Heuristic Analysis on Soundcloud App: Usability Violations

Stavroula Gregoriou

UX Designer

Product Designer

UI Designer

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Figma

Introduction: SoundCloud is a well-known music streaming platform that has gained significant usage and popularity. However, a heuristic analysis of the SoundCloud mobile application reveals several usability issues that could negatively impact the user experience. This case study focuses on five specific violations across various usability heuristics.

App Clone: The four screens at issue

VIOLATION No1

Rule of Thumb 1 — Visibility of System Status: The sender doesn’t know if the message has been seen or not. ‘Seen’ update under the message.

The Soundcloud app lacks a visible indicator for message status in the chat feature. Users are left in the dark about whether their sent messages have been seen or not. This violates the heuristic of “Visibility of system status,” which recommends providing feedback about the system’s current state.

VIOLATION No2

Rule of Thumb 2 — Match Between System and the Real World: My profile icon is missing from the home page. The user can only access their profile when visiting the library.

The absence of the user’s profile icon on the home page creates a mismatch between the system and the real world. Users expect to find their profile easily accessible from the home page, but the current design forces them to navigate to the library to access their profile. This violates the heuristic of “Match between the system and the real world.”

SOLUTIONS: LO-FI PROTOTYPE

Revamping the four primary focal screens.

VIOLATION No3

Rule of Thumb 3 — User Control and Freedom: The chat room does not provide a ‘cancel’ or ‘unsent’ option below the sent message.

The lack of a ‘cancel’ or ‘unsent’ option in the chat room limits user control and freedom. Users may inadvertently send messages or want to retract a message, but the absence of this feature hinders their ability to do so. This violates the heuristic of “User control and freedom.”

STYLE TILE

VIOLATION No4

Rule of Thumb 4 — Consistency and Standards: The trash icon is used for ‘Archive’ for the desktop.

Inconsistency in iconography, such as using the trash icon for ‘Archive’ on the desktop version, can confuse users and go against the heuristic of “Consistency and standards.” Users expect a certain level of uniformity in design elements, and deviations can lead to misunderstandings.

VIOLATION No4

Rule of Thumb 7 — Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: The Mini Track bar does not appear when the user selects to play a song from the ‘Feed’.

The absence of the mini track bar when playing a song from the ‘Feed’ reduces the flexibility and efficiency of use. Users should have access to essential controls, such as the track progress bar, regardless of where they initiate playback. This violation goes against the heuristic of “Flexibility and efficiency of use.”