Video Channel
Video Channel. Encouraging active users on one of the largest Spanish-language audiovisual culture portals.
The Brief
The new video channel allows Spanish-language culture lovers to access related content through a new information architecture and a new system of recommendations and preferences, allowing streaming at different times and with different devices.
My role
Lead UX design
User research
Visual design
The goal.
The objective was that the new channel would allow users to find content more relevant to them and make it easier for them to view it. Also, to take advantage of the new system of registered users to make better recommendations and encourage their conversion into active users.
The results would be measured by analyzing the number of views of the materials, the increase of registered users and the use of the new functionalities and interactions on the website.
Approach.
I used the Design-Thinking framework, following the general flow of 1. understand, 2. explore and 3. materialize, to increase the likelihood of success and innovation with a practical, user-centered mindset.
User research.
WEB ANALYTICS
Statistics showed an audience spending a lot of time on the platform (15 minutes on average) but eminently local, national (90%) and from the same city (60%), which opened up the opportunity to expand to audiences in other locations.
Heat maps indicated that category and “see more” links were the most used, suggesting an interest in accessing more videos, especially in a categorized way.
Information Architecture
Card sorting.
To find out how users think about content and possible categories, I used a generative method such as open card sorting, and repeated several individual ratings.
Ideation.
Competitive audit
I conducted a competitive audit, studying different websites of direct and indirect competitors. Within their strengths, in terms of interaction, I found different functionalities that could be applied to the product.
This identified opportunities for improvement such as incorporating mood search, collections, tagging, and leveraging the recent creation of registered users to make personalized recommendations, allowing saving collections and favorites, and resuming a video at the exact point where it was left off.
Prototyping.
Wireframes and Low-Fidelity prototypes
Once the direction for my design had been established, I began by drafting up a design on paper and running evaluation studies to refine the design. Since usability evaluations are fast and inexpensive, I could afford multiple rounds.
HIGH-Fidelity prototypes
Then I developed High-Fidelity prototypes and continued with the tests involving the stakeholders closest to the design and user experience.
I incorporated functionalities to sort by Most Recent, Most Viewed or Top Rated, and the possibility of filtering by format as well as integrating live broadcasts and collections.
I also added the search by mood, a tag system, popular videos, recommended videos for you, a list by topic where you can see all the videos of a certain category, and a list with the videos recently watched by the user, using a thin progress bar that indicated the point at which a video was playing.
Iteration
In the following iterations I incorporated improvements, such as the possibility of offering other related materials to consult before and after consuming the video, and the possibility of dividing a video into chapters.
I also updated the design with more logical distributions of the content and attending to the user’s comfort, achieving improvements in efficiency as predicted by Fitts’ Law, and incorporated the changes in colors and typography that took place in the parent website.
The result.
The result was a responsive site that helped convert registered users into active users through a new recommendation system, new registered user functionalities, and improved architecture.
Stakeholders were very satisfied with the aesthetics and image of the site. The number of views increased by 80% and the duration of each visit increased by 20%. The number of registered users increased by 25%. The number of visits to the live broadcast increased by 16% and numerous playlists were created in the users’ accounts.
In the months that followed, we continued to measure and improve interaction and incorporate design updates iteratively.
Design: Aurelio Medina