Netflix Movie Moodboard
Project Vision
Individuals and families often dread the process of choosing a movie or TV show to watch. My goal with this project was to bring the perfect movie night experience…right at home. I created the Netflix Movie Moodboard, a feature which offers curated movie collections based on moods to simplify the process of choosing a movie or show to watch.
Duration
November-December 2021
Role
UX/UI Designer
I conducted user research and designed the new Netflix feature for a final project in a UX Design class at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Tools
Who Is The Audience?
According to The New York Times, there are
195 million Netflix subscribers
worldwide
In the emerging world of streaming services, when a user opens Netflix on their device, they are presented with a myriad of films and TV shows to choose from.
According to Realgood,
over 5,721 programs
are offered to Netflix subscribers
A recent study revealed that, "A typical Netflix member loses interest after perhaps
60 to 90 seconds
of choosing and having reviewed
10 to 20 titles
(perhaps 3 in detail).”
Connecting with Netflix Subscribers
To dig deeper and empathize with this challenge, I conducted a set of user research interviews with Netflix subscribers between the ages of 10-62. I asked users the following questions to really see what their Netflix family movie nights looked like:
"Tell me about the last time you chose a movie to watch with your family."
"If you remember, what did the mood of the movie night feel like?"
"What happens when you can’t figure out and agree on what to watch?"
"How long does it take you to choose a movie to watch with your family?"
"What is your criteria when choosing a movie to watch?"
"Tell me about a time when choosing a movie to watch went smoothly."
"Tell me about a time when you struggled to find a movie to watch."
"How would you envision a perfect movie night?"
Insights On The Movie Selection Process
These interviews revealed the following interesting insights about the movie selection process:
When an individual or family can’t decide on what to watch, they often decide to watch nothing at all
It is too too time-consuming to read all the captions, browse all the categories, and watch every trailer
Netflix often presents too many movies and shows to choose from. Users feel overwhelmed by the multitude of options in each genre
People want to find movies that match the mood that they are feeling and fit their particular interests
The most important criteria when selecting a movie or show to watch includes:
-
Actors/Actresses
-
Producers
-
Number of awards
-
Trailer
A user often asks themselves the following questions when making their movie and TV selection:
-
Is the movie/show impactful?
-
Is it teaching me something?
Pain Points
My research highlighted two key pain points with the current experience of trying to choose a movie to watch on Netflix:
1. “Paradox of Choice”
While we may believe that having multiple options makes it easier to choose one that we are happy with, too many options is actually more time consuming and frustrating, according to the “paradox of choice": psychological phenomenon.
In the back of their mind a user is thinking:
“How do I know when to stop scrolling?"
"How can I make a decision when there could be a better option available if I keep looking?”
The decision process becomes time consuming and often the brain might end up choosing nothing at all.
2. Basic Categorization Has Its Flaws
Netflix’s categorization of films and TV shows based on general plots and rankings is quite unhelpful and limited, leaving users unsatisfied with their movie choices.
Insights to Action
Using these research insights, I crafted a How Might We question to guide me as I brainstormed and generated potential ideas for solutions:
How might we make users feel delighted, engaged, and inspired while flipping through Netflix’s selection and choosing something to watch?
Categories Based On Moods
As seen on the Netflix landing page today, Netflix’s movies and TV shows are categorized based on their general plot or ranking such as “Popular on Netflix” or “Recommended for You” as well as basic genres such as Comedy, Romance, Action, Drama, etc. Users found this basic categorization too vague and useless. Interestingly, people users were looking for movies that matched their particular emotional states and moods, rather than a basic genre. Drawing inspiration from Spotify and their curated mood playlists, I created movie and TV categories based on moods. Users could browse mood categories including cheerful, nostalgic, contemplative, romantic, cynical, amused, and reflective, to name a few.
10 Movies Per Category
As a result of the psychological phenomenon known as “Paradox of Choice,” being presented with a myriad of film and TV options was actually more confusing than productive. To resolve this issue, the Netflix Movie Moodboard feature presents a maximum of 10 movies per mood category. Users don’t feel overwhelmed and stalled by a seemingly endless selection of film and TV titles, making the decision making process much faster. Within a reasonable time frame, individuals and families can ultimately make a choice that satisfies them.
Only Essential Movie Criteria
User interviews highlighted that people have a specific set of criteria when deciding on a movie to watch. This criteria includes the actors/actresses, producers, the trailer, and the number of awards that have been received. The individual movie listing on the Netflix Movie Moodboard includes only the essential set of criteria, reducing the information to only the necessities.
Unique Movie Tags
Users expressed that basic genre categories like Romance, Thriller, Comedy, etc. are ambiguous and “umbrella” terms that don’t provide descriptive information about each movie. To resolve this issue, each movie on the Netflix Movie Moodboard has unique tags that are more detailed and exclusive to each specific movie such as “scientific,” “uplifting,” and “goofy.” This helps users differentiate each movie from one another even if they fall into the same mood category.
Catalog Format
This design was implemented following usability testing sessions with the goal of improving the interaction experience of scrolling through movies. The Netflix Movie Moodboard app is designed in a catalog format. This encourages users to browse through their movie options like they are flipping through a magazine!
Netflix Movie Moodboard
The Netflix Movie Moodboard is a feature that offers curated movie collections based on moods to simplify the process of choosing a movie or show to watch. This new feature eases the decision making process and brings enjoyable movie nights right at home.
The following future state narrative was written based on the persona, Bella Miller, to highlight the new user journey.
Results & Solution Benefits
Less Time Making Decisions:
Usability testing sessions demonstrated that the time spent for users to choose a movie or show to watch was cut in ½
with the feature as opposed to not having it.
Increase in Engagement:
Users vocalized an increase in engagement and interest in the film and TV options because of the enjoyment of flipping through the selection in a catalog format.
Ease of Tension and Frustration:
Users reported a reduction in the tension and frustration that comes with selecting a movie.
Business Advantage for Netflix:
98% of participants concluded that they would choose to watch movies on Netflix over movie theaters and other streaming platforms with this feature.
If I Had More Time...
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Explore various mood categories and establish which ones resonate most with users
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Consider AI technology to streamline movie selection and mood categorization
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Perform more rounds of user-testing sessions with more diverse groups of students to improve and add new elements to the feature
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Consider VR/AR capabilities to have incoming students immersed in their new campus
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Refine & iterate some more!
What I Learned & Key Takeaways
1. Ask open-ended questions: Open-ended questions allow you to remain unbiased in your research and help you reach unique insights into user pain points.
2. Design challenge constraints: With design challenges, there isn’t endless time to add all of the desired features in a project. Conducting user interviews helps you understand which ones are the most important to focus on within the constraints of your project budget and timeline.
3. Remain curious: Always question everything and intentionally ask “why” because it allows you to step into the mind of your users and have reasoning behind your design decisions.
4. How to work within design constraints: Most businesses have established design systems and this project gave me experience creating designs within an established design system.
A solution doesn’t always have to mean a whole new product is created. The Netflix Movie Moodboard project demonstrated that a feature within an app can be just as impactful than the app itself for both users and businesses.