Project Overview
Shazam is best known for its iconic one-tap music recognition — a feature most users access through widgets or voice commands. But beyond that quick interaction lies a deeper issue: low user retention.
While the app does offer features like curated recommendations, artist pages, and charts, these are often hidden or underutilized. When users do explore beyond the main function, they find little room for engagement — and minimal integration of social or interactive elements. Shazam remains a passive tool, not a place for discovery or connection.
In this case study, we asked: What if Shazam went all out? Our redesign reimagines the platform as a personalized, community-driven music hub — encouraging exploration, social sharing, and a more dynamic relationship between users and the music they love.
Design Challenge
Shazam’s one-off experience offers little reason to return. The challenge was to redesign it as a more engaging platform that promotes discovery, social connection, and long-term use.
Goal/Opportunity
Enhance Shazam’s experience beyond music recognition by introducing discovery, personalization, and social features to increase engagement and retention.
Timeline
2 Weeks
(May 5 - May 16 2025)
Collaborators
Chareese Lam
Sam Surmon
Omar Morales
Rachel Arnett
Responsibilities
Competitive Research
User Interviews
Affinity Mapping
User Personas
Problem Statement
User Flow
Site Architecture
Lo/Mid/Hi-fi Wireframes
Prototyping
Softwares
Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Process
1
Discover
Competitive Research
Feature Inventory
Affinity Mapping
HMWs
User Interviews
2
Define
User Persona
Problem Statement
Site Map
User Flow
3
Develop
Sketching
Lo-fi Wireframes
Usability Testing
Style Guide
4
Deliver
Mid-fi Wireframes
Usability Testing
Hi-fi Prototyping
Next Steps
Our Goal
Shazam made a name for itself in how we discover music, but now it's time to step into its full potential.
We all know Shazam — the go-to app for identifying music in a flash, whether you're on a road trip or in a restaurant bathroom. But what if Shazam was more than just a utility?
Inspired by a bold statement from Shazam’s CEO, our team began to question the app’s limitations. Why has it remained so simple for so long? What assumptions have held it back? And most importantly: What if Shazam went all out?
This project explores that question — pushing past the app’s current boundaries to imagine what it could become if it fully embraced its potential.
Discover
Research Methodology
Heuristic Evaluation
By going through the original Shazam app, we could see what was currently being implemented, and what could be better.
Competitive Research
Through brainstorming pluses and deltas, and compiling a feature inventory, we were able to have a good idea on successful trends.
User Interviews
Speaking with our users gave us insights into what they were looking for in music apps, and what are perceived pain points.
Discover
Understanding the Problem
While Shazam delivers on its primary function — identifying songs quickly and accurately — its experience beyond that is surprisingly sparse. Tapping into the “More” section offers minimal opportunities for deeper user engagement. There’s little room for personalization, exploration, or connection. The app lacks any real integration of social features — no way to share discoveries, see what friends are listening to, or engage with a broader music-loving community. In a time when music is more social and interactive than ever, Shazam remains a largely solitary tool.
Home Page
My Music Page
Generated Playlists
Heuristics Evaluation
Discover
Competitive Research
To evaluate Shazam’s position in the music discovery and streaming landscape, we conducted an in-depth analysis of key competitors including Spotify, SoundHound AI, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. Each of these platforms offers unique features and user experiences, ranging from music recognition capabilities to comprehensive streaming libraries and personalized recommendations.
By comparing these platforms, we identified opportunities and gaps in Shazam’s current offering, particularly around user engagement post-identification, social sharing, and integration with music streaming workflows. This analysis provided critical insights into how Shazam can evolve from a single-purpose tool to a more immersive music discovery experience.
Product refill & delivery
Advanced algorithms
Likes/favorites
Other media content
Recap features
Lyric display
Key Insights & Opportunities
Our competitive analysis revealed that while Shazam excels at quick song recognition, it lacks the depth and interactivity found in other platforms. Key features like social sharing, personalized recommendations, lyric display, and recap tools were either missing or underdeveloped.
This highlighted a clear opportunity to evolve Shazam from a single-purpose tool into a richer, more engaging music discovery experience — one that encourages exploration, social connection, and deeper integration with users’ music journeys.
Discover
User Interviews
To gain a deeper understanding of our users, we interviewed 8 participants ranging from their early 20s to early 60s. This allowed us to explore a wide range of music discovery habits and app usage behaviors across different age groups.
