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Tribes

Curiosity is better in company

Tribes is a community-driven discovery platform that turns learning into play. It adapts to your interests by forming ever-changing micro-communities, or “tribes,” based on your habits and curiosities.

Drawing inspiration from Spotify, Tribes uses what it knows about you, from music habits and profession to age and listening patterns, to create random, hyper-personalised micro-communities. These tribes refresh weekly, offering fresh content and new opportunities for discovery.

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Course

Industry Project, 2 weeks

Collaborator

Gayatri Kalra

Advisors

Simon Herzog, Matteo Signorini

Role

User research, UX, digital prototyping

Process

This project is password protected

Over the course of a week, we interviewed more than ten Gen Z users and content creators to understand how they lear n and engage with content online; their habits, platforms, and motivations behind what they choose to consume.

We identified three opportunities: using networks as inspiration, boredom as a gateway to discovery, and micro-communities to build belonging; leading to our question:
How might we turn curiosity into lasting engagement?

Our project reimagines the “Learn” tab as a space for unstructured discovery rather than a traditional course platform. Instead of formal lessons, it curates podcasts, video sessions, audio articles, and audiobooks—encouraging exploration through curiosity, not curriculum.

The Concept

Tribes turns learning into play by forming ever-changing micro-communities based on your interests.

Inspired by Spotify, it uses your habits to create hyper-personalised tribes that refresh weekly, unlocking fresh content and new discoveries.

Entry point

This feature exists under a Spotify"learn" tab. 6 new tribes get added weekly based on user’s interests and listening habits. Users scroll down to get started

Weekly tribes pages

Tribe pages show the niche community, the day’s core learning content, and mutual friends. You can follow tribes to add them to your permanent archive.

The summary

L- After exploring, a summary of the new and old tribes appear in your archive. R- Clicking on the mutual tribe takes you to the curated playlist of content in that tribe - updated daily.

Discovering friends

L- Opening up a friend’s page first shows the mutual tribe you’re a part of, then allowing you to swipe through their

personal content R- You can see your friend’s favourite content for the month and their personal thoughts on the topic

L- Opening up a friend’s page first shows the mutual tribe you’re a part of, then allowing you to swipe through their personal content R- You can see your friend’s favourite content for the month and their personal thoughts on the topic

L- Opening up a friend’s page first shows the mutual tribe you’re a part of, then allowing you to swipe through their personal content
R- You can see your friend’s favourite content for the month and their personal thoughts on the topic

Closing the loop

Other friends can get notified when you follow a tribe they’re a part of - sparking conversation between your network

Value to the client & customers

Here are a few reasons this solution was attractive for Spotify and future learners.

Design principles

Tribes is built around frequent discovery, with a personalised and adaptable experience that evolves with each user. Social networks act as a trigger for curiosity, making Tribes an easy and engaging entry point into learning.

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