Project Summary
Problem
Streaming enthusiasts feel frustrated about the lack of interactivity and customization options on existing platforms and they want to engage more actively in content curation and pair-watching but face restrictions in platform capabilities.
Solution
Streaming services have tapped into secondary user television needs, but they haven't fully capitalized on a market that values shared experiences. 'BingeBuddies' addresses this by connecting users watching the same program or movie. It allows them to easily share reactions and explore others' responses, fostering a sense of communal viewing.
My Role
Project Manager
UX Designer
My Responsibilities
- Project Management
- Scrum lead
- UI Design
- Competitive Analysis
- Project Proposal
- Presentation Development
User Research
Our Plan to Gather Insights
Our research aimed to understand the influence of community and group watching in the streaming service market and user experience, exploring whether these elements played a significant role in shaping the industry and user preferences. In addition, to uncover the role of social influence, we investigated how feedback from both close social circles and online communities impacted users' decision-making when it came to selecting shows.
Lastly, in this case study, we sought to gauge user sentiments regarding technologies designed to facilitate shared watching and content creation, determining how these technologies impact user perceptions and behaviors in the context of streaming services.
Pain Point
- The inability to control what content appears on feeds and in categories, and, the categories themselves.
Pain Point
- No easy way to join to and/or access what other friends and family are watching.
Pain Point
- Little freedom with how content is categorized and displayed, and even less with how viewers can respond to content. Texts reviews can be the only way.
Pain Point
- The review system is quite skewed. Poor reviews can lead to a common entertainment pet peeve: wasting time.
User Persona
The Market
Wireframes
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Style Guide
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Hifi Mockups
Elevating Design with User-Centered Precision
In the quest to create exceptional user experiences, I embarked on a journey from lo-fi to hi-fi design, guided by invaluable user feedback and rigorous UAT. Here's a glimpse of the transformation:
- Low-Fidelity Beginnings: The journey commenced with low-fidelity iterations - the raw canvas upon which ideas took shape. Simple wireframes and sketches allowed for quick ideation and the exploration of multiple design directions.
- User-Centric Refinement: Armed with feedback from real users, the designs underwent a transformative process. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) uncovered insights that became the cornerstone of our redesign. User preferences, pain points, and aspirations were carefully considered.
- High-Fidelity Realization: The lo-fi concepts evolved into high-fidelity designs. Each pixel meticulously placed, interactions polished, and visual aesthetics refined to create a visually engaging, intuitive, and functional interface. The result is a refined user experience that not only meets but exceeds user expectations.
The transition from lo-fi to hi-fi designs reflects the power of user feedback and the iterative design process. It's a testament to the principle that designing for the user is an ever-evolving journey, driven by insights, creativity, and a commitment to excellence. Explore the visuals to witness this journey unfold.
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Interactive Prototype
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Usability Testing
Usability Testing
Usability testing was conducted using guerilla testing methodology, A/B testing, card sorting, and 5 second user test strategy. In this particular study 5 second testing and card sorting proved to yield the highest impact, which motivated more focus on streamlining navigation and shortening the overall taskflow length.
Conclusions
Conclusions
The growing sophistication of streaming audiences is transforming how they wish to interact with content, particularly in the evolving communal landscape of digital spaces. This burgeoning interest demands attention. Users currently appreciate efficient platforms, necessitating seamless integration with an easily navigable feature selection for an enhanced experience.
Next Steps
After reviewing a moderate number of like apps, and, having sufficient familiarity with existing (linked) streaming services there is a critical gap in what they offer those with accessibility needs. Next step may include changes to resolution, color, text size and font choice to meet those interests.
Also, we considered finding ways to grow memberships through randomized viewing groups.
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