Broadchurch
Derry Girls
The Yorkshire VetNext Gen YouView
Overview
YouView is a TV platform that blends free-to-air digital TV with On-demand services.
I was the Lead Interaction Designer on a team designing the ‘Next Generation’ YouView. A complete redesign of the platform covering backend services, front-end technology and user experience.
I worked with Product Owners and Tech Leads to redefine the product and transform how YouView develops software.
Outcome
Next Gen YouView launched in 2016.
It saw increased customer satisfaction, increased viewing and garnered four industry awards.
My responsibilities
Design specifications, Information architecture, Interaction design, Prototyping, User journey mapping, User research, Wireframes
Other team members
1 Product Manager, 3-4 Engineers, 1 QA
Design principles and objectives
At the beginning of the project, we created a set of high-level design principles and objectives to guide the design process.
Principles
- More intelligent
- More visual
- More intuitive
- More scalable
- More relevant
Objectives
- More viewing
- Positive user feedback
- Scalable
- Futureproof
- Competitive
User mindsets
In addition to the design principles and our objectives, we used the following mindsets to guide our design decisions:
- I know what I want to watch
- I don’t know exactly what I want, but I’ll know it when I see it
- I have no idea what I want to watch.
Concept development and key user journeys
We created concepts that demonstrated some key aspects of the user experience. These were based on preliminary user research, competitor analysis and an understanding of how people were using the existing product.
Patterns, interaction design and flow diagrams
We created a set of design and interaction patterns to ensure consistency across the product and to speed up the design process.
As part of our documentation we also created interaction specifications, examples of different UI states and flow diagrams.
User research
At the beginning of the project, we conducted a lot of exploratory research and used some existing personas to help focus our design efforts. As the project progressed, we needed to create more realistic prototypes that reflected actual content. After all, with a product like YouView, the content is the main focus.
As part of our research toolkit, I set up a system where the research moderator could see a visualisation of the remote control key presses.
Prototypes
We created prototypes throughout the project for user research and as ‘living’ documentation.
This is an example of a prototype I created in Framer for a user journey focused on finding programme information and other episodes. It was also used to help convert some of our motion design into code.
Key outcomes of the redesign
Redesigning YouView was only possible through teamwork and collaboration, not only within the design team but also with other teams, such as the Product Team and Development and Test teams.
Here are some highlights of key outcomes for areas of the product where I led the User Experience Design.
Main menu
The redesign transformed the Main Menu from a series of links into a shop window for content. It allows users to browse the latest content without disrupting their TV viewing, which is crucial.
Early on in the project, we identified that users want to browse while still keeping one eye on their current viewing, and the Main Menu is the cornerstone of this philosophy.
Our data shows that not only does the Main Menu help users get to their favourite content quicker and has also been successful at promoting lesser-known content.
Programme information (Action Panel and Brand/Series Area)
When users want to learn more about a programme, they can access a series of screens that present them with information and actions. In addition, if the programme is part of a series, they can navigate through the series and episodes.
In the old design, the ordering of episodes was often unclear, and it caused confusion. Our research has shown that users find the order of episodes in the redesign to be much more apparent, making it easier to navigate.
MyTV
MyTV allows users to save their favourite content by recording live TV or adding On Demand shows to their Watch List.
The redesign created a more visual view while fitting more content onto the screen (the previous list view only showed nine items per screen).
While the redesign has split opinions among the user base, it has resulted in some unexpected feedback. Diary studies showed that children found the screen much easier to use because of the imagery. Similarly, we have had feedback from users with accessibility needs who found the redesigned view more straightforward.
Awards
The redesign has resulted in higher customer satisfaction levels, won several awards and created a platform for YouView to build on for the future.
