. I cannot wait to learn more and keep expanding this idea.