Live streaming platform

Overview

Role: UX Design
Device: Desktop
Design Challenge, December 2016

I was asked to design a live streaming platform for big sporting events. The platform will allow users to watch an event and to interact with other fans watching the same event.

UX PRINCIPLes

INTIMATE, LIGHTWEIGHT, & PLAYFUL

• Personalized content and recommendations

• Smooth and intimate co-watching experience with close friends and family

• Playful features to interact with other viewers

THE APPROACH

SPORTS TV MEETS GOOGLE HANGOUTS:
Watch an event in a "live room" - An intimate space where real friends can enjoy the same event in real time. 

1. Market Research

    Watch ESPN                                               NBC Sports                                            CBS Sports

Pain points: 
• Content is not curated to individual users
• Lack of engaging features complementing the game
• Not friendly for viewers to watch and interact together

2. Television engagement when watching with a friend over social media was 1.3 times greater than watching alone.

A study by Time Warner Research Council, discovered that television engagement when watching with a friend over social media was 1.3 times greater than watching without social media. - “With a second screen that allows live social engagement, they have more reason to stay on-channel with their friend.” 

1. Provisional Persona

Behaviors: 

• Outgoing, Goal-driven
• Enjoys watching sports games at home 
• Chats with his friends while watching NBA games
• Shares recent updates about NBA

Facts:

• His close friends live on the east coast
• Huge Knicks fan
• Watching sports games and TV shows through his laptop. 
• Plays tennis & basketball
• Digital oriented level: High

Needs & Goals:

• A smooth way to watch a livestream with his close friends remotely
• Check personalized recommendations (Find events only he is interested in)
• Check additional information about an event while streaming
   

2. Initial Assumptions

• Live sports streaming by a broadcast network
• User has already created account and logged in
• User has added his favorite sports to personalize the main menu - NBA, NFL, Tennis
• User watches an event in public mode if he doesn’t create a “live room”
   

3. Primary Tasks

• Search / Browse upcoming events
• Select an event to watch
• Invite friends and share events
• Watch an event
• Interact with friends while watching an event
   

4. High-level User Flow

5. Sketches

wireframes 

1-A. MAIN PAGE - LIVE NOW

• Bryan saved NBA, NFL, Tennis as his favorite sports - show them as the main menu. 
• When he already created a live room, he sees it displayed on top
• The rest of the games displayed below

1-B. MAIN PAGE - UPCOMING EVENTS

• Check the upcoming games to schedule and create “live rooms” and invite friends
• He can also simply choose to get notified when the game starts

2-A. LIVE ROOM - OVERVIEW

• Bryan enters the live room and watches the game with his friends
• Him and his friends can choose to video call or chat via text on the sidebar
• More information (such as game stats) can also be found on the sidebar

2-B.  LIVE ROOM - VIDEO FILTERS

• Using computer vision, much like Snapchat, video filters are applied when making a victory gesture (ie. virtual glasses, confetti, fan gear)

key TAKEAWAYS

• Sports games alone are content rich and what all fans actually want. Adding more features may bother the viewers. 

• Video calling allows close friends to feel like they’re watching games together in the same place and is the easiest way to interact across all generations

• Video filter using computer vision is a popular way to entertain users, and adds a unique twist to watching sports