Music Websites’ Comparison - UX Analysis

The Information Architecture

For Spotify the Information Architecture is Minimalistic with very few options to choose from - Going easy on user and reducing the cognitive load of the user with quick options to choose from

Menu options are presented vertically in the top left of the screen Which is also positively the most viewed portion of any online site by maximum users based on historic eye tracking studies

In Gaana the Information Architecture is spanned wider with many options to choose from.

Menu options are presented horizontally with more than Seven options to choose.

Brand Language

In Spotify, the user specific keyword is the Third option - Your Library

In Gaana, the user specific keyword is placed last in the list of left to right options - My Music

In this case Gaana is better because it is using the USER’s Context - The user’s mental model of - “My Music” which sounds more personal than - “Your Library” because the word “your” is in second person context whereas “my” is first person.

Commercials

The commercial part is a bit too highlighted in Gaana with “Go Ad Free” and “Gaana Plus” are associated with Gaana’s Brand Red Color depicting continuity and leading the Eye Queue to the commercial aspect.

Spotify on the other hand goes easy on the user with a single word - “Premium” suggesting user discretion and not being too pushy on the commercials.

Post Login

Spotify greets the user with a “Good Evening” or a “Good Morning” depending on the time of the day based on the geopositioning of the user. This experience is a welcome gesture for any user and it does make one feel good. In Gaana this welcome greeting is missing.

Spotify additionally pampers the user by displaying the user’s name as well as display pic icon (if added) Gaana on the other hand only shows the icon

Color Theme

Gaana’s two colored Theme of Red and White looks neat

Gaana also offers users; dark or light theme to choose from with the default theme being the light theme.

Spotify’s Dark default theme in Black and white looks drab and the Green color of the brand is missing in the default theme. The user interface does not display theme change options readily however the default dark theme promotes battery saving for mobile interfaces.

Signup

Spotify seems to be promoting Single Sign-on by placing multiple options first

Here Spotify offers easy to the user providing multiple options like Facebook, Apple, Google and Mobile

This approach enhances the user experience by offering the extremely easy to use options first and makes the user journey a cakewalk

Unlike Gaana which suggests user mobile or email based login first and then offers Single sign-on as an alternative. Gaana misses on offering easy login to apple users!