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Spotify
audiobooks

Timeline: 2 Weeks

Timeline: 2 Weeks

Role: UX/UI Designer

Role: UX/UI Designer

Tools: Canva, Figma

Tools: Canva, Figma

Spotify is the world’s leading streaming service, offering a vast library of songs, podcasts, and audiobooks. Users can access various genres, from fiction to non-fiction, through a premium subscription or by purchasing them in the app. This integration makes it easy to enjoy literature alongside music and podcasts.

Spotify is the world’s leading streaming service, offering a vast library of songs, podcasts, and audiobooks. Users can access various genres, from fiction to non-fiction, through a premium subscription or by purchasing them in the app. This integration makes it easy to enjoy literature alongside music and podcasts.

Project Summary

Project Summary

Spotify lacks a bookmark feature for audiobooks, I researched the rising popularity of this format. This gap between user expectations and current features prompted us to explore the design process, aiming to understand user needs and give Spotify a competitive edge in the audiobook market.

Spotify lacks a bookmark feature for audiobooks, I researched the rising popularity of this format. This gap between user expectations and current features prompted us to explore the design process, aiming to understand user needs and give Spotify a competitive edge in the audiobook market.

We didn't just create a bookmark feature; we aimed to enhance the audiobook experience by developing various ways to save key information. This was done while maintaining Spotify's design style and existing feature flows.

We didn't just create a bookmark feature; we aimed to enhance the audiobook experience by developing various ways to save key information. This was done while maintaining Spotify's design style and existing feature flows.

My Goal

My Goal

To identify features that enhance the audiobook experience within Spotify by addressing key user pain points, improving usability, and supporting listener habits — with the goal of increasing engagement and attracting new users.

To identify features that enhance the audiobook experience within Spotify by addressing key user pain points, improving usability, and supporting listener habits — with the goal of increasing engagement and attracting new users.

Constraints

Constraints

Here are the constraints we had to work with.

Here are the constraints we had to work with.

Remaining consistent

We needed to align and be consistent with Spotify’s UI style and user experience while ensuring the features functioned like those for music and podcasts.

Copyright laws

Copyright laws impact integrating access to books beyond audio. We explored methods to do this while respecting the author’s intellectual property rights.

Access to right users

Interviewing more avid audiobook listeners would have provided deeper and useful insights into the features they find regularly useful and practical.

Assumptions

Assumptions

These are what we held to be already true regarding our users and Spotify's services.

These are what we held to be already true regarding our users and Spotify's services.

Type of usage

Users listen to audiobooks on their phones, allowing them to multitask and stay active while keeping their devices close.


Users listen to audiobooks on their phones, allowing them to multitask and stay active while keeping their devices close.

Quality

Spotify's audiobooks are of great quality in terms of narration , easy of accessibility, and having a vast number of genres that suit user preferences.

Familiarity

Users are fairly familiar with platforms that have audiobooks and are at least occasional listeners so they can provide insight to what features they would like.

Research

How it began..

How it began..

I use Spotify for music and audiobooks, while listening to audiobooks I find many memorable passages I wanted to save. Disappointed by the lack of a bookmarking feature, I resort to screenshots and think “This is inconvenient—others must struggle with this too.”


This issue raised questions about the challenges with audiobooks: are they viewed as inferior to physical books? How are they used? What problems do users face? What improvements would enhance their audiobook experience?


I use Spotify for music and audiobooks, while listening to audiobooks I find many memorable passages I wanted to save. Disappointed by the lack of a bookmarking feature, I resort to screenshots and think “This is inconvenient—others must struggle with this too.”


This issue raised questions about the challenges with audiobooks: are they viewed as inferior to physical books? How are they used? What problems do users face? What improvements would enhance their audiobook experience?


Users talk about the issue online....

Indexing your listening history instead of simply bookmarking!

Spotify community requesting a bookmarking feature.

I gauged how popular were audiobooks

I gauged how popular were audiobooks

Data collected from the U.S, Canada, and globally..

Data collected from the U.S, Canada, and globally..

In the U.S

94%

Growth in daily audiobook consumption since 2017.

Of audiobook listeners

50%

Spend 1 - 4 hours a week listening to audiobooks

Globally

25%

Spotify users are audiobook listeners

In Canada

58%

of listeners acquired their books for free

The data indicated growing audiobook popularity, people spending considerable time listening and seeking free options. Since, a quarter of Spotify users enjoy audiobooks, there are many opportunities to enhance the user experience in a promising industry.

The data indicated growing audiobook popularity, people spending considerable time listening and seeking free options. Since, a quarter of Spotify users enjoy audiobooks, there are many opportunities to enhance the user experience in a promising industry.

Getting to the problem

Getting to the problem

Although we recognized that Spotify audiobooks lacked a bookmarking feature and understood its importance, we still lacked a comprehensive understanding of other features listeners value than bookmarking to enhance the audiobook experience on Spotify.

