jimweimer

[jimweimer]

Evaluation

I believe, using formative evaluation, that we have adhered to the creative problem solving process tremendously, and that because of this, our final product was designed from the start to be the optimal solution. Using summative evaluation, we have delivered mockups detail our design decisions and agreed upon the general user flows of our product, and at this point I am certain we would be able to have a successful pitch for our product idea. Therefore, I think that we are at least close to the optimal solution, considering the design process is never truly finished.

I think that we came up with some great ideas in the ideation phase, and chose the best idea through to the selection phase. I think that we also worked a great deal in the implementation phase, and the good work we did shows through our mockups. We revisited research and found new research during every divergent phase of the process, and I believe this also helped us to confidently create a well-supported solution to the problem definition. Overall I think our streaming service would be a viable option for consumers, and provide value to those who are unhappy with the current solutions on the market. I loved working with my team, and I’m really proud of the work we did.

[jimweimer]

Implementation Part 2

We have had a lot of success putting our ideas into our designs. We were able to maintain a unified look across our designs despite splitting up the work of designing. At first, we struggled with the sidebar functionality and visual design, but we eventually figured out a solution which included a hierarchy for selection/focus states and visual balance so customers maintain focus on main part of the page but are still aware of what page they are on and how to access the sidebar.

We didn’t really pivot our idea, but we realized we had to think more deeply about the customization and settings we need to provide; we spent a lot of time brainstorming essential accessibility features and how they will be presented on the prototype.

After we collectively decided on a final design for the home page, each member of the team was in charge of designing one of the remaining four pages (and their associated sub-pages and/or variations) in Figma: the media player, search page, settings page, and content description page. We also developed some branding and customized icons and logos for our pages, as well as a unified color scheme. With all of this, we will be able to present a complete picture during our final presentation. We will be able to use the mockups to showcase the accessibility of our designs and our design decisions, as well as give a clear example of what we do.

Here are some of the designs:

[jimweimer]

Implementation Part 1

For implementation, we decided to start out with a new round of research. Since this is a divergent task, we split into two groups. One group researched design principles for TV streaming services, since TV would be the implementation we would cover for this project. The other group would research accessibility problems and solutions in current streaming services, since this was a large part of our focus for our solution. I was in the former group.

After consolidating about twenty pages of research into key takeaways and screens we would need to design for the final project, we decided to each try out wireframing a mockup of a homepage. This was my solution:

We then gathered together to talk about our various solutions key features. Mine took inspiration from top streaming services like Netflix (with the title, description, and overall format), HBO Max (with the left-hand sidebar), and others (with the 16:9 picture frames for shows and movies). We then decided that our implementation would involve my format, along with many of the features and formats from other group members.

Our final project will communicate the need for usability, accessibility, and unity in the streaming world to large existing streaming services, proposing they allow their content to be streamed from our platform. This will be done through value propositions and high-fidelity mockups.

[jimweimer]

Selection

Selection between our top three choices was a long process, namely because of our top two choices. After we all agreed that we would not want to pursue the business model of advanced language-detection closed-captioning AI, we were left deciding between coming up with premier designs of a streaming service in a digital style guide to license out or coming up with a sort of all-in-one streaming service on our own platform.

To choose between these two, we used the Idea Potpourri technique, followed by the Kepner-Tregoe method our ideas. For Idea Potpourri, we combined the ideas of the digital style guide and our own platform into an all-in-one streaming platform with an “about us” tab on a website that explains the problems we’ve seen in the streaming industry and what our designs have attempted to fix, via a sort of style guide.

Using Kepner-Tregoe, we identified our top four concerns and then ranked them based on how important they were to us:

Accessibility concerns 9.25/10

Inconsistencies / different mental models 6.5 (score = average of our own rankings)

Chaotic design patterns 7.5

Navigation issues  8.75

From here, we decided on the objectives we would want our final business model to meet. We then used a spreadsheet to rank how each of our ideas crossed with our objectives, as can be seen in the screenshot below, eventually coming to the conclusion that making our own streaming platform was the best idea.

[jimweimer]

Brainstorming and Ideation

For our brainstorming session, my group came up with different prompts individually and then talked about them together after a few minutes of work. We came up with:

How might we (HMW) create accessibility where other streaming platforms have yet to do so?

HMW account for differences across hardware (e.g. Roku vs Xbox vs TV vs Mobile)?

HMW streamline and simplify the user experience across all streaming platforms?

HMW account for all (or most) accessibility issues?

HMW unify (or reconcile) the disparate mental models customers currently have?

HMW account for differences in users’ taste and preference?

HMW create standards without threatening market share?

HMW prevent users from leaving platforms?

HMW retain a user base?

We chose to delve deeper into question prompt #3, looking for ideas to streamline and simplify user experience across the variety of competition in the streaming service market. We broke up individually again and each created a list of ideas we could think of. Ideas I came up with included:

Mockups of an ideal design which functions as a standard for optimized user experience in a streaming service. (+1)(+1)

Customization options on TV and mobile platforms. (+1)(+1)(+1)

Write the world’s foremost and industry standard algorithm for recommendations.

