Just like every citizen of a country follows its laws, designers follow their own. these laws are popularly known as laws of UX, it is explained much simply by Jon Yablonski at his website lawsofux.com.

Today, I’m going to tell you some of the laws of UX I find while using the Spotify app that designers use either intentionally or unintentionally, and also I hope this will tell you more about creating a better design.

So, without any delay let’s start with the first law that Spotify follows..

1. Jakob’s Law

“Users spend most of their time on other apps. This means that users prefer your app to work the same way as all the other apps they already know.”

If you used any kind of music player before using Spotify, then using Spotify feels similar because of its control, it is made according to the people, from decades people are using music players like this.. play/pause button with skipping songs/music button, etc.

Jakob’s law states that we must make our website core design similar to our competitors, we should not design everything new, making everything new makes the user learn your app first to make it useful for the user which is a kind of complex work and user avoid complexity.

So make the design look similar at its core to other similar apps and change the uppermost layer of design, like typography, visual hierarchy, cards, button, colors, etc.

2. Aesthetic-Usability Effect

“Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that’s more usable.”

Spotify’s design is both eye-pleasing and useful, the dark mode with green color looks great aesthetically which means Spotify follows the Aesthetic-Usability Effect.

According to the Aesthetic Usability Effect, the user perceives good-looking design as more useful or great in user experience. this is a human brain bias or something but designers use them for their benefit.

This is the reason why so many dribbble UI become trendy, but using it wisely can give designers the power to make something very useful and good looking.

3. Miller’s Law

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

Spotify creates a collection for the user to listen to which makes the task of the user much easier as they have to choose from the lesser option, which makes the task of user easy and gives a sense of freedom, which is the core of miller’s law.

According to miller’s law, the average user only keeps track of 7 items, more than that can overwhelm them, as there are billions of songs on Spotify choosing best for the user is a heavy task which Spotify does best.

Spotify algorithm shows the best song according to the previous listings and playlist, liked songs, etc.

So, try providing fewer options to users as more of them can do more harm than good.

4. Fitt’s Law

“The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.”

Spotify makes the button easy to reach, many Spotify buttons can be accessible using one hand and this means Spotify follows Fitt’s law.

According to fitt’s law the size and distance of the target can affect the timing of achieving that target, so making the element bigger and easy to access any app can reduce its time for acquiring targets, for example clicking buttons, selecting elements, etc.

Make your elements reachable with one hand so that the user can comfortably select the button and achieve its goal.

5. Law of Proximity

“Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together.”

Spotify UI is full of the law of proximity, every element is visually bundled together to show various songs of different categories by maintaining the distance between them using white space.

According to the Law of Proximity, the more elements close together the more the people perceive them together.

6. Law of Similarity

“The human eye tends to perceive similar elements in a design as a complete picture, shape, or group, even if those elements are separated.”

Spotify uses different shapes to define artists, song, podcasts, etc. which helps them in defining the different meaning of the elements and give the user a clear picture. when a user sees a round profile he/she knows that it is of an artist.

According to the Law of Similarity, the human eye matches similar items together, and Spotify uses it to make users understand various elements.

7. Law of Common Region

“Elements tend to be perceived into groups if they are sharing an area with a clearly defined boundary.”

Spotify uses the kind of tips and notifications inside the app which is inside the rectangle to separate them from the rest of the UI design.

According to the Law of Common region, the element that shares a common region tends to perceive together and this is best used by Spotify to show notifications, songs, playlist, artist profile, liked songs, etc. by providing them a background.

Final Notes & Links

Spotify is a great app in terms of UI and UX design, I know I missed several things but I request you to find those things on your own and share some other laws that Spotify follows in the comment below. thanks.

for those who want to see the full design of the Spotify app for iOS and Android click the link below or go here.

https://mobbin.design/apps/spotify

And for more laws of UX design click the link below or go here.

https://lawsofux.com/