A Blast From The Archives…But Why?

This is a project from nearly 10 years ago that, though old and outdated, gives a strong sense for how I approached problems a long time ago. Much of the thinking “chops” were there – things like an inquisitive spirit, iterative appetites, and cross-disciplinary thinking.

I’ve included it here as a way to see that my work has been relying on robust process and intellect for years.

Hope you enjoy.

We were approached with an idea.
Here's how we vetted it and got to something real.

PEOPLE WATCH SHOWS. THEY ALSO POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA. In fact, recent studies by Nielsen boast that on Twitter alone, 80% of its users post while watching television.

HATCHD is an app that links your social conversation with where you are in your shows. Intended as a fun, engaging, even addicting app, the intention is to make it easy to sync your show via Shazam-like audio recognition (or choose by episode) and enjoy the social stream in real-time -- and without spoilers.

Problem

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T WATCH IMMEDIATELY? If you miss the show's debut, you're likely to feel out of the loop. And worse, you're likely to have not just one but many spoilers ruin the fun.

Solution

DESIGN HATCHD so that it is easy, fun, and engaging to be a part of the social conversation around shows -- even if you watch it a day a week, or a month later.

Role

RESEARCH / INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE / STRATEGY / WIREFRAMES / UI / VISUAL DESIGN. I had the pleasure of working with two stellar UX colleagues on this project, Dan Kauffman and Seema Sharma. Our workflow was highly collaborative throughout all stages of the UX process.

Research

Qualitative Interviews

IT'S TIME TO HEAR FROM REAL HUMANS. Why do people post on social media while watching their show(s)? What makes them post? Is it TV first or social first? Who are they posting for or looking for? These are the sort of questions that sharpened and informed our design decisions.

NOT ALL THOSE WHO POST + WATCH SIMULTANEOUSLY ARE YOUNG. It would be easy to assume that those who post on social media about shows are all young. However, we found a hidden user group: those in their later professional years and retirement do so as a way of connecting with family and friends. Yes, college students are tech-savvy, but they're not the only ones using these platforms with their programming.

THE ABILITY TO FILTER IS KEY. Whether it's a desire to only see your friends in the feed, or if it's a desire to also share your comments to other social channels, the ability to filter in and filter out is key.

CONVENTIONS MATTER. Things like Shazam, Twitter, Soundcloud, Spotify, and the like are all existing platforms that people use. Integrating intuitive gestures and functionalities are desirable and help learning processes happen quickly.

Strategy

Meet Lisandra. She's one of our users.

26 year old tech consultant
Born in Brazil, lives in LA
Wants social interaction, connection with friends in Brazil, and keep up with plot twists
Tech savvy. Uses Spotify, Twitter, Instgram, Pinterest
FRUSTRATION: Has a crazy busy job and always is a day or two behind. Hates not being able to see what people are saying as she watches and hates spoilers

"Using social media is a country sport! Especially when it comes to telenovelas."

Meet Jer. He's another one.

54 year old mechanic
Lived in same town for 25 years
Wants to connect with old friends over TV like they did as kids on the couch
Not super tech savvy, but uses Facebook right now to chat with friends
FRUSTRATION: Hates all the clutter in social media feeds! nly wants to see his friends' comments. Also hates spoilers (duh).

"I love talking to my old buddies about shows. Brings me back to the day of hanging out and watching TV on the couch."

What do our users need?

1. AN EASY WAY TO SYNC SHOW, START WATCHING, AND READ/POST. This means if sync fails due to extraneous ambient noise, ensuring the experience isn't botched.

2. FILTER WHERE THEIR POSTS GO, FILTER WHAT THEY SEE IN THEIR FEED. The ability to choose between everyone or friends helps mitigate 'feed clutter.' Additionally, swiping away inappropriate users is an integral feature to keeping the experience enjoyable.

3. EASILY SEE WHAT SHOWS USERS ARE WATCHING AND HOW MANY UPVOTES THEIR POSTS ARE GETTING -- OVERALL OR PER SHOW. Increases engagement and makes it more social to see what shows users are watching and how many likes they're getting within each show AND overall.

4. AN EASY WAY TO ACCESS OTHER OPTIONS WITHOUT CLUTTERING THE SCREEN. Clutteritis is a real problem -- regardless of age demographic. But the ability to re-sync, view + edit profile, as well as rewind are all key elements of the experience. Keep them easy to access.

Design

First come the sketches.

Sketching gave us a chance to iterate quickly, test, iterate again, and repeat. Practicing Lean UX, we were able to quickly affirm and validate (and occasionally go back to the drawing board). Our intention was to integrate our features seamlessly into the airbnb system rather than disrupting it.