Pandora previews UI redesign with emphasis on thumbing, new Station Personalization and more

Pandora (Station Personalization, iPhone screenshot 001)

Pandora, the popular U.S. based music streaming and automated music recommendation service, on Tuesday showed off an upcoming iPhone app update sporting a revamped interface with new Station Personalization features, greater focus on thumbing and more.

Though still a few weeks away, developers were kind enough to share a few screenshots showing the streamlined interface featuring a thumbs-up icon on the Now Playing screen for rating songs, personalized genre and artist suggestions at the top of your list of stations and more.

The first thing you’ll notice are numerous new transitions and animations. For example, the visual indication of the station and the station name flies out gently from the station list into the Now Playing screen.

The Personalization Icon in the top right of the Now Playing screen takes you to a brand new Station Details screen where you can submit song ratings by tapping the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon.

Your history and artist details can be found on the Station Details screen as well, in addition to options to rename the station, add variety to the listening experience of that station and see what artist or songs the station was created from.

Check out a video preview of the upcoming Pandora 5.6

To see what’s played on the station, just swipe left. To reveal more information about the song you’re listening to, tap the song or artist name or swipe up to reveal song details.

According to a media release, key highlights of Pandora’s iPhone refresh include:

  • A Redesigned interface: Listeners now encounter a fresh, evolved design that brings station personalization to the forefront of the listener experience. The application’s new look builds on Pandora’s principles of simple and clear design and lays the foundation for future updates that will be driven by listener feedback. Also, with new transitions from the Station List to the Now Playing screen, listeners now have ultimate clarity on sense of place when navigating their listening experience.
  • Enhanced station personalization capabilities: Through the new Personalization Icon, listeners have easy access to features that give them a more holistic view of their Pandora stations. These features include the ability to view comprehensive thumb history and adjust thumb feedback for previously listened-to tracks through a new “un-thumbing” capability.
  • Improved artist discovery: With this redesign, listeners will have even easier access to artist information. Simple “swipe and tap” navigation gives listeners access to song details so they can learn more about new artists along with their favorites.

Sadly, only the iPhone edition of Pandora will receive a facelift, with its iPad counterpart due for refresh at a later date. Pandora is currently serving more than 75 million listeners each month.

Pandora for iOS is available free in the App Store.

Shown on the image top of post: history at left, station details in the middle and the revamped Now Playing screen at right.

[Pandora Blog]