Starz is an American premium cable and satellite television network
CHALLENGE
To fulfill a tight deadline and help customer get product into market as early as possible.
RESULT
Launched complex video on demand product including web, mobile and tablet native applications on time.
Generating insights without a dedicated UX research team
The project brief included results from a discovery workshop with the Starz team and follow up recommendations for Fjord's approach to design for Starz platform across desktop, mobile and tablet.
The workshop results were not really enough to start designing. I needed a more insights to understand the product space and set out to research competitor products in the short time available and presented the findings to the team.
It is not uncommon when you are working on contract to find parts of the design process missing or incomplete and this is when you need to improvise. I used a personal VPN to show the Madrid Fjord design team how competitor services, which were geo-IP blocked, functioned, so we could discuss different design approaches and differentiation before the design process kicked off.
We explored non typical interface interactions before locking down final design
The team wireframed in Sketch and tested flows via InVision. During the design process we were able to explore the 'media object discovery flow' and potential non-typical interface interactions in greater depth before being forced into taking more conservative decisions due to tight deadlines. I was able to coach the team on how game design might influence media selection.
We explored a range of highly interactive and animated responsive card systems inspired by Blizzard's Hearthstone game, as it is offered countless beautiful and rich "touch, hold and drag" features which we wanted try out on a "save movie" feature. Ultimately the client opted for the simplest and quickest path to implementation.
The team wireframed in Sketch and tested flows via InVision. During the design process we were able to explore the 'media object discovery flow' and potential non-typical interface interactions in greater depth before being forced into taking more conservative decisions due to tight deadlines. I was able to coach the team on how game design might influence media selection.
We explored a range of highly interactive and animated responsive card systems inspired by Blizzard's Hearthstone game, as it is offered countless beautiful and rich "touch, hold and drag" features which we wanted try out on a "save movie" feature. Ultimately the client opted for the simplest and quickest path to implementation.
Agency testing is grinding with the whole office when you have low resources
The completed iPad design was validated through testing via prototyping. Testing was within the design and management team inside Fjord. We were unable to have resources available to test randomly outside NDA approved testers due to budget and time restrictions. The iterative design process which included a lot of reviews made the end result as sturdy as any design could be pre-development. Our combined designs for desktop, mobile and iPad native apps were sent to Fjord's software engineering partner for development, which is where my time on the project ended and we parted ways. My contribution helped the Fjord ship on time enabling Starz to get to market and engage new customers as quickly as possible.
