Steamboat Willie by Walt Disney Animation Studios
from 1920s to 2020s
Disney has been entertaining its passengers since 1920s.
Having debuted at B/W CRT screens
Now we can enjoy it in UHD quality from any device.
Let's take a look at its brand new boat "Disney+".
Introduction
This is a class project studying Disney+, the SVOD streaming service launched by The Walt Disney Company. In this project Yoojin did the research of the web-platform and its existing & potential users.
Goal
The main goal of this project is evaluation of the existing website and researching users in order to identify general usability issues and proposing ideas to improve User Experience of the service.
Scope - Desktop website
Approach & Deliverables.
Yoojin approached to the project with the Design Thinking process introduced by d.school.
· Test: Heuristic evaluation, Usability Test.
· Empathise: User Interview, Affinity Diagram, Persona, Point of View.
· Define: "How might we" definition
· Ideate: Brainstorming.
· Empathise: User Interview, Affinity Diagram, Persona, Point of View.
· Define: "How might we" definition
· Ideate: Brainstorming.
Evaluating current state
Heuristic Evaluation
Yoojin proceeded with a heuristic evaluation of the site where he could spot several usability issues and get directions for further research. To construct the heuristic criteria Yoojin mainly referred to heuristics by Jakob Nielsen. The evaluator took the role of a person familiar with Disney+ through mass media but with minimal domain knowledge on SVOD services. Below is the table of heuristics for each page of the site.
The overall experience of using Disney+ was consistent, it generally follows the patterns of major SVOD service websites. The content is curated according to the specificity of the Disney movies which is especially noticeable in 'kids profile'. On the contrary it has weak general searching and sorting features. The biggest issue in usability was the absence of navigation interface in some pages which can cause errors due to mixed usage of navigations of the website and the browser. Below are the discovered major issues.
Content Browsing
Home - general profile
Home - kids profile
Lack of information interaction
In the content browsing page users cannot get additional information besides the thumbnail image with the title. In order to get more information about the content user has to shift to a different page(the movie page). This way of information distribution can interfere with content browsing experience because shifting into the movie page is another task and the user keeps losing visibility of the whole list.
Suggestion: Yoojin suggests to observe and implement the way how people browse physical lists of content. For example in bookstores: users can read additional information about books seeing its size, reading the introduction on the backside or leafing through it before starting reading the book.
Content Searching & Sorting
Search
Movies
Weak search engine and absence of sorting function.
The searching engine of the site has very limited capabilities. The evaluator couldn't find any Marvels movies by entering keywords 'action' or 'sci-fi'. The more severe problem is that it doesn't provide interface of sorting the content. And in most of the cases it doesn't indicate by which criteria the content is sorted.
Movie/Series Introduction
Series Introduction - general profile
Movie Introduction - kids profile
Absence of Navigation Interface.
This interface is not considering that the user can want to go back to the higher level from the movie(series) introduction page. There are several cases when going to a higher level is needed. It is when the user came from a collective content page like theme collection, franchise page(ex: Marvels), search results.
Suggestion: Back navigation is necessary for the site since there are several levels of depths.
Suggestion: Back navigation is necessary for the site since there are several levels of depths.
Usability Testing
Yoojin conducted usability testing basing on the results of the heuristic evaluation. The purpose of the testing was spotting general usability issues and empathizing with users in order to understand their experience while using the site through monitoring their thought process.
Target group: Users age of 18-30, mainly non-subscribers of Disney+
Total interviewed: 5 people(4 non-subscribers, 1 subscriber)
The detailed plan and the script is accessible through the links below:
Result Analysis
Distinct behavior and reaction according to the familiarity with the content
Among testers there was a difference of familiarity with Disney content and Yoojin could observe significantly distinctive behavior according to this. Among 5 testers 2 were very knowledgeable about Disney titles. They were able to recall specific scenes and were aware of the details of the titles they were interested in. Yoojin called them 'Disney-savvy people'. In addition, this group of users tended to be more tech-savvy and familiar with SVOD services. 3 other users were familiar with Disney content as well but mainly with famous titles. For them, Disney was just another studio producing content. Yoojin called them 'Sightseers'.