Although we recognized that Spotify audiobooks lacked a bookmarking feature and understood its importance, we still lacked a comprehensive understanding of other features listeners value than bookmarking to enhance the audiobook experience on Spotify.

So we interviewed 5 people. We had 2 high level objectives:

  1. Understand user habits, how they integrate audiobooks into their daily lives.

  2. Understanding user preferences.


This is what users said...

Multitask

Like to listen to audiobooks because it enables them to multitask. They don't need to be looking at their phones in order to be entertained or edified.

Listen to multiple reasons

Users said they listen to audiobooks for entertainment or edification. There was no prevailing reason for audiobook engagement from my interviews.

Struggled to save material

Users across various platforms either struggled to save memorable information or organize their listening habits in meaningful ways for a later time.

Definition

The User Insight…

The User Insight…

Users want an easy way to save interesting or memorable parts of a book without disengaging from other activities.

The problem is this...

The problem is this...

Users appreciate that audiobooks allow multitasking but want an effortless feature that enables to find, store , and organize memorable and impactful parts of a book.


The solution....

The solution....

How might I enable Spotify’s audiobook listeners to easily store, categorize, and organize, parts of an audiobook they find special or unforgettable?

Meet Stephanie..

Meet Stephanie..

Now that we have an understanding of what is important to audiobook book listeners, we made a user persona.

Now that we have an understanding of what is important to audiobook book listeners, we made a user persona.

Stephanie Brown

Age: 28

Education: Bachelors of Education

Status: Grad Student

Occupation: Student teacher

Location: Ottawa, ON

About

Stephanie is a teacher and a masters student She loves audiobooks, especially true crime, which she listens to during her commute or while grading papers. The stories fuels her curiosity and critical thinking, qualities she brings to her teaching through problem-solving and storytelling.

Goals

  • To find a way to better organize her reading habits and thoughts she has while listening to audiobooks

  • An easy way to save and refer back to parts of the audiobook she found interesting

  • To be able to share quotes from audiobooks she found memorable

Needs

  • Easy way to save a bookmark to keep track of her reading

  • Easy way to view saved bookmarks

  • A simple and efficient way to share a quote she finds memorable

Frustrations

  • Has to write down a memorable quote she heard and then share it on her social media

  • Has difficulty organizing specific spots she found interesting within a certain book

  • Has to screenshot to save a memorable spot

Apps Used

Spotify

ClassDojo

Instagram

Her favorite books

“I appreciate and like to share how detectives look at the cases as puzzles to be solved . I bookmark places where an important discovery is made, helps me remember what I found interesting and useful.”

Ideation

Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis

We looked at Spotify’s audiobooks competitors to gain a better understanding of what features would them a competitive advantage . Our insights would provide a focus for our prototype.

We looked at Spotify’s audiobooks competitors to gain a better understanding of what features would them a competitive advantage . Our insights would provide a focus for our prototype.

Direct Competitors

Audible

  • Bookmarking, adding notes, speed control, and whisper syncing

  • UI is designed specifically tailored for the audiobook experience

Our Focus

Intuitive controls

Adding features such as boomarking that reflect the flexibility and control one has over a physical book

Google play books

  • A vast global outreach and easy to publish and share your own book

  • A virtual library which helps the user in organizing their reading habits.

Organization tools

Give users access to a personal library where they can organize their reading into their lists

Indirect Competitors

Amazon Kindle

  • You can pick up where you left of in the e-book. Cross device syncing

  • Has text to speech. Passages can be read out loud to the reader


  • You can pick up where you left
    of in the e-book.

  • Cross device syncing

  • Has text to speech. Passages can be read out
    loud to the reader


Accesbility

Give users the option to read and go over a passage they are interested in and reference for later use.

User Flow

User Flow

Looking at our user scenario we took the actions that Stephanie would take to reach her goals and turned them into a user flow, moreover, we kept in mind the focus from the competitor analysis.

Looking at our user scenario we took the actions that Stephanie would take to reach her goals and turned them into a user flow, moreover, we kept in mind the focus from the competitor analysis.

Prototyping and testing

keeping in mind our constraints…

Our proposed features should stay consistent with Spotify's music listening experience so potential users don't spend time familiarizing themselves with a feature that behaves differently from the ones they are used to. The prototype we made followed this important protocol.

The Wireframe

I came up with a few sketches and highlighted sections that were important and showed them to the team. Thankfully, they could read my handwriting and find legible my sketches.

I came up with a few sketches and highlighted sections that were important and showed them to the team. Thankfully, they could read my handwriting and find legible my sketches.

The Mid-Fidelity Prototype

We built a prototype based on our wireframes. We did not have to rethink how Spotify’s UI would look like since along with the features we were aiming to stay consistent with the visual language of the app.

We built a prototype based on our wireframes. We did not have to rethink how Spotify’s UI would look like since along with the features we were aiming to stay consistent with the visual language of the app.

