7 UX Laws Spotify Follows

Just as citizens abide by the laws of a country, designers abide by their own rules. They are commonly known as the laws of UX design. On lawsoux.com, John Jablonsky explains them in an accessible way.

In this article, you will learn about some of the laws of UX design that have been discovered while using the Spotify app. Perhaps this information will help you in creating the best design.

So, without further ado, let’s start with the first law that Spotify follows.

1. Jacob’s law

“Users spend most of their time on other apps. This means that they prefer your service to work the same as the rest, in which they are already well versed.

Surely, before getting to know Spotify, you listened to music on the player more than once. Spotify’s interface is similar to the one that has been used in music players for decades. Play/pause button, the ability to skip to the next piece, etc. As soon as you enter the application, you will immediately feel a sense of control over the system.

Jacob’s Law states that the design of a website should be similar to that of competitors. You should not develop something radically new. In this case, a person will first have to understand the application before starting to use it. This is a difficult job for them. And people, as a rule, avoid difficulties.

Therefore, it is better to make the main design similar to other similar applications. And you can change elements such as typography, visual hierarchy, cards, buttons, colors, etc.

2. Aesthetic usability effect

People often perceive aesthetically pleasing designs as being more user-friendly.”

Spotify’s design is both aesthetic and intuitive. Dark mode using green looks great. This means that Spotify adheres to the usability aesthetic effect.

According to this law of UX design, a user a priori perceives a beautiful design as useful and convenient. It’s a human brain bias or something, but designers use it to their advantage.

For this reason, many dribble interfaces are becoming popular. Their judicious use as references can give designers the opportunity to realize a really useful and beautiful project.

3. Miller’s Law

“The average person can only hold 7 (plus or minus 2) items in working memory.”

Spotify creates collections of music to listen to. They greatly simplify the task for the user, since he has to choose from fewer options. As a result, this gives a person a feeling of freedom, which is a key feature of Miller’s law.

The average person can only keep 7 elements in their head. If there are more of them, then the cognitive load on the user increases. There are billions of songs in the Spotify app, and choosing the best ones is a difficult task. But Spotify does a good job of tackling it.

The Spotify algorithm suggests ringtones to a person based on recent plays, playlists, tunes they like, etc.

Try to give users fewer choices. A wide choice will do them more harm than good.

4. Fitts Law

“The time it takes to reach a goal depends on the distance to it and its size.”

Spotify makes it easy to reach the target. Many of their buttons can be pressed while holding the phone with one hand. This means that Spotify follows Fitts’ law.

According to him, the size of the goal and the distance to it can affect the time taken to achieve this goal. Increasing the size of an element and making it easier to access can reduce the time it takes to complete a target action, such as pressing buttons, selecting elements, and so on.

Make objects so that the user can easily reach them with one hand. Then it will be convenient for him to press the button and perform targeted actions.

5. Law of Proximity

“Objects that are near or in close proximity to each other are perceived as part of the same group.”

The Law of Proximity is used throughout Spotify’s user interface. All similar elements are visually linked together. This helps to display ringtones within the same category while maintaining the distance between them using spaces.

According to the law of proximity, the more elements are close to each other, the better people understand that they are part of a group.

6. Law of similarity

“The human eye tends to perceive similar design elements as a complete picture, shape, or group, even when they are separate.”

Spotify uses different forms to identify artists, songs, podcasts, and more. This helps the user navigate the interface better. When a person sees a round element, he immediately understands that this is the profile of the performer.

According to the Law of Similarity, the human eye ranks similar elements in the same group. Spotify uses it so that users can quickly identify each item’s category.

7. Law of the general area

“Elements tend to be perceived as part of a group if they are united by a well-defined boundary.”

Spotify uses in-app prompts and notifications. They are inside a rectangle to separate them from the rest of the UI content.

According to the Law of the Common Area, elements that are visually combined tend to be perceived as a whole. Spotify applies this rule to display notifications, songs, playlists, artist profiles, liked songs, etc. by creating a separate watermark for each group.

Conclusion

Overall, Spotify is a great app in terms of user interface and UX design.