Disney-savvy people had an overall positive experience during browsing the site, they found the site comfortable with a lot of things to watch. Disney-savvy users also had distinctive browsing behavior. Firstly they didn't search by general keywords or category but rather they preferred randomly and quickly browsing on the site. Another distinction was that they actively used other sites for getting additional information about movies, actors, etc. It was interesting to notice that one user forgot his task, and another began searching irrelevant things on the internet.
Sightseers on contrary had neutral or negative experiences about the site, they thought that the site is inconvenient with not a lot of things to watch. They thought that there are a lot of very old titles. Sightseers' approach to the content was more general compared to Disney-savvy users, their search was oriented to general keywords and they were not satisfied with the suggested content. All Sightseers although they wanted more information about the content didn't refer to other sites.
The Bottom Line
Disney+ is finely customized to the specificity of its content
which is empathetic to the loyal customers
but it should take 'novice' customers into consideration
which is empathetic to the loyal customers
but it should take 'novice' customers into consideration
Empathizing with users
Affinity Diagram
Yoojin made an affinity diagram from collected data during usability testing and interviewing. The diagram provided overall context of use and general thought process during the use of the service.
Through the affinity map, it was seen that besides discovered UI issues the main concern of users was the efficiency of finding the desired content and indication of whether the movie is worth watching. The order and the quantity of the content (visible to user) was important factor in indicating whether the service is valuable for them. If users discovered a lot of old content or the suggested list is very short they got the impression that the service doesn't have a lot of valuable for them content.
Persona
Basing on the insights of evaluations Yoojin created Personas for each group of users in order to find deeper insights.
Insights
"I love you Disney, but do you?"
Yoojin claims that there should be a segment of loyal young adult users that are empathetic to the traditional Disney content. These users are fans of Disney but not great fans of Marvels or Starwars, and they expect some original series reflecting their expectations.
Yoojin claims that there should be a segment of loyal young adult users that are empathetic to the traditional Disney content. These users are fans of Disney but not great fans of Marvels or Starwars, and they expect some original series reflecting their expectations.
"Oh hey guys, can I join you?"
UX designer suggests in order to improve 'novice' customers' engagement there is a need for building a "polite" version of content suggestion and sorting. They expect more general criteria and filters of sorting content like date of release, live-action, animation, etc.
UX designer suggests in order to improve 'novice' customers' engagement there is a need for building a "polite" version of content suggestion and sorting. They expect more general criteria and filters of sorting content like date of release, live-action, animation, etc.
Defining The Problem
"How might we design a long-term engagement plan for loyal users
and become more friendly to new users?"
and become more friendly to new users?"
Ideas For Further Steps
Yoojin used SCAMPER method for ideation
Ideas for Further Consideration
Showing upcoming movies
Showing upcoming movies will visualize future value of the service for users and encourage them to stay on subscription.
Showing upcoming movies will visualize future value of the service for users and encourage them to stay on subscription.
Enhancing re-watching experience through user participation
Yoojin suggests giving users an interface where users could share their experiences(ex: user comments, simultaneous watching, sharing watchlists) which will build a sense of belonging to the community.
Yoojin suggests giving users an interface where users could share their experiences(ex: user comments, simultaneous watching, sharing watchlists) which will build a sense of belonging to the community.
Mini-player to lower the barrier to start playing the content
With respect to the current UI decision for content browsing Yoojin suggests developing a mini-player function. This will lower the barriers to start watching content, especially in situations when the user is re-watching the content or the user wants to check it out whether it's worth watching.
With respect to the current UI decision for content browsing Yoojin suggests developing a mini-player function. This will lower the barriers to start watching content, especially in situations when the user is re-watching the content or the user wants to check it out whether it's worth watching.
OST player
One of the specificities of Disney content is music. Yoojin considers that allowing users to listen to Original Sound Tracks can encourage users to watch relevant content. Also, it will maintain the sense of the constant presence of the service.
One of the specificities of Disney content is music. Yoojin considers that allowing users to listen to Original Sound Tracks can encourage users to watch relevant content. Also, it will maintain the sense of the constant presence of the service.
Collaboration with other Disney divisions, VR ready content
Disney should incorporate its assets to enhance User Experience. For example, it can build content in collaboration with the Disney LOL site(game site).
Disney should incorporate its assets to enhance User Experience. For example, it can build content in collaboration with the Disney LOL site(game site).
