Prime Video's Redesign
My Role
Product Designer
Goal
The objective of the project at this level is to carry out a complete study to propose any design modifications or propose some new feature in a product/site already known. This product should focus on the web/desktop interface and you can choose a more complex website or a software/web-app.
Solution
Redesign of the main page and serie and movie content.
Method Used
Secondary Research
Before everything, I did secondary research to understand the problems available on amazon prime and then I made few hypotheses that I discovered after if matched or not with the user's problems along with the project.
Amazon Prime Video
An amazon service of streaming with original productions by amazon studios and exclusive contents produced by other channels, available since 2006 as a Prime subscription. Nowadays have around more than 150 million subscribers in 2020, spread over the world, unless Iran, Mainland China, North Korea, Syria and Cuba.
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The prime service contemplates more than just a streaming platform, there are books, music, free shipping and some exclusives sales.
Reviews
I read some reviews on three platforms: Amazon itself, Trustpilot and Reclame Aqui. In general, complaints were about unauthorized purchases, cancellation of the account and problems to get access on the platform, the quality of sound and the number of old movies, adding with the advertising inside the platform even it is a purchased one. But in Amazon, there are comments like this one:
''I have been using products on TV and cell phones, I find it little interactive, sometimes I want to watch something and it is confusing to identify new programming from old, everything is mixed up and I end up spending more time trying to find something than watching it.
In Echo, it's even easy, when asking to open the APP, some recommendations come and I end up watching some of those.''
Benchmark
I compared the two big competitors of Amazon (and also Amazon itself). I analysed mainly what the users consider positive and negative in each of these platforms according to Trustpilot and Reclame Aqui, its rate and what needed to be fixed following the Norman Principals.
Heuristic Analysis
This analysis helped me to understand technically what the platform has that needs to be improved and with it, I also could generate hypothesis to validate or not after the quantitative and qualitative research applied.
Survey
I didn’t find out the user’s profile during my desk research (it was pretty hard), besides it, I had some hypothesis, but I applied a survey to understand a little bit of the user profile and also about the whens and hows. It was answered by 8 users. It would help me to know better the kind of users whom I would need to recruiter to the interview.
Most of the problems inside the platform were about the interface, division and advertising.
Interviews
The interviews were applied with 4 users with the profile defined with the survey collected data.
I interviewed them using zoom and recorded with their approval of data usage, after this process I transcribed each interview and tagged the main parts that highlighted their problems and then, I compared it to understand the common problems around prime video. Down below you can see these tags:
If you want to see my complete qualitative research repository click here.
Usability Test #1
I ran with these four users usability tests to see how they act using the platform and also to if matches what they said in the interview.
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For this, I gave them a task:
''Search in the main page a comedy serie or movie that you've never watched before and then click on him and in the end, tell me if you would watch it''
The main problems on the test were around the:
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The content displayed on the main page;
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Lack of categories;
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Disposal of the buttons and season selection;
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Lack of breaks on the main page
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Slide problems.
Hypothesis
Then, I decided to do a spreadsheet with the hypothesis that I had to validation according to what users said in the interviews and in the survey.
Problem Statement
With the validation of the hypothesis and all the data collected from the interviews, I could analyse and synthesize everything to establish the problem.
Users can't find content and be in a short period of time in amazon prime video, they get confused and frustrated during the navigation.
Pain Points:
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Information displayed on the main page;
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Lack of breaks between the content;
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Highlights that need to call more attention;
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More accessibility;
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Rethink the structure of the information architecture;
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Add settings to the subtitles;
Personas
Experience Map
The users talked a lot about the other competitors in the interviews alongside the problems in Prime Video's platform, because of it I thought the experience map would help me better to analyse the touchpoints, feelings, expectations, actions and doubts in the user's path before the decision of purchase, during the use and after the use to have a holistic vision of the experience, not only of the use process.
Information Architecture
With this mapping, I started to develop my information architecture by analysing the actual state and then I did some changes to what users said and the problems that they reported. The main issue of it was concerned in the main page and the categories tab that it doesn't exist.
Moodboard & Style Guide
Wireframes
Visual Design & Prototype
I used Figma to create a visual design as well as the prototype, click here to try.
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I focused on create breaks between the sections, creation of categories in the series tab and movies tab a new user menu, highlights of amazon originals and channels content, a part dedicated to a ''custom'' user content like My List, Last Seen and You May Like, for example.
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I also changed a lot the series and movie display to be easier to understand, divide, with most accessibility (mainly in the size of the fonts) and with the information highlighted in the right places and not at the same time.
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The video display also has some changes to be cleaner and follow through with the new pattern of visual developed. So I put subtitles setting with a variety of control, I maintain the X-Ray and I put the 10 seconds back and go too.
Usability Test #2
I ran a usability test to validate or not the improvements that I did, to listen to the users and understand if the direction of the project solves their problems. For this, I used zoom, to collect these data.
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The Task that I gave was:
''Navigate through the platform and choose some drama movie or serie, then watch it''
The problems of the experience around the navigation, find content, accessibility, information architecture, breaks of content in the main page and subtitles settings were mostly solved, but need some points to be improved. Furthermore, the consequences of this improvement generated a positive feeling of users and good feedback, after all, some of them said that could pass more time because it was ''more organized'' content. So the business goals were accomplished too.
Adjustments
After the usability test applied and tagged, I created the new pain points that it was most commented on and what made sense with the data collected.
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Pain Points:
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A back button in the series and movies display;
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X-Ray adjustment;
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Decrease the size of the pause/play button in the video display;
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A scene hovers when moving the time in video.
Validated Prototype
And Then, I did other prototype validated using Figma too, click here to try it.
Navigation through the prototype.
Conclusion
It was interesting to interview a diverse profile of users that so many things different to say but at the same time close to each other opinions. I learned a lot with the users and with the knowledge along the path, studying and applying new things and tools for me.
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I made the improvements thinking in the user and in amazon goals, as well as I wanted to increase and get stronger the prime's brand with the iconic and non-used blue circle play button.
Thank you :D