Designing on the Road and Finding Inspiration in New Markets

In our work, it’s no good getting too settled. We’re one of many groups who assist take Spotify to new markets everywhere in the world, and we will’t try this if we’re at all times sitting at our desks on the HQ. Instead, we frequently pack our luggage, get on a aircraft, and immerse ourselves locally of music followers and creators we’re designing for. It’s an effective way to construct empathy, perceive our viewers, and discover contemporary inspiration.

Our colleague Linnea is at the moment testing a smaller, sooner model of our app – which we’re trialling for these with older telephones, costly information plans, or points with community connections. She and her staff typically use telephones normally discovered amongst the respective audiences around the globe. As points with telephones and information connection have been extra frequent in sure markets, it was very important to expertise this firsthand. So off all of us went.

Bright concepts borne out of Brazil

The staff now takes time to journey to markets like Brazil and acquire fascinating, sudden insights. One factor that shocked Linnea was that she couldn’t see her telephone display screen correctly in shiny Brazilian daylight – an issue she’d heard about, however by no means seen or struggled with herself. The expertise made an enormous, long-lasting distinction to the best way she designed from then on, and nonetheless informs a lot of her selections relating to color, distinction, and typography.

“It’s both humbling and inspiring to really understand the people we design for,” says Linnea. “We’re determined to remove the difficulties and let everyone listen to the music they want throughout their day.”

Getting on the bottom in India

This type of immersive, ‘on the ground’ method was additionally invaluable when it got here to launching Spotify in India lately. As certainly one of our designers, Annina, found, this launch entailed a singular set of challenges – not least the range of cultures and languages throughout the nation and the expectation that music apps be language-aware too.

Spending time in India – and dealing with trusted native companions – was key to addressing the numerous challenges, understanding the market, and delivering a product with actual, cross-cultural relevance. The staff seemed past ‘big data’ and mass generalisations – as a substitute, attending to know the nation and neighborhood firsthand and taking a private, individualised method to their analysis.

“I hadn’t been to India before I started working on this project,” says Annina. “The first time I travelled there, everything felt so new to me. But when we met local college students, it was easy to connect by talking about music. There were more similarities than differences in the way we consume our music.”

Living like native music lovers

As effectively as conducting diary research, in-depth interviews and plenty of rounds of idea, and value testing, the India launch staff additionally immersed themselves within the on a regular basis lives of listeners throughout the nation – becoming a member of them on their commutes, at live shows, or at home events. In this manner, they pieced collectively precisely what Indian music lovers need from a streaming service, and the way Spotify can finest match the invoice.

The staff discovered that many followers group all Western pop into the class of ‘Hollywood Music,’ or browse and discover tunes in a different way as a result of affect of Bollywood – typically looking by an actor’s identify, moderately than an artist’s. They additionally recognized an actual need in individuals to attach with the music of these round them, main them to incorporate ‘Sound of City’ playlists as a outstanding characteristic on the Indian house web page.

From Mumbai home events to Jakartan karaoke

Our staff has additionally gone native in locations like Indonesia, Japan and Korea – delving into consumer wants, localising model and design language, and gaining an in-depth understanding of the South and East Asian markets.

Again, it’s actually eye-opening to be immersed in listeners’ lives – whether or not meaning hanging out with Okay-pop followers, or getting deep into karaoke tradition. Kristy, one other certainly one of our designers, remembers travelling to a distant Indonesian island, the place the native minibus drivers – and the tunes they play on the wheel – are a key affect on their space’s music scene. “We witnessed firsthand how music builds a community,” she says. “And from these kinds of experiences, we can look at the world from a whole new perspective.”

Of course, the teachings we be taught in new markets typically find yourself benefiting present, extra established markets too – making Spotify higher for all of us, wherever we’re. Designing on the highway refreshes and enriches our design again house. And you may hear extra from the staff concerned in a follow-up piece – Think Global, Act Local. 

You can even learn the primary article of this three-part sequence, “Bringing Spotify to India—and Beyond,” by clicking right here.