When it came to brainstorming time, we realized that we didn’t just want to simply design a new feature within Spotify’s existing digital infrastructure, or re-design the inbox and messaging feature that used to exist.
Our primary goal for our design solution was to enable personal connection. Every individual has a unique and intensely personal experience of music. Music’s nostalgic power is unparalleled, but that sense of nostalgia has faded away with the immediacy and overload of digital streaming.
We kept coming back to the idea of postcards. As physical mementos, they live on our fridge doors and in keepsake boxes, like old mixtapes and CDs. Stumbling across a postcard you received years ago can instantly trigger fond memories and transport you to a different time and place—just like hearing a song you haven’t heard in years. Sending a postcard is such a simple way of telling someone “Hey, I’m thinking of you”—just like sending them a song.
Postcards were the inspiration behind our proposal for Spotify to innovate and transform music sharing through a multidimensional, joyful, human-centric experience.