YouTube Music
From Solo Listening to Shared Discovery
USE ARROWS
CLICK TO OPEN
PROBLEM
00 - OVERVIEW
YouTube is built on community.
YouTube Music wasn’t.
This project explored why a product under YouTube’s brand felt isolating at the exact moment music discovery should feel social — and how that friction quietly pushed users toward competing platforms.
Our team reimagined YouTube Music as a shared listening experience by introducing live listening, collaborative playlists, and flexible privacy controls — designed to add social context without increasing cognitive load.
Through research, iteration, and A/B testing with 14 users, we validated a direction that made social discovery feel intuitive and safe, with 85% of users preferring the final design direction.
Tools: Figma, FigJam Methods: User interviews, usability testing, A/B testing (NN/g SUS)
Team: 6 designers Timeline: 4 weeks (2024)
My Role: UI/UX Designer, interaction design
01 - THE moment it broke
YouTube thrives on community.
Comments, creators, reactions, shared moments — it’s baked into the platform’s DNA.
But when I opened YouTube Music, something felt off.
Listening felt lonely.
No sense of what friends were listening to.
No shared playlists.
No moments of “you should hear this.”
It raised a simple but uncomfortable question:
Why does YouTube Music feel more isolated than every other YouTube product?
No Social Features in current UI
02 - It wasn't just me
To understand whether this was just a personal feeling, we started digging.
We analyzed app reviews, online discussions, and competitor platforms — then interviewed 4 users with different music habits and backgrounds.
The patterns were immediate:
Users loved YouTube Music’s algorithm accuracy
They valued the audio + video flexibility
But they consistently described the experience as “isolated”
What they said stuck with us:
“If YouTube Music had shared playlists, I’d probably stop using Spotify.”
“I want to see what my friends are listening to — that’s how I find new music.”
“Music discovery is better when it feels social.”
Users weren’t asking for a new algorithm.
They were asking for connection.
03 - the competitive reality
We looked outward.
Spotify, SoundCloud, and NetEase Cloud Music all treat social behavior as a first-class feature:
Friend activity feeds
Collaborative playlists
Visible listening behavior
Shared discovery loops
YouTube Music, ironically, had the strongest content ecosystem — but none of the social glue.
Reframe:
YouTube Music didn’t need better recommendations.
It needed better shared moments.
Competitor's Social Features
SOLUtion
04 - Choosing a direction
Feature Ideation Map
We didn’t want to “socialize everything.”
Through research, we identified three moments where social interaction actually mattered:
Discovering new music
Listening together
Sharing taste without oversharing
From this, we focused on three core ideas:
Live listening sessions
Collaborative playlists
Explicit privacy controls
The goal wasn’t noise.
It was optional connection.
05 - Designing for comfort, not just exposure
Privacy controls and visibility settings UI
One concern surfaced repeatedly during interviews:
privacy.
Users wanted social features — but not surveillance.
So we designed visibility as a choice:
Toggle listening activity on/off
Control who sees what
Separate public sharing from private habits
This was a turning point:
social features only work when users feel safe opting in.
Result
06 - Testing the experience
We built two mid-to-high fidelity prototype directions using the same feature set, but different layouts and interaction hierarchies.
We then ran A/B testing with 14 participants (28 total flow completions):
50% started with Prototype A
50% with Prototype B
SUS-based questionnaires + qualitative interviews
The results were clear:
85% preferred Prototype B
Users described it as “intuitive,” “social,” and “easy to navigate”
Visual grouping and clearer hierarchy reduced cognitive load
One participant said:
“This actually feels like YouTube now.”
Protoype A
Prototype B
07 - what this project taught me
This project reinforced a few things I now design by:
Community isn’t a feature — it’s a feeling
Social UX must be opt-in, not imposed
Good design removes friction without demanding attention
Testing clarifies direction faster than opinions ever will
More than anything, it taught me how to design connection without pressure.
08 - why this project matters
YouTube Music didn’t lack content.
It lacked shared experience.
This case study shows how research, restraint, and iteration can turn a technically strong product into a more human one — without reinventing the system underneath.
09 - Thank you
Music is personal.
Discovery is emotional.
Connection is what makes it stick.
