Spotify Goes Over To The Dark Side With A New Makeover

Spotify has just released a huge update to the entire platform that brings an entirely new look and feel to the app, as well as a few updated features.

The new look features a dark background, with a new typography as well. Media is front-and-center in the new layout, with big cover art across Discovery pages, as well as rounded out icons for artist pages.

The redesign covers web, desktop, and iPhone, and is meant to highlight content above all else. The team first looked at the redesign with major over-arching principles, namely that content be highlighted, and that the Spotify brand stand out as authentic and simple.

“We want your friend, peeking over your shoulder, to recognize Spotify open on your computer,” said director of product development Michelle Kadir. “And that means making sure the brand has a clear identity in the world, and looks and feels the same across any platform.”

After building out prototypes with this vision in mind, the team went through numerous phases of research including in-person interviews with users, large-scale surveys, and even pushing a beta version of the redesign to a small group of users. All signs pointed to a darker background, “where the content can come forward and everything else can slip away,” said Kadir.

“We like to use the metaphor of a movie theater, but it’s true with any type of art,” she said. “The best way to make the art pop is to put it against a dark background.”

The team also introduced a couple new features alongside the redesign, including new tools for Your Music, as well as Browsing options. Now, when browsing, you will be able to click “save” next to any album, artist, or song and have that content saved under your account. This way you can go back and add it to a playlist later, rather than building something on the spot.

Spotify has also added new browsing functionality, with featured playlists. These are served up to the user based on the time of day and your location, not unlike what Songza does with Concierge, to deliver something that will fit your mood or activity.