In-Player Focus-ShiftingEvolving the watch experience for DirecTV’s 37M+ customers.
Led agency-side r&d for DTV’s digital media group. Making it easier for viewers to browse while watching.
Waves of content
Inspired by the rhythmic motion of the waves on the shore, and the depth of the water beneath.
The concept of “WAVE” emerged after a comprehensive discovery phase, and the depth of the content offering being made available to viewers.
Never stop watching.
Find your next show while still streaming. Designed to satisfy focus-shifting viewing and social viewing scenarios with split attention.
A fully built prototype compatible with client-side internal player engineering.
Shifting focus while watching
Covering split attention scenarios for individual and social watching.
Team
I had the pleasure of leading an incredible agency-side team and collaborating with remarkable client-side partners.
Client Partners
Client-side partner at Direct TV — Megan Ellis
Executive Sponsor — Karen Lever.
Agency Team
Research Lead — Jess Dale
Product Lead — Alexandra Schmidt.
Art Direction — Chadd Wetherbee
Information Architecture — Justin Poston
UI Design — Jieyu Xiong
Front End Developer — Jordan Garcia
Process
The effort kicked off with an internal strategy session. Looking at the long-term technology landscape for DTV video experiences and identifying success measures for the engagement.
KPIs
Monetize the archive
Categorize and label content
Increase session length
Focusing on content discovery and increased session lengths, I structured the design effort around the streaming experience for video on demand (VOD), excluding live TV — prioritizing an immersive experience for target users.
The engagement included
Strategy session
Collaborative cross-functional design ideation (2 sessions)
Rapid prototyping through white-boarding, paper prototypes, and sketches
Establishing interaction patterns
Content audit and analysis
Experience definition through key interaction patterns
Wireframes and information architecture
Identifying key visual patterns
Fully functioning front-end prototype
Delivery included
01
Experience Design Strategy
Product requirements
Product Vision
User Stories
Assumptions for User Testing
User Research Links
02
Information Architecture
Immersive Video Player (IVP) Information Architecture
VOD (Video on Demand) key views (watch, binge, browse, deep-dive, end card)
Live Player – high-level overview
03
Content Audit
Content Architecture
Content Structure Design
Content Architecture
04
Immersive Video Player UI
VOD Card UI (states, watch, binge, browse, deep-dive, end card)
Live Cards UI (watch, binge, browse, deep-dive, end card)
Key Screens – Exports and Sketch File
Responsive Grid
05
Web Prototype
Functional video player
Client-compatible player interactions
Fully built Browse experience