Our research focused on five key areas:
User Listening Habits
Music Discovery Behavior
Tools and Apps Used
Frustrations and Pain Points
Preferences and What Users Value Most
Through these conversations, we uncovered valuable insights into how users interact with music apps like Shazam, why they use it (or stop using it), and what features they felt were missing. These findings helped validate our assumptions around low engagement and guided our design decisions toward a more personalized and engaging experience.
Features Lacking
AI Suggestions Failing
Discoverability
Affinity Map
Key Insights
“I didn’t even know Shazam had other features.”
“I want variety and want to be able to easily explore new music.”
“I get my music from a variety of sources”
“I don’t feel like I have much of a community on current music apps.”
Define
How Might We…
From our research insights, we crafted a series of How Might We statements to guide our ideation process. These questions helped us focus on solving real user pain points while staying true to Shazam’s core purpose.
How Might We…
organize and resurface previously Shazamed songs in a meaningful way?
expand Shazam’s role beyond just song identification into playlist building or recommendations?
make it easier to discover music through friends or shared playlists?
make shazam more social (without it becoming a new social network)?
These questions allowed us to explore new ideas while balancing innovation with user expectations.
Define
User Persona
Persona 1
Julia represents a wellness-curious user who's motivated but overwhelmed. She wants to improve her health proactively, but finds it hard to know where to start. Her biggest pain points include fragmented information, unclear product benefits, and difficulty applying traditional wellness concepts like Ayurveda in modern life. She’s also time-poor, so she’s easily turned off by jargon, cluttered UI, or brands that lack transparency. What she needs is a clear, credible, and approachable entry point into wellness that matches her lifestyle and learning pace.
Christine, 28
The Social Music Lover
Christine is constantly surrounded by music — whether she’s out with friends, cooking dinner, or unwinding with a book. She’s always discovering new songs, sharing music moments, and looking for playlists that match her mood. For Christine, music is essential — and she wants an easier, more intuitive way to explore it.
“I need innovative ways to connect to music. I love my music but I want to listen to new stuff!
Behavior
Will look for songs based on what she hears in TikTok
Looks for songs based on mood and vibe
Uses friend suggestions and research to find new music
Looks at trends of favorite artists to find songs
Looks for playlists based on what people have created
Will find new songs based on AI suggestions
Frustrations
Stale or repetitive music suggestions
Inability to find songs by sound
Lack of organization tools for saved music
Genre-limited recommendations
Poor music discovery experience
Needs
Discover new music that aligns with her search behavior
Identify songs by sound
Explore playlists curated by both people and AI
Receive suggestions based on sound and genre
Organize music in a clear, structured way
See who else is listening to the same songs
Define
Problem Statement
What users want is simple — but not easy:
An experience that feels intuitive, personal, and meaningful. They want to discover music effortlessly, revisit what they’ve found, and feel confident that the app understands their taste — not just feed them generic charts or surface-level trends.
Our goal with Shazam is to remove the friction between discovery and connection — to turn quick song IDs into deeper experiences that are memorable, shareable, and tailored to each listener.
Christine needs simple and intuitive ways to discover and connect with songs they love, so they can explore new artists and grow their passion for music.
Refined Goal
At a high level, we were addressing two core objectives:
Goal From Shazam
Increase time users spend in the Shazam App to help connect users and their music.
Goal From Users
Connect to and discover new music more easily, to expand their love for music.
The New Shazam
The Place to Discover New Music
While these goals come from different sides, they’re surprisingly aligned — both point toward the same opportunity: transforming Shazam from a quick utility into a vibrant hub for music discovery.
Our redesign sets out to do just that: To make Shazam the go-to destination for discovering new music.
Feature Highlights
To better support music discovery, we introduced new features that directly address gaps found in our competitive analysis and user research.
Users want Shazam to be more social, more fun, and easier to explore. They’re looking for an experience that goes beyond song identification — one that helps them discover, connect, and engage.
With these insights in mind, we restructured the app’s information architecture and moved into sketching to bring these ideas to life.
Social
Friends List
Community Sharing
User Playlists
Discovery
Algorithm Playlists
Wrapped/Recap
Dynamic Suggestions
Information
Song Statistics
Stats in Your Area
User Playlists
Define
User Flows
To ensure a seamless experience, we mapped out the user journey from song identification to deeper discovery. This flow illustrates how users navigate Shazam’s new features — making it easier to find, save, and share music, while also introducing social elements that let them connect with others and explore what friends are listening to.
