Kathryn Chang | Portfolio | Netflix Watch Party

Netflix Watch Party

Video Streaming | Social Media |

Video Chat | Messaging | Android

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01 overview

My Role

UI and UX designer lead, project manager

Remote Team

Elvis Pilat, Kathy Chang

Timeframe

2 week sprint, August 2020

Tools

Figma, Trello, Miro, Photoshop, Illustrator, Excel, Power Point, Google Suite, Otter, Slack, Zoom

Platform

Mobile app for Android

(mockup using Samsung Galaxy 9)

Challenge

Two week design sprint designing a new Netflix app feature allowing people to watch movies and shows together while being socially distanced apart.

Delivery

Prototype integrating into existing Netflix app with new features for watching content together.

02 process

We followed the design-thinking Double-Diamond model for our sprint format beginning at research and discovery using empathizing methods such as interviews, affinity mapping, C&C analysis, user surveys, usability tests.

The two week sprint started out with heavy research and testing of existing apps that provide watching content together features and interviews with users of various demographics and age ranges to determine who the target users would be.

03 research

User Interviews

We interviewed 8 people with the following age range and user habits.

Do you currently watch online content with friends/family remotely?
What are people using?
What's currently out there?
How do people like using it?

User Pain Points

Competitors & Comparative Analysis

C&C tells us that though there are many ways around watching content together on Netflix such as streaming content via Zoom or using a 3rd party Chrome Extension called Netflix Party, it is often limited in functionality and poor quality streaming experience.

04 synthesize

Research Findings

We discovered majority of people who have watched content socially are younger generation in early 20's using Android phones. They find competitor products to be glitchy and too much hassle to use.

We decided to create the design targeting Android platform instead of iOS.

Through research synthesis we came up with two personas who are relatives that would like to watch content together but don't live under the same roof:

Persona 1 - Nate

Nate is a 15 years old living with his mom and sister in Danville, CA. He's tech-savvy and loved to watch sci-fi/thrillers with his dad and anime with his friends. His parents are separated and because of COVID he doesn't get to see his dad much anymore. He really wants to hang out with his dad and watch movies together like the old days!

Persona 2 - Patrick

Patrick is 45, a dentist and dad of two kids, he lives alone in Sunnyvale, CA, where he finds it lonely and boring to not have his kids around anymore because of COVID. He's not very computer-savvy, mostly uses his phone for messaging and video chats as well as taking care of some work emails. He Skypes Nate a few times a week but he misses Sci-fi/Thriller movie nights with his son and just seeing their faces and joking around like the old days!

Nate (son) needs a simple and easy way to watch Netflix content remotely with his friends and family without adding complexity and slowing down his movie watching process.

Patrick (father) needs an easy and intuitive way to watch streamed Netflix content with his children remotely because he doesn't get to see them as often during COVID times and it's important to be able to share experiences together to keep connected.

Nate and Patrick have tried using Netflix Party Chrome Extension to stream a show a Netflix and it was not an experience they both enjoyed, to say the least.

Clearly the happiness meter dips significantly throughout this process for both parties and they never really get back to where they started. Does Netflix want people to have an exceptional experience watching Netflix content together or just a mediocre one? We need to do something!

After picking a movie, Nate spends a few minutes setting up Netflix Party Chrome Extension on his laptop and sends an invite to his dad on his phone via text message. His dad goes through a series of dead-ends and after much troubleshooting with Nate on the phone trying to setup the program on Patrick's outdated dusty old laptop (on its last legs), they almost give up entirely. Finally, after about 30 minutes of troubleshooting and Nate playing tech-support, both are set up and starts watching a movie together. Though successful, this was not an easy or intuitive process for either.

... provide Nate and Patrick with an easy way to watch his favorite Netflix shows online with his friends?

... make watching movies a social experience?

... create more social interactions for Netflix users?

Through creating an in-app watch-together feature in the Netflix mobile app, Patrick and his son Nate will be able to watch movies easily together without the hassle of learning new software or extra steps.

05 ideate

Through lo-fi sketches we were able to quickly come up with creative solutions.

Screen Shot 2020-11-11 at 4.04.55 PM.png

How might we integrate this BRAND NEW feature into the EXISTING APP?

In mid-fi Figma prototypes we tested integration of new feature within existing Netflix Android App. We moved "Download" button to an empty space next to the "Share" icon. We also replaced the "Coming Soon" icon in the bottom menu with a "Party" icon to quickly navigate to Party Settings.