Shazam Reimagined
From a simple music identification tool to a community driven discovery platform.
Duration:
3 Weeks
Project Overview
I worked on a team project to redesign Shazam. While Shazam dominates the market for music identification, users typically open the app, tag a song, and leave immediately. Our challenge was to design new features that would encourage users to spend more time on the app and return more often.
The goal was to reimagine Shazam not just as a utility, but as a community driven destination for music discovery and connection.
My Role
UX Designer
Researcher
3 Colleagues
Industry
Entertainment
Proposed Redesign
The Challenge
Despite Shazam’s popularity, its engagement problem was clear. Users consistently described the app as a tool, not a place to explore. After identifying a song, they quickly closed it and moved on to platforms like Spotify or Apple Music.
Project Statement
The main pain points we uncovered were:
Users were unaware of features like charts or playlists.
Saved songs were often forgotten.
No community or personalization kept people coming back.
This led to our guiding question:
How might we create an experience that turns Shazam from a one-time utility into a platform users want to explore and revisit?
Design Process
We conducted user interviews, affinity mapping, competitive analysis, and usability testing of the current Shazam app. Our research revealed a consistent theme: Shazam solved the immediate problem of identifying songs but failed to deliver on long-term engagement.
Many participants admitted they didn’t know Shazam had playlists or charts at all. Others said they saved songs in Shazam but never returned to listen. Nearly everyone turned to other apps for discovery, sharing, or community features.
The takeaway was clear: Shazam had untapped potential, but it wasn’t visible or compelling enough to keep users inside the app.
Research
Competitive Analysis
Feature Analysis
Pluses and Deltas
Competitive Matrix
Business Analysis
User Interviews
Design
Wireframe
Hi-Fidelity Designs
Prototype
Synthesize
Affinity Mapping
User Persona
User Journey Map
Test
Usability Testing
Conclusion
Future Concept
Ideate
User Flow
Information Architecture
Research Techniques
Competitive Analysis
Audit of Shazams current competition
Feature Analysis
Compared different elements that build community from other apps
Pluses and Deltas
Positives and to be changed
Competitive Matrix
Analysis of other competitors
User Interviews
6 user interviews
Feature Analysis
Business Research-Feature Analysis
Our competitive analysis revealed that while apps like Spotify and Apple Music excel at community and personalized recommendations, Shazam lacked these elements highlighting a clear opportunity to bridge the gap between quick discovery and long-term engagement.
Synthesis-What did we hear from users?
To better understand user behaviors and needs, we conducted a series of user interviews with participants who regularly use Shazam.
A consistent theme emerged: users saw Shazam as a one-and-done utility.
Most opened the app, tagged a track, and left immediately often forgetting about their saved songs.
Some were unaware of existing features like charts or playlists, while others expressed interest in more social and personalized tools.
These insights became the foundation for identifying opportunities to extend engagement and build features that aligned with real user expectations.
“I didn’t even know Shazam had playlists or charts. I thought it was just for tagging songs”
Affinity Map
“Sometimes I save songs in Shazam, but I forget to go back and listen to them later”
“I use Shazam for a few seconds, but then I go straight to Spotify to actually listen”
Persona-Who are we designing for?
Melina - “The Social Music Explorer”
Goals:
She wants to stay on top of new music she’s discovered
She wants to build and curate playlists that reflect her personality and current mood, music is identity for her
She wants to feel more connected to what her friends are listening to
She wants to feel like her music habits mean something
Frustrations:
Doesn’t want to manually send songs to friends—wants passive sharing
Wishes there were more social spaces for music sharing
Finds it hard to see what friends are discovering unless they talk about it
Needs:
She needs to discover music quickly and easily without disrupting her flow
She needs a way to passively share and explore music with friends
She needs insights to her song history and trends over time
She needs a more engaging, connected way to revisit songs she’s ID’ed
Behaviors:
Very tech savvy and always on the internet, lives on social media
Listens to music all day everyday
Extroverted, loves to talk and share about music
Curious and open-minded, especially about new music and trends.
