THIS IS A CONCEPT PROJECT
NETFLIX'S: FLIXFEED
Bringing Social Connectivity
to a Movie Streaming App
CLIENT
NETFLIX
ROLE
UX/UI DESIGNER
RESEARCHER
THE TEAM
3 UX/UI DESIGNER
RESEARCHER
TIMELINE
​3 WEEKS
Project Overview
ABOUT
Netflix, a globally recognized streaming platform, has been an industry leader since launching its streaming services in January 2007. It offers a vast selection of TV shows, films, and original content to a subscriber base of 277 million worldwide.
PROBLEM
Recently, Netflix has faced growing competition and is finding it challenging to remain a top choice for subscribers. To foster innovation and keep users engaged, Netflix plans to introduce social and sharing features to its mobile app.
IDENTIFYING THE SOLUTION
To add a fun social feature to the Netflix app, allowing movie and TV show lovers to connect within a community and avoid wasting time searching for something to watch.
Zooming in on the research of our interviews
With all the data we had gathered, we explored various potential solutions to help users reach their goals, like adding a shared calendar for scheduling remote movie/show viewings, incorporating live group messaging, or even highlighting favorite scenes so friends wouldn’t miss them. But with only two weeks, we couldn't bring every great idea to life. We went with the simplest route.
I really had to study other social platforms before starting the design process. Creating a user flowis a great collaborative activity. I have to admit, I use a lot of social platforms daily to communicate.
We did our best to create an easier way for users to find movies or shows that match their interests, while also giving them the opportunity to engage with interest groups and connect with others who share similar tastes—all within this flow layout.
Examining how competitors are integrating social features
To understand how competitors design user-focused products, we began by conducting competitive research on social media platforms, streaming services, and hybrids of both. We evaluated Teleparty, Amazon Prime, YouTube / YouTube Live, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Letterboxd was the most inspiring because it seamlessly mirrors the user experience of other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram andTikTok, but focuses specifically on films and reviews instead of the overwhelming variety of content typically available.
Their platform offers users the chance to write humorous or critical film reviews, engage with other users and their posts, save films to watch later based on recommendations or lists from others, and much more. Reminded me of Reddit with the fun conversations and comments.
LETTERBOXD INFLUENCE
FACEBOOK INFLUENCE
INSTAGRAM INFLUENCE
Maintaining a focus on Netflix's brand and design
I had a great time designing the logo to resemble Netflix’s branding, giving it a cohesive and familiar look.
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I enjoyed designing interactive icons that change once the FlixFeed icon is clicked. A speech bubble pops up, signaling that you've entered the FlixFeed world.
We selected the Inter font in various weights to align as closely as possible with Netflix’s existing design system, ensuring consistent padding and alignment specifications. Additionally, we introduced a green color as a confirmation state for a specific action. While evaluating accessibility, we encountered a few challenges with Netflix’s current color palette. The two red variations used against a black background—primarily where they appear—met large text and graphical AA standards with a contrast ratio of 4.38:1. However, since these reds were only used for the FlixFeed logo, we opted to overlook this. All other color combinations passed the WCAG accessibility checks. I was looked to create new icons and even the logo.
Experiencing the FlixFeed come to life
Using our well-established design system and insights from sketches that turned into our low-fidelity prototype usability studies, we realized
we needed to fully focus on refining our flow. This meant cutting out distractions and honing in on improving the visuals of our prototype.
The homepage was updated to more closely align with Netflix’s design while keeping all FlixFeed features contained to let the view know they are in the social feature.
The main FlixFeed page is organized into two sections: one for groups the user is part of and another for a feed featuring reviews from other users, making it easier to choose a movie or TV show.
The group page is divided into sections for members, recommended content, and top-rated group reviews. Users can also message each other to initiate conversations or start a group chat.
The user profile page has been revamped to display one review and various user-curated lists for others to explore. This feature also allows users to see if they share similar cinematic tastes.
The film description page has been updated to align more closely with Netflix’s current layout/branding, now featuring a 'Reviews' tab.
The 'like' feature has been removed from the review page and replaced with an 'add to list' option, along with updated icon terminology. Having both 'rate' and 'like' was too redundant.
Meet Casey and discover her typical weekday looks like after work
Armed with the key trend groupings from our user research, we developed our target user: Casey, the streaming service enthusiast.
INTRODUCING CASEY
Enjoys meeting up with others
to catch up and share in each others’ experiences Likes to lay on the couch & browse for something to stream on TV while scrolling through social media for suggestions
Sends close friends memes/activities that she wants to do on Instagram to share interests with one another
Wants to engage in discussions about films/series with others while making meaningful connections
Takes a lot of time and energy to find something to watch, both alone and with others
We created a storyboard to bring the pain points and frustrations of trying to find a movie at the end of
a hard day's work. Users are too exhausted to use their voice to call someone and when it's time to relax and watch something it was too late to contact their friends.
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​
.
Buckling
Down
Casey does some synopsis reading and trailer watching, gets comfortable on her couch and starts sifting through titles.
She can’t help but ponder whether her search will be successful.
2.
.
Throwing in
the Towel
She considers texting in a group chat but feels that it has gottentoo late at night.
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Casey returns to her TV and turns on a series she has already seen. She watches a 20 minute episode before calling it a night.
3.
.
I want to watch
something new!
Casey gets home from work and feels readyto watcha new series/movie. She is considering some potential options on Netflix from a coworker she already knows.
1.
The storyboard guided us to our problem statement: Casey feels a sense of community when she can discuss and share movies with others.
What does Casey Need?
Casey needs to discuss and share movies with others in order
to achieve a sense of community and human connection.
The journey map and storyboard guided us to our problem statement: Casey feels a sense of community when she can discuss and share movies with others.
Is FlixFeed the logical next step for Netflix?
(I hope so as a movie/TV show lover)
Once we completed the finishing touches on our high fidelity prototype, it came time to conduct another round of usability testing. This time, the team was able to test the application on 6 users. We assessed with the same objectives, scenario and tasks as our low fidelity usability test.
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6/6 users were successfully able to complete all tasks, all expressing that FlixFeed felt like a natural next step for Netflix to implement.
That being said, there were some specific features that users specified they would like to see moving forward:
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3/6 users expressed that they would like to be given more suggested content after they “watched” the film and wrote the review.
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3/6 users attempted to click on the “More” and “View All” options when browsing horizontal scrollables.
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2/6 users wanted to be able to interact with other users’ reviews, on top of just being able to “like” them.