Welcome to Episode 1 in “The Power of Why in UX Design” series. This series is focused on using the “Asking Why” technique to break down user-submitted “Bad UX” decisions — not only is it a thought exercise to help me become more empathetic in my design approach, but to also help others challenge popular thinking, break through bias, and lead to the crafting of stellar user experiences! Have a bad UX example? Share in the comments below!

Designing for the fold — Apple Music Shelf

Today, a colleague shared a screen recording of Apple Music with the comment that the “Shuffle” and “Repeat” buttons positioned below the fold were problematic. Apparently, the feature was such an issue that my colleague actually had to go to Google to find out how to disable the “Shuffle” feature.

It’s also worth noting that my colleague was previously an Android user and a major advocate for (and paid subscriber to) Spotify Premium… so naturally, I was a bit suspicious that these were potentially biased reactions — but still, let’s give it a run through the “Why” machine.

Why would Apple do this?

I think a natural reaction to this issue would be to ask “Why would Apple make this mistake? Apple’s a big enough company that can afford to do plenty of user testing and hire top design talent. A mistake like this is unacceptable!”

As I mentioned in my first article “The power of Why for crafting stellar user experiences”, I discuss that with companies as big as Apple… what the user perceives as a glaring mistake is incredibly unlikely to be an oversight, but instead, a decision based on a lot of information we simply don’t have access to. The article also suggests that a better practice would simply be to ask “why” to investigate why Apple would make that type of decision.

Apple may have opted for a cleaner view within the shelf, prioritizing controls that allow you to have a more immersive and continuous experience over settings that you typically set and forget.

You can easily categorize functionality above and below the fold into two groups — features that contribute to a more positive and continuous music playing experience, and features that potentially disrupt it.

The Rewind, Pause, Fast Forward buttons (and volume slider) allow users to directly control the music that you already have playing. The Save to Device, Play on Another Device, and More (…) buttons allow users to have greater control over the song itself, even going so far as to extend their experience and make it more enjoyable. And lastly, we have Shuffle and Repeat… below the fold. Both features, when engaged, potentially leads to the user having to open their phone to affect the music that is playing. If you use the shuffle button, what if you don’t like or want to listen to the song that it played? If you toggled the repeat button, how many times are you going to listen to a song before you change it?

Dwight: “Why don’t you just buy the whole song?” Michael: “I don’t have to buy it. I just want to taste it… I just want a lil’ taste of it.”

In the case of Michael Scott as seen in the clip from The Office (Season 3, Episode 10: Benihana Christmas), apparently Michael would sit there all day sulking and playing that song over and over. And, while a valid use case, this is distinctly an edge case that advocates for an experience that (when applied to the iPhone) actually requires the user to pull out their device and engage with it.

As seen in this scene from Steve Jobs (2015), Jobs’ vision is present in all things Apple… simpler, more human-centric, and based in an experience that works and feels like an extension of yourself. Stopping to pull out your device to make a change breaks that experience and makes it device-centric. So, following in Jobs’ line of thinking… isn’t the best experience one that doesn’t require a device at all?

Key Takeaways

Designing for the fold is very important to consider in UX design. If possible, look at your analytics data to see what functions or controls people use the most. Imagine how those users use your app at home, at work, on the road, and while engaging in recreational activities (biking, exercising, vacation, etc). Consider the fact that we are rapidly moving towards predictive technology in the form of AI and Machine Learning, and how voice and gesture controls will certainly start to take precedent over device-centric actions like “tapping” and “swiping”. All of these concepts can help you make the best possible decision when designing for the fold… and beyond.