Ideation-Prioritizing Important Features
MoSCoW Matrix
Organized ideas using a MoSCoW matrix (Must, Should, Could, Won’t) to identify which features would have the most impact.
Must haves included auto-saving Shazamed songs, user profiles, playlists, and stronger social interaction features.
Should haves focused on expanding community and engagement tools like direct messaging, group sharing, and trending song insights.
Could haves explored personalization and mood-based experiences to deepen user connection.
Won’t haves helped refine scope by removing features that were too complex or unrelated to the project’s main goal of increasing user engagement
Redesigned User Flow
User Flows
We designed three core flows to demonstrate how these features increase engagement:
Community Feed: Users see what friends are listening to, like or comment, and follow playlists. Shazam becomes a social hub.
Personal Insights: A dashboard highlights top artists, recent discoveries, and trends. Users revisit regularly for new stats.
Discovery Playlists: Each Shazam triggers contextually related playlists, encouraging exploration instead of quick exits.
Together, these flows extended the user’s time in the app and created reasons to return.
Sketches-Early Design Concepts
We started with sketches to explore different layouts for community and insights features. Mid-fidelity wireframes helped us test navigation clarity and content hierarchy.
Sketches Made in a Design Workshop With Teammates
SHAZAM- The Music You Love, The People Who Get It
Clickable Prototype Walkthrough
Discovering New Music
In high-fidelity prototypes, we leaned into Shazam’s vibrant brand palette but introduced cleaner card layouts, bold typography, and simplified menus.
Key decisions included moving community and insights to the home screen and replacing ambiguous icons with labeled navigation.
These choices gave the design a cohesive, modern feel while making hidden features more accessible.
Music Discovery
Friend Feed
Friend Feed
Custom Profile & Listening Insights
Unique Profile Page
Listening Insights
Custom Metrics
Joining Communities
We really focused on creating communities people would be interested in joining based on location, particular genres, and popular fandoms
Recommended Communities
Joined Communities
Usability Testing Results
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100% TASK SUCCESS RATE
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AVG 5/5 EASE OF USER
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ALL USERS EXPRESSED INTEREST IN INSIGHTS
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ALL USERS DESCRIBED INTUITIVE USER
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ALL USERS WOULD USE REDESIGNED SHAZAM MORE OFTEN
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AVG 4.7 FOR PROFESIONALISM
Mid Fidelity → High Fidelity Testing
We ran two rounds of usability testing with tasks like finding a friend’s Shazam, exploring insights, and discovering a new playlist.
Round 1: Users struggled with unclear icons and misunderstood the purpose of the feed.
Round 2: After simplifying navigation and labeling, success rates improved significantly. Participants found the flows intuitive and expressed excitement about features that would bring them back to the app.
The key lesson was that visibility and clarity were just as important as new features.
Measuring Success
If launched, we would track success through the HEART framework:
Average session length – Did users stay longer per visit?
Weekly active users – Were they returning more often?
Community engagement – Likes, comments, and follows.
Playlist exploration – Click-through rates on curated content.
Saved music revisits – Increases in users replaying tagged songs.
These metrics would show whether Shazam successfully evolved into a more engaging platform.
Next Steps
Future iterations could focus on accessibility audits, scaling usability testing with diverse audiences, and deeper integration with streaming services. Adding gamification elements like achievements or streaks could also increase motivation to return.
Lessons Learned
This project underscored the importance of listening to users and reframing a product’s value proposition. Shazam already owned the moment of discovery but lacked the ecosystem to extend it. By introducing community, personalization, and clearer navigation, we demonstrated how the app could evolve from a utility into a vibrant music destination.
The biggest takeaway: even established apps must innovate around user expectations. What starts as a simple tool can transform into an engaging experience if we design with people, not just functionality, in mind.