spotify challenges
feature concept • iOS
a lightweight, opt-in weekly feature that encourages active music discovery with progress tracking and rewarding feedback - without disrupting Spotify’s listening flow.
Overview
Spotify’s recommendations are highly personalized, but discovery often remains passive - users replay familiar artists and playlists with little motivation to explore. Spotify Challenges introduces optional weekly goals that make discovery feel structured, rewarding, and easy to start.
Problem
Music discovery on Spotify is largely passive and unstructured. Users see new content, but there’s limited motivation to engage, and there’s no sense of progress or feedback tied to exploration.
How might we…
How might we encourage users to actively discover new music without disrupting Spotify’s existing listening experience?
Goals
- •Encourage active discovery in a low-pressure, engaging way
- •Provide clear progress and feedback
- •Integrate seamlessly into Spotify’s existing UI and flows
Solution: Spotify Challenges
A weekly, opt-in feature that introduces small discovery goals. For this concept, I designed a challenge focused on exploring new artists: “3 New Artists This Week.”
- •Weekly challenge card on Home
- •Personalized artist suggestions
- •Progress tracking + visual feedback
- •Completion state with celebratory UI
Design process
Rather than creating a standalone experience, Challenges live directly in Spotify’s Home feed - visible enough to encourage participation while remaining lightweight and non-intrusive.
1. Feature integration
The challenge card appears on Home so discovery is surfaced naturally within the existing browsing pattern.
2. Designing for progress
- •Progress bar communicates completion at a glance
- •Artist cards show discovery status using opacity and a checkmark
- •Clear hierarchy keeps the experience fast and scannable
3. Supporting exploration
To avoid limiting users to a fixed set of recommendations, “Discover more artists” allows users to explore additional personalized suggestions while staying within the challenge flow.
4. Closing the loop
- •Celebratory completion (badge/confetti) reinforces motivation
- •Clear confirmation that the challenge is complete
- •Next-step actions encourage continued discovery
Final screens
The final designs integrate seamlessly into Spotify’s existing UI, guiding users through discovery, progress tracking, and completion without interrupting listening.
Reflection
This project reinforced how small UX interventions - progress indicators, clear feedback, and optional exploration - can meaningfully influence behavior without adding friction.
If I extended this further…
- •Explore social or streak-based challenges
- •Expand challenges beyond artists to genres, albums, or moods