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This project was done for FlowState, a hackathon-style UX design challenge. My submission was selected as a finalist for the competition out of over 200 total entries.
The result was Spotify Tether, a functionality that groups two or more songs to always play back to back. Whether users are looking to attach an interlude to a song, or an iconic series of songs on an album, they don't have to worry about shuffle breaking up their flow anymore.
UX Designer
4 Weeks
Figma
Miro
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How might we improve the shuffle listening experience for music streaming applications?
Submissions are judged on:
• Problem Identity via User Research
• Effectiveness of Solution
• Final Product UI and UX
While users engage with music for a range of moods, moments, and activities, many feel that something is lost in how songs are surfaced and sequenced during everyday use. Certain listening moments fall flat. Not because of the music itself, but because the flow feels unexpectedly disconnected or incomplete.
As user expectations evolve, there's a growing need to create lightweight, customizable tools that let listeners shape their experience more intentionally, without overcomplicating the platform or compromising variety.
"Shuffling" has always been a touchy subject. It's "too random" or "not random enough".
When Apple released its Shuffle feature for iPods, users were deceived by the true randomness of its playback; songs from the same album or artist were often grouped by chance. Complaints led Steve Jobs to alter the device’s programming and begin offering Smart Shuffle, which allowed users to adjust the likelihood of hearing similar songs in a row. “We’re making it less random,” he said, “to make it feel more random.”
To uncover user needs and behaviors, I conducted a survey with 21 Spotify listeners followed up with 2 interviews of frequent playlist curators and album listeners.
• 86% use shuffle regularly but admit it doesn’t always respect “musical moments”
• 86% have edited playlists to force certain songs to appear together
• 29% edit their "queue" when shuffling music to remove or reorder the songs generated by shuffle
Despite Spotify’s robust personalization and discovery features, there’s a gap when it comes to user control over the relationship between songs.
While users can create playlists and reorder tracks manually, there’s no native way to preserve intentional sequences in dynamic modes like shuffle.
Spotify Tether introduces the ability to group two or more songs so they always play together—in order—whenever any of them are triggered by shuffle or selected. These tethered tracks retain their intended flow, restoring emotional continuity while preserving user freedom and personalization. Whether for storytelling, transitions, or just a vibe that works better together, Tether gives users a subtle yet powerful way to make Spotify feel more like their Spotify.
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