Making TV about you.


Hulu



Summary

Shaping personalization and the sign up flow for TV watchers.


Hulu is a TV subscription service upending the conventions on how we watch. The experience strategy was heavily inspired by how recommendation systems can focus on the one video someone is most likely to watch, and how Live TV can mix with regular content. My efforts focused on the My Stuff section, personalization, profiles, and a vision for the sign-up-flow.




Personalization

Helping intelligent systems be self-evident.


After an exhaustive audit of personalization systems and scores of user interviews, we began to understand that no one totally understands how the systems work. Most seem to think there is one particular behavior, choice, or attribute about themselves that leads to a certain recommendation. However, the reality is systems are much more nuanced, such as collaborative-filtering. This disconnect explained why so many people felt the systems didn’t get them.




This lead us explore how to explain how the system works using a very natural, personal tone. The big shift came when we used multiple reasons why someone would like a particular video, illustrating that we are looking at lots of behaviors, not just any individual one. Next, we looked to every touchpoint in the experience where personalizaiton could be integrated seamlessly. Together, this improved perceived relevance, a higher-likeliness to watch, and an increased perception in Hulu’s capabilities.




Sign Up Flow

A truly user-centered sign up flow.


In dozens of interviews, we were surprised how, when people are deciding video services to subscribe to, they don’t really care how many movies or shows they get, nor how ‘fresh’ the content is. Later, of course. But when signing up, most had one particular TV show they they (or their child) was addicted to.





This became our guiding mission, figuring out user’s could confirm that Hulu had the show they need, while also creating a elevated experience simply explaining Hulu, what Live TV means (seriously), and answering more detailed questions.


Strategy

Wireframe

Design








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