streamVerse
[ RESEARCH / VISUAL & INTERACTION DESIGN / PROTOTYPING / USABILITY TESTING ]
Project Timeline: 11 May — 29 June 2022
Project Overview
streamVerse is a streaming content aggregation service for people to find curated, relevant and personalized content including movies, TV shows, music, podcast, audiobooks, and short-form videos from all your services in one place.
[ THE CHALLENGE ]
Problem Statement
With millions of streaming content from hundreds of services, people are overwhelmed with choices. People are presented with content not relevant to them, a lot of time is spent searching instead of simply enjoying the content they are paying for.
The Challenges & Goals
1) Create a service that brings together all content types from all services in one place
2) Curate personalized and relevant content for users
3) Balance personalized recommendations with more user control over their experience
4) Provide transparency and enable informed decisions over their consumption and financial costs
Hypothesis
“Users who have access to personalized and relevant content from all their services in one place will spend less time overthinking and searching for content and have more time to enjoy them.”
[ RESEARCH ]
The State of Streaming
[ THE BRAND ]
Our Value Proposition
Search. Listen. Watch. Learn. Play.
Find curated relevant and personalized streaming content from all your services in one place with streamVerse—listen, watch, learn, play, and enjoy!
[ USER PERSONAS ]
Understanding our Users
Jakob Jameson
41 yrs old
Software Engineer
San Diego, CA
Married, 2 Kids
Focused on work/life balance
Loves tech podcasts, 90s rock, movies
Subscribed to multiple services
Goals/Needs
✔ Listen to podcasts relevant to his interests during free time at home or the office (breaks)
✔ Share relevant podcasts with co-workers and friends with the same interest
✔ Find movies the wife and kids can all agree to watch during weekend movie night
✔ Receive content recommendations that match his interests and likes
Pain Points/Obstacles
☹ Work & family leave little time to search for new podcasts of interest to him
☹ Searching for content in the different apps is a pain in the ass and a waste of busy time
☹ Unaware and missing out on great content exclusive to different platforms or service
☹ Overwhelmed by content choices; spends more time searching than enjoying
Lisa Kim Loev
22 yrs old
Junior Graphic Designer
Austin, TX
Single, 1 dog
Recent college grad starting career
Loves music, tv/movies, short videos
Subscribed to multiple services
Goals/Needs
✔ Watch or listen, share and enjoy content together w/ friends & family
✔ Listen to new music drops from favorite artists regardless of service
✔ Entertained by short-form videos on down times from any platform w/o going through different apps
✔ Know, watch or listen to trending content regardless of format and services
Pain Points/Obstacles
☹ Sharing content w/ family and friends on different services
☹ Searching for content by switching between different apps is a waste of time, just want to enjoy
☹ On a tight budget, unsure if consuming enough of each service is worth paying
Andre Mason
30 yrs old
Fitness Instructor
Las Vegas, NV
Single, in a relationship
Healthy mental and social lifestyle
Loves music, sports, and gaming
Subscribed to multiple services
Goals/Needs
✔ Find inspirational/relevant music and build a playlist to use for his fitness classes
✔ Get suggestions for music, movies, and games streaming relevant to his personal interests
✔ Share class playlist with fitness clients/students
✔ Play games w/ friends cross-platform, cross-device
Pain Points/Obstacles
☹ Don't know who's on which services; more difficult to share/suggest content
☹ Getting recommendations for great content is all over the place—word of mouth, news, social media
☹ More choices are good, but difficult to find the right stuff; sometimes want a “surprise me” moment
☹ Finding good deals on streaming services/content requires too much time to research
[ JOBS-TO-BE-DONE + USER FLOWS ]
Defining Tasks with Jobs Stories
Setting the Path with User Flows
“When I am planning movie night w/ my family, I want to see available relevant movies we’re in the mood for, so we can compare and decide which movie to watch.”
“When I am on a tight budget, I want to know how much content I’m consuming in which service, so I can decide which service to keep subscribing or unsubscribe and save money.”
“When I am planning my next fitness class, I want to receive relevant recommended music playlists, so I can put together an enjoyable and motivational class for my students.”
[ WIREFRAMING, PROTOTYPING, & VALIDATING SOLUTIONS ]
Designing The Solution
Low Fidelity Wireframe
LoFi early concept design for mobile devices
LoFi early concept design for TV interface
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
[ USABILITY TESTING ]
Usability Testing
May 31-June 18, 2022 // Two rounds Four participants 26-45 yrs old // Moderated over Zoom
Conducted testing with low and mid-fidelity wireframe and prototype
Key Usability Testing Insights
Validated All Streaming Types & Service Content Aggregation
Improved Content Personalization: Relevant and considers user control and emotions
User Interface Improvements: Simplify interface and interactions
Key Insights & Observations Details
Liked the idea of aggregating content from all services in one place; they see it as reducing time searching and overthinking
Activity and mood/emotion influence the type of content searched and consumed
Automatically seeing what friends are consuming and vice versa may be privacy-invasive; “recommended” by friends or self is better
Personalization of recommendations of curated content and search results is important
Realized paying monthly for streaming may not be worth it when unaware of how much they use the services
Fewer but “relevant“ reduce time searching and deciding—“I'm not overthinking.“
Key Quotes
“
“I think it's good to have a lot of choices on apps and content. But like, for me, having too many choices is overwhelming.”
“In many of these streaming services, I always feel like I have to settle on something I'm not necessarily excited about.”
“This is like a new thing that I haven't seen, like, movies for your mood. I like these categorizations here, it's cool.”
“When I go out on the bike trail, I listen to angry music.“
“I would pay $5/mo for this. $7, I’d be reluctant. To have one service that pulls all this stuff together, I see a lot of value in that.”
”
[ USABILITY TESTING ]
Iteration
Based on usability testing feedback, iteration focused primarily on improving and simplifying the interface and interaction. Although minor, these small changes help people easily navigate through content and reduce cognitive load, making decision-making faster and easier for users.
From complex data visualization to a simplified way of presenting streaming consumption and cost data for users
Improved content personalization with friend and family recommendations and content based on mood
From a playful but scattered interface to an improved user control interface while retaining playfulness but with more structure
[ FINAL DESIGN ]
The Final Product
All types of content from all services you are subscribed to in one place. Less time spent searching for different content, more time to enjoy!
Challenge #1: Create a service that brings together all content types from all services in one place
“Recommend a Movie/TV Show” from any services + Set to watch and be notified at a later time
Challenge #2: Curate personalized and relevant content for users
Challenge #3: Balance personalized recommendations with better user control over their experience
View Streaming Consumption & Cost Data; enable informed decisions on managing streaming services subscriptions.
Challenge #4: Provide transparency and give users the ability to make informed decisions over their subscriptions, consumption behavior, and financial cost
“Build a Playlist For Me” + set to play at date/location feature + know which friend is on which streaming service and share playlist
Challenge #2: Curate personalized and relevant content for users
Challenge #3: Balance personalized recommendations with greater user control over their experience
[ DESIGN SYSTEM ]
streamVerse Design System
Unifying the brand with a consistent and distinctive user experience through our design system serves as a framework to empower smart design decision-making.
Style Guide
Pattern Library
Design Principles
[ CONCLUSION ]
Takeaways & Next Steps
Validating assumptions in personas is critical; usability tests proved users could use the service, but it also helped validate as to whether users see value in streaming aggregation service.
Explore further solutions for advanced personalization and recommendations through better application of human factors and understanding of streaming consumption behaviors that influence consumer's decision-making.
Interested in further validating/invalidating the value proposition of aggregation service & streaming consumption data through interviews, surveys, and secondary research