Create a streaming service that utilizes all the proprietary shows and movies available on other streaming platforms (can do it for a fee like amazon’s app) along with regular free-with-subscription content while utilizing a standard for optimized user experience (can have a style guide to go along with this)

Create a subscription based service offering access to all the top streaming services under our own UI that utilizes a standard for optimized user experience (can have a style guide to go along with this) (+1)(+1)(+1)

We then came back together and each presented our ideas. As you can see from the above bulleted list, while we presented our teammates would each be allocated three votes -- denoted from the (+1) symbols -- that they would write down next to the ideas they liked most. We then created a list of all the 3 and 2 vote ideas from each member, and narrowed this list down by similarity between the ideas. This gave us five broad categories, each with individuals’ ideas about that category, which we could use to discuss our ideation and propose final project ideas with. These categories were:

Customization

Standardization/Recommendations

New Streaming Service/Mockups

Streaming service based on one persona

Simplicity (Boiled down)

From here we created a Miro board and started analyzing the feasibility, desirability, and viability of each of our ideas under these categories.

[jimweimer]

Problem Definition

For our project, I created this problem statement to define the problem streaming services face:

Current streaming services have usability and navigability issues which are compounded for those with disabilities.

We then created a group problem definition:

Inconsistencies across streaming platforms and their various devices, coupled with chaotic design patterns, navigation issues and accessibility concerns, force users to have several different mental models and make watching a video unnecessarily complex. The ideal streaming platform should offer elegant and standardized design patterns while tackling the wide array of usability and accessibility issues that are commonly disregarded, such as dizzying motion interactions, lack of trigger warnings, and support for low-English-literacy, ADHD, epilepsy, autism (and more).

This was created by looking at our second round of morphological analyses and our individual problem definitions, comparing and contrasting the different terms and ideas that were brought up, and creating the new definitions using the patterns we found. For example, we noticed that we all mentioned problems with design patterns and navigation, as well as general usability issues and a lack of accessibility consideration. These then became the key points and issues in our problem definition.

[jimweimer]

Analysis of a Problem

Once you have reflected on the Acceptance portion of the process, turn your attention to the Analysis phase. Reflect on the methods and techniques for analysis that you have used this week and summarize those activities in a new post in your process journal. Where have you sought out research material? What kind of interesting things have you discovered? What sort of insights are you able to gather through your research so far? Document your reflections in the process journal.

This week consisted of our group doing a lot of research, as well as morphological analysis. We researched the potential problems that we can face that other streaming services have faced, the problems in user-flow that other streaming services currently have, as well as what interface design of a TV app should entail. Our morphological analysis involved looking at the different components of a TV app and comparing how usability will be affected by each. We have discovered a variety of things, including the potential problem of usability patents that streaming services, namely Netflix, possess. We also discovered that a lot of streaming services will have problems, not only regarding these patents, but also with accessibility in terms of usability. Things like closed-captions and internal structure and navigation logic can be huge problem areas for a streaming service. I believe that if we are to make a streaming service, the problem we should solve is usability as a whole; spending time to think about navigation and accessibility on both the micro and macro lens in order to create an experience that will supersede others.

[jimweimer]

Acceptance of a Problem

Consider what it would be like to succeed in overcoming the problem that lays ahead of you. Attempt to get into a positive state of mind by projecting yourself into the mental state you would be in as you joyously celebrate the rewards of your success. Think about the potential benefits that you might accrue if you become involved in this project. Reflect on the subject matter that you and your group have chosen and how accepting the undertaking will benefit you personally.

I believe success in this project would be defined as creating a design for a premier streaming service that is well-learned from other streaming services with maximum usability and features that create engagement and usefulness. The benefits I receive from completing this project would consist of the experience I gain from taking on and completing a large-scale design project and the things I will learn about user experience design. I am hoping that this project will be comprised of lessons and stories I can learn from and take to my future projects. Designing a streaming service specifically will be rewarding because it is something that I have not done before, and therefore the lessons I will learn are not lessons I could have learned otherwise. This will be one of the biggest design projects I have undertaken in a while, so I am looking forward to the knowledge, and wisdom, I will gain.

[jimweimer]

Creativity and What It Means To Me

I suppose creativity means quite a lot to me. It is the reason I am able to pursue my career path, the reason I have all these experiences creating that I’ve enjoyed greatly, and the reason I’ve met many of my friends acquaintances along the way. From listening to music to writing it, from reading articles in magazines to writing them for my high school, and from designing pages in that magazine to coming here, I owe much of my experience to my creativity.

Creativity is what drives us to do something that no one has ever done before. Creativity is why we are interested in the topics that drive us, trying to fix problems that affect others or problems others haven’t even noticed yet. 

Creativity is curiosity, motivation, discovery, and purpose. For me, creativity is why I’m here, and why I’m determined to, like many of you probably are, to make something that’s new, exciting, and helpful for people.