Senior Product Designer
Figma, User Testing,
Google Forms, Photoshop
1 Director, 1 Design Manager,
1 Content Writer, 1 Senior Product Designer
With its diverse range of programming and a long history of satellite radio, Sirius XM is seen as a leader in audio entertainment within the car. However, in their app they faced significant usability challenges that hindered its ability to deliver a seamless and enjoyable user experience. Despite offering an extensive library of high-quality content, the app's dated interface failed to reflect its brand. The app faced several usability challenges related to navigation, content, anchoring, and UI consistency. Users reported feeling overwhelmed by the cluttered layout and unintuitive navigation, making it difficult to discover, access, and personalize their listening experience. To remain competitive in a crowded streaming landscape, SiriusXM set out to reimagine its app design and create a visually modern, intuitive, and user-centered experience that aligns with its premium content offerings.
Screenshots from the previous design. Functional but not very user-centric.
After project kickoff, research strategy and objectives were defined. The team prioritized an in-depth understanding of our target audience and their challenges.
We explored four unique personas representing a different type of user - Channel Centric Carl, Sports Fan Sam, On Demand Diane and Oscar the OG Fan. The goal was to understand their needs, frustrations, and habits.
This exercise helped identify key motivations like quick access to favorite content, personalized recommendations, and simple navigation. Insights from the personas guided decisions for redesigning the app, focusing on a cleaner interface, better discovery features, and improved usability.
We created user journey maps to understand how users experience key areas of the SiriusXM app. The task performed focused on common use cases for example landing on the "For You" section, Search, downloading shows, and favoriting. We identified user expectations, actions, pain points and opportunities for improvement. These insights helped us pinpoint areas for improvement and guided the redesign to better meet user needs.
To address the issue of users frequently struggling to differentiate between various content types, a card sorting exercise was deployed to gather insights how users perceive and categorize the various types of content. Using the card sorting feedback as guidance we divided content into 7 categories - channel, show, artist related, video content, for you, bundles and on the pulse. This will have a direct effect on how content cards are designed.
We examined key competitors including music streaming platforms, podcast services, and other live radio apps with a focus on features like navigation, personalization, search functionality, and content discovery. We also identified gaps in competitor offerings like inconsistent live content presentation and limited cross-content recommendations which provided opportunities to differentiate SiriusXM.
These exercises helped us identify ways to create a simpler and clearer user experience. The complexity of the app's content and structure is causing users to feel overwhelmed. We can also minimize repetition across tabs and introduce a more personal first tab to anchor the user. Moving the Settings and Recent tabs to a different location will improve navigation. Finally, a refined content strategy will make the app easier to understand and give users more confidence to explore.
Using the insights from research, we began to reimagine the app's information architecture to create an experience that better aligns with users mental models. Our goal was to streamline content categorization and prioritize high-value features.
We audited the information architecture of the SiriusXM app to guide redesign decisions. We reviewed how content was organized, labeled, and accessed by users.
The goal was to simplify navigation and make content discovery easier. By identifying confusing menus and redundant sections, we created a clearer structure. This helped prioritize features like quick access to live shows and personalized recommendations. The improved information architecture ensured a smoother user experience.
Moderated user testing provided critical insights for enhancing the SiriusXM app, with a focus on exploring different configurations for the main navigation. The study involved six participants representing our personas and revealed valuable feedback on how users discovered and interacted with various app sections. The findings ultimately guided us toward a streamlined menu design, consolidating overlapping elements from multiple sections to improve usability and clarity.
We found users preferred a simplified nav. Consequently, for the primary nav we landed on a 3-tab nav of Discover, Favorites, and Search. However, certain concepts of For You, Live, and On-Demand were integrated into the Discovery and Favorites sections. The flow map and information architecture audit allowed us to zero iron out a more efficient and user friendly information architecture combining that effort with the moderated tests lead us to an information architecture that was much more grounded in user-centered design.
With a revised information architecture in hand, we began diving into not only modernizing the look and feel of the app but also to solve key design issues users were having.
As part of a design hack we collected a mood board of different modern aesthetics and vibes as inspiration. Each team member then did a series of 1 minute sketches to generate ideas. The top ideas voted upon were then fleshed out.
After the design hackathon we went about addressing the issue users had with confusing different types of content with each another. Using the card sorting feedback as guidance we took the 7 categories - channel, show, artist related, video content, recently played, bundles and hero cards - and gave them each a unique form users could identify at a glance. In testing we found that users were happy to adapt to the forms. An 8-point grid was used to give structure to the designs.
Finally, after integrating insights from our research, a thoughtfully mapped information architecture, and diligently designed content cards, we were able to craft high-fidelity designs that seamlessly aligned user needs with business objectives. Together, these elements created a cohesive and user-friendly interface that brought the SiriusXM experience to life.
The redesign of the SiriusXM app was an opportunity to reimagine the user experience from the ground up. Our research-driven approach—anchored in personas, journey mapping, and usability testing—helped us simplify navigation, enhance personalization, and create a more intuitive interface. By addressing key user pain points, we not only improved usability but also set the stage for continuous innovation.
When the new iOS, Android, and web designs launched in November 2022, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Collaborating closely with product and marketing teams, we refreshed the App Store presence with new visuals, descriptions, and marketing materials. Feedback confirmed what our testing had suggested: users found it easier and faster to access the content they cared about.
Beyond usability, the redesigned visual language and architecture had a profound impact on perception reinforcing SiriusXM’s identity as a premium streaming service. The changes led to immediate gains in user retention and engagement, particularly in the Browse/Discover sections. The success of the redesign was further highlighted when it was featured at SXM’s investor day, with the CEO showcasing it live on CNBC.
More than just a single update, this redesign laid the foundation for the future of SiriusXM’s streaming product. By creating a scalable, user-centered experience, we opened the door for even greater design and feature improvements. Today, SiriusXM maintains a 4.8/5-star rating on the App Store and ranks among the top 10 U.S. music apps—a testament to the impact of thoughtful, research-driven design.