Define
Site Map
To improve user flow and feature discoverability within Shazam, I designed a revised sitemap that organizes the app into three primary sections: Home, Recommendations, and Profile, all accessible from a unified landing point.
This sitemap emphasizes a balance between utility (identifying music quickly), personalization, and social integration, positioning Shazam as not just a tool but a dynamic music discovery platform.
Develop
Sketches
With a clear direction in mind, we began sketching individually before regrouping to share ideas, refine concepts, and merge the strongest elements. This iterative back-and-forth was one of the most enjoyable parts of the process, allowing us to combine creativity with collaboration.
One key decision that emerged early on was the need for a bottom navigation bar to support the expanded functionality of our redesign. In the end, the final concept incorporated ideas from every team member, creating a cohesive foundation for the next design stages.
Develop
Lo-fi Wireframes
The Transformation
Our redesign introduced significant changes to Shazam, but it’s worth reflecting on the old experience. As our research repeatedly revealed, people like Shazam — but it only does one thing.
Looking at the old UI, it’s easy to see why: the interface centers around a single, dominant button. While effective for quick song identification, it offers little reason to explore further.
In our redesign, we aimed to highlight additional features while preserving Shazam’s core functionality. This balance became a guiding principle, creating a simple yet impactful way to encourage users to spend more time engaging with the app.
Old UI
New UI
Develop
Usability Testing
We developed a low- to mid-fidelity prototype and conducted usability testing to evaluate how well users could navigate the redesigned app. Our team created four tasks reflecting common use cases:
Identify a song – Ensuring the core Shazam functionality remained intuitive.
Add a song to a playlist and view it – Users initially found this challenging, with mixed success rates.
View recent activity – Profile-related navigation.
Find friends – Testing the new social integration.
The feedback revealed areas of confusion, particularly around playlist management. We used these insights to refine our design, making changes that better aligned with user needs and expectations.
One major request from users was the addition of dark mode. In our poll, 82% said they preferred it — especially for interfaces without heavy text. We implemented a darker UI to create a more immersive, comfortable listening experience that aligns with user preferences.
Prefer Dark Mode Generally
Develop
Style Guide
Since Shazam is owned by Apple, we wanted our redesign to align with Apple’s design ethos while adding a distinct Shazam twist.
For our wireframes, we chose Shazam’s lighter blue to provide higher contrast and better accessibility against the dark background. We also selected SF Pro, Apple’s default system font, to maintain a familiar, clean, and platform-consistent interface.
Throughout the prototype, we incorporated subtle blurred, diffuse lighting. The UI automatically pulls colors from album artwork to create soft, blurred backgrounds — adding depth, visual context, and a sense of immersion.
Design elements remain clean and consistent, featuring familiar icons, intuitive page controls, and clear contextual menus. Microinteractions and progress indicators enhance usability, bringing moments of delight without introducing visual clutter.
Colors
#FFFFFF
#0A84FF
#006BFF
#D9D9D9
#282828
Typography
Design Elements
Navigation Bars
Contextual Menus
Buttons
Page Controls
Deliver
Hi-fi Prototype
Deliver
Presentation Deck
Prefer a different format? Explore the presentation deck below.
Reflection
My Experience
Working on the Shazam redesign pushed me to think critically about how people discover and retain music in their daily lives. While Shazam excels at instant recognition, I noticed that users often lost track of identified songs or rarely engaged further with the platform. Through user research, I realized how essential it is to ground every decision in human-centered design.
I applied this mindset by conducting competitor analyses, mapping user flows, and prototyping features that prioritized retention. My key concepts included organizing songs into contextual playlists, adding more personalized discovery tools, and refining the visual hierarchy for smoother navigation. These explorations challenged me to balance functionality with simplicity, ensuring new features enhanced rather than overwhelmed the Shazam experience.
The most valuable takeaway was learning how to identify opportunities within an established product. Rather than reinventing Shazam, I focused on designing subtle yet impactful improvements that bridged user needs with the brand’s identity. This project strengthened my interaction design and prototyping skills and deepened my belief that thoughtful design emerges from observing everyday behaviors and creating solutions that bring lasting value.