Background:
Disney+ is a wonderful streaming app for kids, but it is lacking a few features that would be helpful. Many Disney movies for small children have sensitive issues such as parent death, children running away from home, questioning the believe in Santa, etc. A mechanism is needed to filter out movies and shows based on these issues. Additionally, given the current recommendations for more limited screen time, the app also needs to have a function to allow viewers to select shows based on runtime.
Research Goal:
I decided to use interviews to determine if my frustrations with the app match others frustrations to decide if one or both of these changes are worth doing (or if there might be a better alternative that provides more far reaching benefit).
Initial Assumptions:
Parents navigated the streaming interface more than the kids
Parents would want to be able to finish shows they were watching with their kids before bedtime
Parents would want to pick and choose at the time of viewing what content should/should not be shown
Kids used the TV more than tablets (and didn't use tablets much) for content viewing.
User Interviews:
5 Interviewees
3 work in IT at a University
1 works as in a medical office
1 works as a freelance Graphic Designer
Ages 25-55
All have children between the ages of 5-15 and utilize multiple streaming services.
Interview Key Takeaways:
Parents are not concerned about being able to select movies more specifically based on time, so this feature was not added.
Parents have a desire for better parental controls in general, not just for sensitive content, so better control over different content and monitoring was added.
Parents would like to be able to preset content so that children can watch with less supervision, so the controls were set up to be preset.
Most of the initial assumptions above were proven incorrect by the interviews.
Push Notifications
Disney+:
Feature Addition Design
Design: User Flows and Wireframes
I utilized user flows to map out to how best connect the features together and the most likely paths that users would take depending on the feature they needed to employ. I used the paths and categories already set in the app as placement for the features, assuming most who used the app were familiar with this structure.
Since this application was already built and in use, I moved straight to Hi-Fidelity Wireframes to reduce the need to recreate production work focus my time with new design work.
Parental Hierarchy
Add/Remove Content
Ideation:
I utilized a mind map technique to consider ideas from more parental involvement (real time viewing push notifications) to less (set it all up initially, then forget about it) while children are utilizing the streaming service.
Feature Additions:
Set Parental Hierarchy to Structure Profiles
Add/Remove Individual Titles from Profile based on Browse and Search
Set Push Notifications to Parent Profile Devices when Content Starts
View list of Recently Watched Titles per Profile and Remove Titles as Necessary
Feature Placement:
Parental Hierarchy -> Account
Add/Remove Titles -> Edit Profile
Push Notifications -> App Settings
Recently Watched -> Profile (near Watchlist)
Success Metrics:
Time to completion/Ability to complete
Low number of errors occurred
Low/no levels of frustration
Positive feedback
Testing Takeaways and Lessons Learned:
Most testers were not familiar with the paths and categories already set up by the app. This was a bit of a surprise, and made me wonder how well used some of the features are.
Most navigated to Edit Profile>Kids Profile to find all added parental settings - other locations were difficult for users to find.
Move all Parental Controls to the same location (Edit Profile > Kids Profile).
The Parental Hierarchy concept was not easily understood (most navigated and enabled JR Mode).
Remove this feature but add on additional password security checkpoints.
Some text was unclear: Monitor Content in Real Time, Remove from Profile, Don’t see this Notification Again.
Change language of text to more commonly used or detailed terms: Push Notifications, Remove Title from Profile, Don’t see Notifications for this Title Again.
Many clicked outside clickable area on many features.
Increase clickable area to include text in addition to the navigation arrows or slider buttons.
Many had confusion about the difference between JR mode, Content Ratings and Add/Remove Content.
Arrange everything together in the same place from the most hands off (JR mode) to the most hands on (Add/Remove Content) and add some additional description.
Final Prototype:
Please feel free to try out the prototype! Note that this is not part of, nor has any connection to, the Disney+ app. Please keep in mind the following testing scenarios and flows while navigating:
Add/Remove content to child profile (flow 1)
View list of watched content of child profile and remove content (flow 1)
Enable push notifications for content monitoring (flow 2)
Prototype and Testing:
I created a prototype and set a usability testing plan to help uncover issues in the original design that were difficult or confusing to end users. I created four tasks to test and the corresponding prototypes to this end.
Tasks to Test:
Set parental hierarchy
I wondered how easy it will be to find under the account area. I also wondered if people will understand the Parental Hierarchy naming convention.
Enable push notifications for content monitoring
I’d wanted to make sure that the swipe away action is intuitive, as well as the “don’t see this notification again”.
Add/Remove content to child profile
I’d wanted to ensure this is found under the Edit Profile of the child profile. I was also be curious to know if/how many people try to use the search functionality to find a specific title.
View list of watched content of child profile and remove content
I wanted to ensure this is found under child profile while not in edit mode. I also wanted to check that the remove button is visible enough in the Recently watched and that the user does not try to return to the remove content section of the edit profile.
Role:
UX Designer
Methodology:
Double Diamond
Future Development:
Had time and resources permitted, I would have liked to explore the following ideas more:
Splash screen overlays for better content details
Parent input/tagging system to mark content
Suggestions for parents in response to an add/removal
Research Objectives:
Determine if others are frustrated by these missing features.
Understand other’s pain-points with the user interface.
Understand what feature(s) are needed that are not currently on the site or easily accessible
Understand other’s overall use of the site.
Interview Results:
4/5 Parents do not feel that the ratings/age brackets for content always match expectations
2/5 A couple parents mentioned that sometimes encountering unexpected content provided opportunities to discuss sensitive issues
5/5 Kids use tablets for viewing content solo much more than expected
Testing Plan Goals:
Verify that flows are clear and achievable
Observe flow pain points
Determine if additional or different interaction options are needed
Interview Results:
5/5 Most streaming service viewing was navigated by the kids, not the parents
4/5 Parents stop a show/movie at bed time and are not concerned about detailed viewing times
4/5 Parents would like more detail and visibility as to what potentially sensitive content is in shows
5/5 Parents would like a way to set things up in advance to have to supervise less during program viewing
3/5 Parents would like a way to have flexibility in what is offered via the profiles that are company determined (Disney+) by age/show rating
Recently Watched
Case Specific Observations:
Sometimes design organization already in place is not optimal (or widely used) for large apps, nor are some features understood. Many of my prototype testers were unfamiliar with the account, app, and profile edit features already in place.
Parenting styles vary greatly with technology use and affects what’s needed and how it needs to be designed on an app.
If there is anything in a prototype that you do not connect up, it will be clicked on – almost a bit of an extension of murphy’s law.
Generational familiarity with technology is worth considering – boomer, gen x, millennial, gen z – it can affect your results, but this may be needed or not depending on the target audience of the app.
Even massive websites/apps such as Disney can benefit from a revisiting of the design process.
General Observations:
It is difficult multi-managing life and other time-consuming activities while doing this – it was a major constraint.
Completing this program and these cases helped me to learn to recognize flows, design patterns, and good/bad product design in daily life, which is quite perspective shifting.
The concepts employed here can be used to help find solutions (and alterative solutions) to many challenges we have in day to day life.
Design is a constant iteration – it’s tough, but an interesting lesson in both trusting the process and self-confidence to pick the “end”.
I thought I was pretty good at knowing what makes sense or what others need – that assumption in and of itself, along with many, many others, is wrong.
This process is great at highlighting how we’re all different and that we can go about similar goals in unique ways, but if you look for them you can usually find overlaps and synergy points.
Having more than one user persona is helpful in allowing for designer discretion in decision making.
I really loved the insights from the research interviews and the prototyping feedback, creating user flows, and mind mapping. I’m not a big fan of the UI components (especially fonts).