Spotify
The Project
That Started
Everything.
Redesigned Spotify's core listening interface — the first design project that opened the door to Themeisle and a career in product design.
Why Spotify
I've loved Spotify since 2011. It wasn't available in my country then, so I used a VPN just to get in — and from the first session, I was hooked. Music was always there; now it had a home that understood it.
Years of daily use meant I knew every friction point by instinct — the buried queue, the way Browse broke your session, the now-playing screen that told you nothing about what was coming. Not because I audited it. Because I lived in it.
This redesign didn't start with a brief. It started with the same app I'd been using since before I had a job in design — and a list of things I'd always wished it did differently. InVision Studio was new, I had free time, and Spotify felt like the right problem to solve for myself.
Concept Designer · First InVision Studio Prototype · 2018
Built to learn. Ended up opening the first door.
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A personal concept project published without expectation — discovered by the team that would become the first professional role.
Before a job. Before a team.
Before professional tools.
Built entirely in InVision Studio with visual refinement in Adobe Photoshop. No client brief, no deadline, no audience in mind — just a music app I'd used since 2011 and a growing list of things I'd always wanted it to do differently.
No interview. No application. Just one Figma trial — and the job was mine.
Themeisle reached out after finding this on Behance and asked me to show my potential. I shared this project. They gave me one trial in Figma. That was it — no interview, no rounds, no waiting. That role led to WPMU DEV, which led to everything after.
ThemeisleFrom buried controls
to a focused listening surface.
Queue buried. Context missing.
Browsing breaks the session.
Spotify's core listening experience required constant context switching. Queue management was hidden multiple taps deep, the now-playing view showed no upcoming context, and opening Browse ejected the user from their session entirely.
Queue surfaced. Session anchored.
Browse stays contextual.
Reorganised the now-playing hierarchy to make the queue a native, always-accessible layer. Playlist browsing was redesigned to remain session-aware — the current track stays as the anchor, not an interruption to navigate back to.
Three friction points.
Four screens redesigned around them.
Taps required to access the queue from the now-playing view — a core feature buried behind UI layers.
Queue AccessibilityUpcoming track context shown in the now-playing view — no way to know what comes next without opening the queue.
Session ContextOpening Browse or Artist pages fully interrupted the listening session — no way back without losing context.
Browse ContinuityYour listening session,
centred.
The Home screen anchors the experience on what you're playing right now — not editorial content, not recommendations, not social activity. The current session is the hero: album art dominates, playback controls are immediate, and the queue is one tap away instead of three.
- Current track and album art fill the primary viewport
- Playback controls are first-class — not secondary to discovery content
- Queue surface reachable in a single upward swipe from now-playing
- Session context: artist bio and upcoming tracks in the same view
- Recently played rail below the session — never interrupting it
- Listening time indicator showing session duration at a glance
Home Screen
Discovery that doesn't
interrupt the music.
The original Browse pulled you completely out of your session. The redesigned Browse keeps the current track persistent at the bottom, so exploring new music never means losing your place. Categories are editorial — curated by mood, activity, and listening context rather than pure genre grids.
- Persistent mini-player at the bottom — session never interrupted
- Category tiles organised by listening context: mood, activity, time
- Featured editorial slots for new releases and curated sessions
- Search integrated into Browse — one surface, not two separate tabs
- Current queue badge on the mini-player shows upcoming count
- Seamless transition back to full now-playing from any Browse state
Browse Screen
Context for
what you're hearing.
Artist pages previously felt like a full destination — navigating to them meant fully leaving your session. The redesigned Artist page is session-aware: the header shows the artist you're currently listening to, and the layout surfaces popular tracks, albums, and related artists in a hierarchy that encourages exploration without loss of context.
- Artist header with current-session badge when actively listening
- Popular tracks rail with inline play — queue tracks without leaving the page
- Discography section sorted by recency with album type labels
- Related artists section surfaced as a secondary exploration layer
- Monthly listeners count and verified badge in the header strip
- Mini-player persists at bottom — return to session in one tap
Artist Screen
Your listening
history, visible.
The Profile screen was an afterthought in the original — a thin settings-adjacent page with little personality. The redesign makes listening history the primary content: recently played, top artists, and playlists created are all surfaced in a personal listening digest that reflects actual use rather than generic account management.
- Recently played rail: albums, playlists, and stations in recency order
- Top artists section with listen frequency — your actual taste fingerprint
- Playlists created and followed, sorted by last-played date
- Listening history count: tracks played this month across all sessions
- Profile header shows followers and following in a clean stat strip
- Settings and account management tucked to secondary — not the hero
Profile Screen
The
Problem
Spotify's core listening experience felt static next to how people actually used it — juggling playlists, queues, and sessions without a clear hierarchy. The now-playing view buried context, queue management was an afterthought, and the relationship between what you're hearing and what's coming next was unclear.
Process
& Approach
My first interactive prototype built in InVision Studio. Focused entirely on the listening session — the now-playing hierarchy, how the queue surfaces relative to the current track, and how playlist browsing could stay contextual without pulling you out of the music. Adobe Photoshop for visual refinement.
Audit & Map
Mapped every tap required to access core listening features — queue, browse, artist, profile — and documented where session continuity broke.
Prototype in InVision
Built the interactive flows in InVision Studio, focusing on the now-playing hierarchy and how the queue surfaced relative to the current track.
Refine in Photoshop
Visual refinement pass in Adobe Photoshop — typography, spacing, colour application with Spotify's design language as the baseline reference.
The
Design
A reimagined Spotify Premium interface with reorganised now-playing hierarchy, cleaner queue management surfaced as a native layer, and playlist browsing that kept the current listening session as the anchor rather than dropping the user into a flat browse view.
Where it Led.
The momentNo interview. One Figma trial. Job done.
Themeisle reached out after finding this redesign on Behance and asked me to show my potential. I shared this project — a personal concept built in 2018 with no client and no brief. They gave me one trial in Figma. That was the entire hiring process. That role led to WPMU DEV, which led to everything after. Built in 2018 as a personal exploration; it ended up being the most consequential project in the portfolio.
The work you do for yourself is the work that matters.
No one asked for this redesign. It existed because music players are interesting problems and InVision Studio was new and the queue management was frustrating. Personal work done with genuine curiosity is the hardest thing to fake — and the easiest to recognise.
View full project on Behance ↗Session-First Layout
Now-playing is always the primary view — album art dominates, controls are immediate, and queue is one gesture away.
Persistent Mini-Player
Browse, Artist, and Profile pages all anchor on a persistent mini-player strip — returning to the session is always one tap.
Queue as Native Layer
The queue is surfaced as a slide-up panel from now-playing, not a separate screen requiring back-navigation to reach.
Session-Aware Artist Page
Artist pages now know if you're currently listening to them, surfacing that context at the top rather than showing a blank profile.
Contextual Browse
Categories sorted by mood, activity, and time of day — not just genre — making discovery feel relevant rather than generic.
Listening Digest Profile
Profile is a personal listening digest: recently played, top artists, and created playlists — not account management.