CASE STUDY

Showtime

Overview

Showtime was preparing to be one of the early Premium cable networks to integrate and allow TVEverywhere access on desktop and mobile devices. TVE access allows users to sign in with their cable-provider information and browse and watch premium subscriber-only content. Additionally, Showtime wanted to incorporate video playback and tracking across devices, so a user might be able to go from watching on desktop and pick up right where they left off in the application, at the time, this was a new feature and one that would require new services.

Challenge

Showtime was aware that they would need to create new services to support their vision of connected iOS and Android, the challenge with any project that requires new services, is the unknowns around technical concerns and timing to meet delivery. From a UX+Design perspective, Showtime’s creative team had a very strong brand perspective, so we needed to ensure we were respecting the brand principles while still providing a device-specific immersive experience.

Solution

As we approached first a universal iOS app and then Android app, given the strength of Showtime’s visual brand and how much imagery impacts the expected experience, under my oversight, UX+Design partnered to create a series of hi fidelity wireframes that then morphed into the visual design. We provided wires and design comps for both iPad, iPhone and Android experiences.

Role

User Experience lead and oversight
Visual Design oversight
Creative alignment with dev
Client communication and facilitation

Process

We started with an initial kickoff and discovery phase, aligning on brand, target audience and walking through user research Showtime had already conducted. Out of that we created a series of personas and began working out a plan in partnership with Dev & QA. Initial wireframe and design reviews worked out the details of the interplay between brand and device concerns.

Persona Development

Showtime was already fastidious about gathering information around their target audience. We limited user research to the data they had available, as well as asked questions of their in-house researchers and anecdotally gathered from friends. Persona development was important in creating a realistic picture of the person we were designing for, based on real data around viewing habits and context of home life when they’re likely to be viewing. Those personas served as our targets throughout the creative process.

Sketch, Whiteboard and Iterate

UX+Design would review progress daily with devs or share information in our daily stand-ups. After the stand-ups it was common for the team to stick around and whiteboard through ideas and interaction to make sure we were designing things that could be achieved. Once dev began to implement what had been designed, the design+ux team would sit with dev to work through any issues, particularly around grid re-alignment and blade interactions as a user changed from portrait to landscape modes.

Partnering & Hand-off to Dev

By the time design handed off to Dev, dev was already quite familiar with the intended plans. They had been architecting based on what we’d been sharing. It was an iterative process where we adjusted along the way, as needed. QA also stayed closely involved so they knew which areas to pay particular attention to as new features were implemented.

Outcome

The Showtime App continues to live on in the app store today and is still in use and heavily promoted by Showtime. Now, more than ever, users are no longer tied to their T.V.’s and Showtime has capitalized on that. With only minor modifications, the app is nearly identical to what it was in its original state, and functions just as smoothly.