Player Screen

Player Screen

New list option

New list option

New list created

New list created

View list in library

View list in library

User Testing

User Testing

The focus of this user objective was to understand how intuitive it is for users to bookmark and share a quote. Moreover, understand how consistent the feature flow was to Spotify's music listening experience.

User Objective

You listen to audiobooks when you’re running errands or commuting using. Recently, you’ve heard Spotify has added the ability to bookmark and share a quote. You decide to make use of this new feature.

The Tasks

  1. Save a bookmark to a new bookmark list

  1. Access bookmark list from your library

  1. Select and share a quote

The Feedback

The Feedback

Users found the feature flow to be consistent with Spotify's music listening experience, however they wanted a greater degree of customizability in regard to bookmarking.

Users found the feature flow to be consistent with Spotify's music listening experience, however they wanted a greater degree of customizability in regard to bookmarking.

Consistent

Users found the process of saving a bookmark and sharing a quote is consistent with the way other Spotify features behave. This was familiar to them.

Confusing names

The term ‘lists’ was confusing to users, it was either generic or reminded them of a music playlist. This caused hesitation in navigating through the UI.

Custom Features

Users wanted to add different bookmarks to a playlist just like how they do for music, so they can listen to their favourite spots as it suits their mood.

Challenges to meet user expectations

Challenges to meet user expectations

Users wanting a customizable list of bookmarks posed a challenge for me. Unlike music, where each saved song is an audio track, a bookmark is a reference to an audio track. How would the user be able to ‘play’ a bookmark after another?

So I had two choices:

1. Treat bookmarks like discrete items -

Design each bookmark as a standalone interaction — clicking one jumps to a moment, but there’s no continuous playback across bookmarks.

  1. Simulate playlist behavior

Create logic that lets the system jump automatically from one bookmarked moment to the next, mimicking a playlist even though the underlying media isn’t segmented like music.

Users wanting a customizable list of bookmarks posed a challenge for me. Unlike music, where each saved song is an audio track, a bookmark is a reference to an audio track. How would the user be able to ‘play’ a bookmark after another?

So I had two choices:

1. Treat bookmarks like discrete items

Design each bookmark as a standalone interaction — clicking one jumps to a moment, but there’s no continuous playback across bookmarks.

  1. Simulate playlist behavior

    Create logic that lets the system jump automatically from one bookmarked moment to the next, mimicking a playlist even though the underlying media isn’t segmented like music.

The Solution

The Solution

The solution that met both user expectations and avoided backend complexity was to introduce notes. Notes allow users to remember where they were in the audio while also adding a short summary of what stood out to them. This preserves the flexibility of bookmarks, while giving each entry more meaning — without trying to force non-linear playback.

The solution that met both user expectations and avoided backend complexity was to introduce notes. Notes allow users to remember where they were in the audio while also adding a short summary of what stood out to them. This preserves the flexibility of bookmarks, while giving each entry more meaning — without trying to force non-linear playback.

Hi-Fidelity Prototype And Conclusion

The High - Fidelity Prototype

The High - Fidelity Prototype

After defining the core interaction logic and user flow, I transitioned into handing it of to the UI designer. The final prototype captures the logic behind bookmarking, note-taking, and sharing a quote to social media platforms— all shaped by earlier research and usability insights. These screens represent how that foundation was translated into a working interface.

After defining the core interaction logic and user flow, I transitioned into handing it of to the UI designer. The final prototype captures the logic behind bookmarking, note-taking, and sharing a quote to social media platforms— all shaped by earlier research and usability insights. These screens represent how that foundation was translated into a working and interactive interface.

This is the preview of one such screens we built to show, please see desktop version for the full experience.

Future Opportunities

Future Opportunities

While we accomplished so much, here are the useful features that could be added in the future to enhance the user experience.

While we accomplished so much, here are the useful features that could be added in the future to enhance the user experience.

Voice activation

Allow users to say “save this” or “take a note here” while listening to an audiobook, which is ideal for hands-free situations like driving, chores or cooking.

Bookmark timeline

Let the user see all their bookmarks across a full audiobook as a visual timeline for easier skimming, choosing and referencing a point or several points of interest.

Tag and categorize

Let users tag bookmarks with themes like “inspiration” “reference” or “important” which could later be filterable or searchable. Could be useful for students.

My Learnings

My Learnings

This project pushed me to think more deeply about small interactions and how they shape the overall user experience.

This project pushed me to think more deeply about small interactions and how they shape the overall user experience.

Simplicity requires complexity

Bookmarking seemed simple, but designing it to meet user needs and system constraints required careful consideration. I had to pay close attention to pitfalls.

Expectation vs. reality

People expected features like playlist-style playback, even when technically unfeasible — reminding me that good UX includes guiding expectations clearly.

Context and value

Thinking about use cases like driving or multitasking led to ideas like voice bookmarking and simplified note-taking. Minimal interaction was preferred among users.

The end

Andrew Paul 2025