toGather is a third-party streaming platform for OTT media services built to encourage conversation and connection between users.
Duration
July 2020–August 2020
My Role
Quantitative Data Analysis
Visual Identity
Usability Testing
overview
Context
With a rapid spread of COVID-19, social distancing became a key to flatten the curve and avoid exposure to the virus. Although the decision to socially distance is extremely crucial to a safer and more controlled environment, it can drive people a little crazy sometimes as people have fundamental needs for connection.
For Adobe Creative JamXNetflix, Our team wanted to create an impactful product that can contribute to merging normal and new-normal to help people connect virtually.
How might we socialize when we're asked not to?
Many watch party apps only offer instant engagement of movie sharing and do not further provide space for users to form a community.
Solution
Social Distancing No Longer has to be Self-Isolation
We aim to bring good old sleepovers and late movie nights back to life. I mean, who doesn't love movie parties with the loved ones with a warm blanket, late-night pizza(with pineapple on top, of course), face masks, and more. Pre-COVID movie nights were more than just watching movies together and we wish to bring it back.
Market Validation
With a hypothesis that people have hard time social distancing and networking with their loved ones, we sent out survey to individuals to gather qualities that make social distancing easier or harder. Out of 21 surveys that were collected, 66.7% individuals we surveyed were 18-22 and 28.6% are 23+.
94.7%
uses OTT/streaming platform during the free time
2.52
average level of difficulty of virtual interaction
62%
uses streaming services every day
73%
enjoys talking what they watch in virtual/real-life communities
Surprisingly, many young adults have responded that they find virtual interactions aren't as hard as they are already so used to digital technology.
→ Understand user's habits primary goals. Focus on improving the experience.
Our Takeaways
1. Lack of intimacy often leads to misunderstanding; conversations are more than just bubbles of text.
2. Limitations within social gathering is frustrating, but it also made it easier to reach out to friends and family outside of the town.
3. Silence is barely acceptable in a virtual social setting bc participants are relentlessly making eye contact through screens.
Ideation
Our Journey to Finding Opportunity Space
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Currently, there are platforms that allow users to share through OTT media or their own screens. Our team took time to analyze the current market to find out where our product stands in the market.
BRAIN DUMP/WIREFRAMING
After many rounds of wireframes and brainstorming sessions, we created the first MVP with a hybrid streaming/social media model. An intuitive interface was designed for easy planning and keeping track of upcoming stream events.
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after 48 hours of designing
Luckily, we placed to 6% among more than 600 participating teams and we saw this as a sign of success.
In order to continue iterating outside of the time constraint, we decided to conduct a usability test to understand actionable next steps.
iteration
Usability Test
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OVERVIEW
We ran a quick 30-minute usability test sessions with 3 users from different demographics. As we were working with our very first MVP, we arranged controlled scenarios to see if the navigation was clear enough for the users to perform the tasks as wanted.
TL;DR: Our first product didn't do a great job.
Users commented on lacking correlation between the product and the watch parties, the many steps in complex navigation to complete a task, certain wording not being clear enough, and more.
iteration
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
EVALUATION
We took one of the sample scenarios from usability tests to see how our product improved
SCENARIO
Stephanie wants to join Marvel-a-thon that happens every Friday night. It's Friday afternoon and you want to invite Stephanie ahead and have everything ready to go.
TASK
Add Stephanie to the group The Hamsters and set everything up. It's assumed that Stephanie is already in your friend list.
final product
Introducing toGather
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Key Feature 1: Digital ecosystem
Having a handy device is definitely tempting during long watch hours. ToGather allows mobility for the product in order to adapt to different/multiple screen sizes.
Key Feature 2: Browsing
Make a choice that satisfies the group easier than ever before. ToGather uses visualization in logos and colors to invite users from different platforms.
Key Feature 3 : Engaging
Bringing real-life funsies to online. ToGather invites both registered users and non-registered users to enjoy the app with no limitation.
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