Tidal Podcasts

Reimagining the podcast listening experience on Tidal

Adding a feature

Timeline: April 2023 - May 2023

Client: Tidal (theoretical)

Skills: UX Research, UX Design, Prototyping, and User Testing.

My Role: Product Designer

Background:

Tidal, a renowned music streaming platform, is missing out on a large share of potential success by not incorporating a podcast feature into its service. With podcasts becoming mainstream entertainment, this project aims to enhance user engagement and expand Tidal’s content offerings beyond music. This case study focuses on the theoretical development and implementation of a podcast feature for Tidal, addressing the market demands and user expectations in the ever-evolving digital audio landscape.

The Problem

Tidal users who value high-fidelity audio quality want to be able to access their podcasts and music in one place.

The Solution

Integrate a sleek and easy-to-use podcast feature into the Tidal app that matches the visual and functional themes users expect from their Tidal experience.

Understanding the user

Competitive Analysis:

I began by researching popular podcast services, two standalone services (Google podcasts & Apple podcasts) and the most popular music/podcast streaming app (Spotify).

Google Podcasts

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Key Findings:

  • All three had a very similar layout and functionality, pointing to well-established design patterns in podcast players, including core functions that I list below.

  • A combined music and podcast app like Spotify can quickly become overwhelming without a clear hierarchy and navigation.


    Core functions

    • 15-30 second forward and back skip button

    • Downloadable episodes

    • An episode feed that can be sorted chronologically, alphabetically, or by episode length.

    • Indications if an episode has already been finished

    • “Share” function

    • Search

User interviews

I also conducted user interviews in order to understand what users expect to see in a podcast player, and what they like about their current service.

Interview Goals:

  • Determine what services people use to listen to podcasts

  • Determine what functions or features people like and dislike about their current

    podcast services.

  • Determine a set of must-have features for the average user

Key Findings:

  • Users prefer having their music and podcasts all in one service to easily switch back and forth (4/5 ppt).

  • Simple navigation and clear organization are needed to manage the information. (4/5 ppt).

  • Users want some separation between music and podcasts on the homepage and on navigational pages to keep everything clear. (3/5 ppt).

Must-have features:

  • Forward/back skip buttons (5/5 ppt).

  • Downloadable episodes for offline listening (5/5 ppt).

  • Ability to “follow” podcasts to stay updated with new episodes (4/5 ppt).

  • Podcast episodes are marked as “listened to” after finishing the episode. (3/5 ppt).

  • “Share” function (3/5 ppt).

User persona

To keep me on track, I distilled my research findings into a cohesive reference point to use throughout my design in the form of Richard, a podcast lover and Tidal user, who wishes he could just combine the two.

Ideation

Since I would be incorporating several new functions into an existing app, I had to ensure that my features and flows aligned with what users would already expect from their Tidal experience. I wanted each flow to begin on an existing Tidal screen to help establish familiarity for Tidal users.

I started with three task flows to help guide the designs and build a foundation for user testing down the line.

Layout Sketches

I sketched out my task flows to get an idea of the screen layouts, starting with the original Tidal screens. I expected these layouts to change throughout the process, but this helped with brainstorming and developing a foundation.

Digital Wireframes:

I created these with more detail than is typically expected from wireframes. I wanted to ensure I was mimicking Tidal’s text hierarchy and overall layout as closely as possible before moving to high fidelity.

1. I wanted the podcast screens to be separate so users could quickly parse it from the music. This tab navigation currently exists in Tidal’s “My collection” screen, so I copied it on the homepage to give it a second, podcast-focused tab. 


2. The podcast landing page gives users information on the podcast and showing currently published episodes.

3. Nested the following podcasts into the “My collection” tab since users would already be searching there for followed musicians and liked songs. 


4. Sortable feed showing a users followed podcasts with currently published episodes.

5. Copied the existing genre and mood search sections and included one for podcast “genres”.

6. I altered the existing Tidal player screen by replacing the “shuffle” button with a playback speed toggle and by replacing the fast forward and rewind buttons with skip forward/ahead buttons.

HiFi Design

Since I added a feature to Tidal for this project, I had an existing UI pattern to design within. I found Tidal’s color scheme, font, and style guides online, and I copied the icons to the best of my ability.

Hifi Mockups

What do users think?

Testing Goals

  • Ensure that the podcast feature functions smoothly within the Tidal app.

  • Ensure users can quickly and easily navigate the podcast feature within the app to complete the tasks with minimal errors. 

  • Ensure that screen layouts and elements are consistent with the Tidal UI.

  • Ensure that users that don’t use Tidal can still navigate the podcast feature within the app with relative ease.

Success Metrics

  • Users can complete each task in under 5 minutes 

  • Users can complete each task with minimal errors (1-2 per task) 

  • Users successfully completes each task .

Participants performed three tasks to determine the usability of the prototype. 

  1. Follow a podcast that is recommended to you. 

  2. Play and “like” an episode from the user podcast feed. 

  3. Follow the most popular podcast in the Pop Culture genre

Usability testing outcomes

The likes

  • 5/5 participants finished each task within the time frame. 

  • 5/5 thought each screen fit within Tidal’s UI very well. 

  • 5/5 felt that the search function was clear and fit within Tidal’s existing system.

  • 5/5 thought each feature was placed intuitively into Tidal’s overall layout. 

  • 4/5 thought that the podcast landing page and episode cards had the functions and information they would expect and need.

The dislikes

  • 3/5 participants were unable to immediately navigate to the player screen to like an episode. 

  • 2/5 would like to see a “Like” button on the episode cards without needing to go into the player screen first.

Priority Revisions

  1. Allow users to tap the episode card to navigate to the player screen, in addition to the bottom player (box to emphasize the new tap target).

  2. Add a “like” button to the episode card.

Conclusion

From here, my next steps would be implementing these revisions and conducting another round of usability tests, then submitting them to Tidal’s product team for approval. Another round of testing would ensure that there was nothing else to be revised before delivering the designs to be developed.

What I’m proud of:

  1. I am pleased with using Tidal’s existing UI to design unique feature screens that test participants thought looked just like the original product.

  2. The feature is easy to navigate and aligns with user expectations around a podcast service.

What I’d do differently:

  1. I would spend more time recruiting only Tidal users both for my initial research interviews and as test participants. Establishing clear patterns among Tidal users was hard since only about half of my participants had used the service.

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