Enhancing Curation
to Drive Streaming.

Spotify

Senior Product Designer

My role

As a Product Designer at Spotify, I led the design phases for the internal content curation platform used by music editors. Our mission was to streamline workflows, increase efficiency, and explore new tools to support editors in their daily work.

The redesign delivered a more effective, intuitive, and scalable toolset for music editors, enabling them to curate content faster and with greater precision. This directly improved the personalization and relevance of music recommendations for users, contributing to increased engagement and growth in both daily active users (DAU) and monthly active users (MAU).

EXPERIENCE LED

DISCOVERY

HANDS-ON

PROTOTYPING

PRODUCT DELIVERY

USER INTERVIEWS

DESIGN EXCELLENCE

CONCEPT

INTERNAL TOOL

Opportunities

Improving Music Editors’ Workflow

How might we design tools that make content curation faster, more precise, and more scalable?

Improving Music Editors’ Workflow

How might we design tools that make content curation faster, more precise, and more scalable?

Driving User Engagement

How might we improve curation tools so they directly boost streaming frequency and retention?

Driving User Engagement

How might we improve curation tools so they directly boost streaming frequency and retention?

Better Content Curation

How might we enable editors to create more personalized and relevant playlists for different user moments?

Discovery

How might we balance editor-driven curation with algorithmic recommendations to provide the best experience for listeners?

Collaboration with Editors

How might we co-create with editors to ensure tools reflect their real needs and working styles?

Collaboration with Editors

How might we co-create with editors to ensure tools reflect their real needs and working styles?

Research

How might we explore different design approaches through prototypes and gather feedback in rapid cycles?

Research

How might we explore different design approaches through prototypes and gather feedback in rapid cycles?

Prototyping a New
Tool for Music Editors.

Approach

Discovery & Research

Conduct in-depth interviews and shadowing with music editors to map daily workflows, pain points, and needs. Analyze editor task data (time spent, bottlenecks, error rates) to spot inefficiencies.

Discovery & Research

Conduct in-depth interviews and shadowing with music editors to map daily workflows, pain points, and needs. Analyze editor task data (time spent, bottlenecks, error rates) to spot inefficiencies.

Workflow Mapping & Vision

Map the end-to-end curation journey (from content selection to playlist building to publishing). Identify areas where automation, better UI, or improved search could save time. Co-create a future workflow vision with editors, aligning with Spotify’s strategy of delivering music for every moment.

Workflow Mapping & Vision

Concept Development & Prototyping

Explore multiple design approaches for workflows (task-based dashboards, AI-assisted suggestions, bulk editing tools). Build interactive prototypes and validate directly with editors in tight feedback loops. Iterate rapidly to ensure solutions match real-world editorial needs.

Measuring Impact on Editors & Users

Define UX outcomes: reduced task completion time, fewer errors, higher editor satisfaction. Connect improvements in editor workflows to user-facing outcomes: better personalization, higher engagement.

Measuring Impact on Editors & Users

Designing for Efficiency

Introduce flexible tools (e.g., bulk actions, tagging, smart search) to handle both mainstream and niche content. Collaborate with engineering to maintain performance and reliability for large-scale editorial operations.

Collaboration & Continuous Learning

Run regular feedback sessions with editors to keep improving post-launch. Align with product and data science to connect editor tools to user experience to business KPIs.

Collaboration & Continuous Learning

Run regular feedback sessions with editors to keep improving post-launch. Align with product and data science to connect editor tools to user experience to business KPIs.

Build, Measure, and Learn.

Impact and Outcomes

Faster & More Efficient Workflows for Editors

Streamlined tools reduced repetitive tasks and improved search/navigation. Editors could curate and publish playlists faster and with greater accuracy.

Faster & More Efficient Workflows for Editors

Streamlined tools reduced repetitive tasks and improved search/navigation. Editors could curate and publish playlists faster and with greater accuracy.

Higher Quality & More Personalized Curation

Editors gained more flexible and scalable tools to tailor content to different user moments (study, gym, relax). Balanced automation with editor-driven creativity led to richer, more relevant playlists.

Increased User Engagement (DAU & MAU Growth

Better curation translated directly into higher daily and monthly active users. Users streamed more often because recommendations felt timelier, more relevant, and more human.

Increased User Engagement (DAU & MAU Growth

Better curation translated directly into higher daily and monthly active users. Users streamed more often because recommendations felt timelier, more relevant, and more human.

Strengthened Internal Design Practice

Close collaboration with editors established a user-centered design process within Spotify’s internal tooling. Prototypes and testing cycles helped bridge design, product, and editorial teams

Strengthened Internal Design Practice

Close collaboration with editors established a user-centered design process within Spotify’s internal tooling. Prototypes and testing cycles helped bridge design, product, and editorial teams