Designing enhancements for digital community interaction
Netflix Social
Timeline
4 months
Role
Product Designer • UX Researcher
Team
2 Designers
Tools/Skills
Figma • FigJam • Miro • Google Forms • Product Design • User Research • Prototyping
Overview
What if Netflix felt a little less... lonely?
Netflix makes it easy to find something to watch, but choosing and talking about what to watch is often a social experience. People already turn to friends, messaging apps, and other platforms to share recommendations and discuss shows — what if Netflix could do it all in one?
Solution
Netflix reimagined as a more social, connected viewing experience.
We designed social features that let users see what friends are watching, recommend shows to one another, and discuss episodes together. Netflix Social brings the community around watching directly into the streaming experience.
Recommend favorite content to friends
View friends in the pop-up tab and select which ones to add. Just hit Check, and the show will show up in the user friend’s social section.
Connect in the Social Section
Here, users can find what all their friends are up to — what they’re watching, what they should watch, and what they think you should watch.
Find Community in the Comments
See what everyone thought about the latest episode through the episode comments and add your own or reply to others.
Understanding Users
Watching Netflix is social, but the experience isn’t.
The streaming platform makes it easy to discover and watch content, but people often turn to friends and messaging to find out what to watch. Through 8 user interviews, we uncovered key opportunities to bring those social interactions into the Netflix ecosystem.
"I think I use recommended content more than the Search section, sometimes I find myself endlessly scrolling though."
"Being able to comment about a show or see comments would be a really cool way to see what people think about it."
"I love Spotify friends listening, I love seeing what their top playlists and artists are… Sometimes I’ll listen to their songs too."
How might we incorporate community discourse in-app?
Create a Social Section
Our enhancement should include a section where users can connect and add friends, see what they’re watching, and recommend things to each other
Add recommendation and commenting features
Our design should implement features for each show where users can view comments from friends, and recommend the show to other users
Exploring Paths
Finding the right balance between familiar and new.
Our goal was to keep the original layout of Netflix with blended enhancements and functions that were seamless with the original service. To bring our frameworks to life, we began working on low fidelity frames..
Recommendation - As users hover over the new icon, they will see an option to recommend. Once they recommend the show to a friend, it will be replaced by a check mark.
Commenting - Users can view comments at the side of each episode. Clicking on the “View Comments” button will take them to this area where they can view other friends’ comments as well as add their own.
Social Tab - The social section is accompanied by a new icon at the sidebar. Here, users can see all their friends and what they are watching. They will also be able to click Recommended for You to view shows their friend has pushed to them.
Final Designs
A more social Netflix, without losing what makes it familiar.
Our final prototype integrated proposed community into the larger Netflix design system, bridging the classic interface with new extensions.
Find Your Communities
Busy families need easy groups. Our platform makes it simple to create and join organizations so that families can be grouped with other members in their community.
Find current organizations through join codes and easily enter information. Don't have a group? Create one and share it with others!
Future Work
What's Next?
This was one of my first case studies and this project taught me about the connection between good research and good design. But, there is always room to improve…
Integrate a Watch Party feature
Many users talked about wanting to watch shows with friends together, expanding on group features would foster the socialization we were looking to achieve.
Adaptable design for mobile interfaces
Desktop was the top device for watching Netflix from our interviewers, followed by phones or tablets. Creating responsive design would allow us to cater to audiences across devices.
