The redesigned "Add a Feature" experience for Apple TV aims to elevate user-centric design principles and streamline the process of discovering Apple TV content. One common issue with Apple TV+ is its lack of usability, with users often needing to navigate through multiple clicks to find information about the content. To improve usability and accessibility, it’s essential to understand what users appreciate in other streaming apps. Features like sticky website headers with popular categories, informative hover features, personalized content suggestions, and clear, consistent interfaces are highly valued. By integrating these elements, Apple TV+ can enhance its user experience, making it easier and more enjoyable for users to discover and engage with content.
Discover
Competitive Analysis
Common strengths among these four streaming services include sticky website headers with popular categories, great contrast with a black background, and personalization based on user preferences. However, common weaknesses are cluttered or inconsistent interfaces, ambiguous category labels, and uninformative hover features that fail to provide detailed content descriptions. These issues detract from the overall user experience by making navigation and content discovery more challenging.
User Interviews
Interviews with five participants aged 24 to 36 revealed key insights into their preferences for streaming services, categorized into Trailer/Synopsis, Navigation, Hovering, Reviews, and Personalized Algorithm. Most users navigate through popular or new releases and prefer a preview, such as a clip or summary, before deciding what to watch. Opinions on reviews were divided, with some relying on external sites like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, while others assessed quality independently; similarly, the personalized algorithm received mixed feedback, with most finding recommendations inaccurate and one user appreciating the match percentage. All participants liked hover options but disliked automatic clip play, preferring a click option or delayed hover feature to avoid distractions.
I was surprised that participants were unhappy with the personalized categories selected for them and found the hover state to be an annoyance when looking for content. These features are designed to reduce friction in navigation, yet they seem to detract from the user experience. Participants preferred more accurate recommendations and less intrusive hover options.
Define
Affinity Diagram
User Personas
Develop
Project Goals
Problem Statements
How might we ensure that a user has all the necessary information on a streaming service to access and view the content they are interested in?
Feature Set
User Flow
User Flow After user Testing
Low-Fidelity Wireframe
In designing the Apple TV+ interface, I aimed to preserve its clean aesthetics while adding more detailed and salient information. To achieve this, I integrated comprehensive content descriptions, trailers, reviews, and ratings directly into the interface. This enhancement allows users to easily access all the information they need without leaving Apple TV+, making their viewing experience more seamless and engaging. By providing these details upfront, users can make informed decisions and stay on the platform, reducing the need to visit other sites for reviews and ratings.
Deliver
Usability Testing
This report outlines the findings from user testing on low-fidelity wireframes designed to enhance the user experience of Apple TV+. The primary objectives were to assess the usability of the interface and to understand user preferences for navigating and accessing information about content. Key findings include a user preference for clicking to access additional information rather than using hover states, and a desire for integrated reviews and synopses within the interface, leading to planned revisions that will replace hover actions with click actions for improved control and usability.
I was surprised to find a shift in user preference towards click states rather than hover states. My user flow and prototypes were based on initial user interviews, and I now realize I should have delved deeper into this aspect when questioning users about their preferences. This insight highlighted the need to refine my approach, ensuring that user interactions align more closely with their expectations and enhance their overall experience.