Spotify: Usability and Accessibility
I couldn’t imagine living without music. For me listening to music turns a mundane task into a bearable one, it gets me through a death-inducing workout and picks me up when I’m down.
To get my daily fix, I always head to Spotify. One of the things I love about Spotify is how it helps me to discover new music every day, helping me to evolve my music taste over time. I also love how Spotify almost serves as a time machine. Over the years I’ve stored several playlists that always take me back to a certain time in my life, whether it be pre-drinks tracks or backpacking tunes.
I’ve been subscribed to Spotify for almost 10 years now, so I can definitely call myself a loyal user. There are many reasons for my loyalty, which I’ll outline below.
Spotify is incredibly easy to learn how to use thanks to its mappings, feedback, and affordances. As soon as you open the app, you are presented with the last song you were listening to at the bottom of the page. The controls are easy to use, just slide the slider to the left or right to control where you want to start listening from. The volume can also be manipulated in the same way, left for quieter and right for louder.
Spotify also does a great job at showing affordance. When you hover over a track in a list, the track is highlighted and the list number changes to a play icon, telling me that I can play the song by clicking anywhere on that listing. Another great feature is the feedback Spotify gives me, this is especially handy when I download a playlist. It tells me how much has been downloaded and even gives me an option to cancel it if it’s taking too long and I’m in a rush for example.
On days when I’m too tired to even think about what type of music I want to listen to, Spotify is there to help me out. The app homepage shows me what I was listening to before, gives me song suggestions, and even a whole playlist curated by Spotify tailored to my tastes. On weeks when I’m super busy and hardly get the chance to listen to music it’s really easy to jump back in and remember how to use it. This is mainly due to the use of icons and streamlined layout. If I need help I can always click the hovering account icon to get answers.
Although Spotify is used by thousands of people worldwide, I feel like my Spotify is totally unique. On the most part, every playlist or song suggestion they create suits my tastes perfectly. My homepage has been curated just for me, and I can even integrate my social media channels if I want to. This personalised service is what makes me stick with Spotify month after month.
