Everything about experiencing Postcard Thing is intentionally designed, down to the fact that you can’t listen to a Postcard mix on shuffle. We took Spotify’s move to remove the default shuffle button for albums (as per Adele’s request) a step further. This design decision was directly informed by feedback from user testing.
Many of our younger users shared that when they’re making a playlist for someone they care about, they invest a lot of effort into the order and flow of the songs—which goes underappreciated when the mix is played on shuffle. Meanwhile, our older users—one of whom was eager to show us a box of from 30 years ago that she dug up for our interview—recalled fondly being able to remember the exact sequence of songs on mixtapes they got from their special someone.