Are anime fans getting the best streaming experience?
UX Case Study
I want to watch anime tonight, but I can’t find a good one to watch. I’m tired of searching. What do I do?
Introducing Amplay — your one stop for anime.
This is the story of how I designed Amplay, an anime streaming platform that takes the work out of finding your next anime.
A change long overdue
Many of us have been there before. You’re scrolling, trying to find something to watch but with no success. This has become less and less of a problem with leading streaming services like Netflix and Hulu guiding the way. So why does the anime industry continue to lag behind?
Role
Solo product designer
Task
Improve the current anime watching experience
Timeline
March to April 2022
Goal
Craft a solution that allows anime fans to watch their favorites all in one place
A collaborative process
As an avid anime fan myself, I had some idea what other fans might be struggling with, but I didn’t want to let my experience paint the problem. This is why I took a collaborative approach to understanding what other fans were struggling with.
A business opportunity
Since this is a conceptual project, I knew it could suffer from lack of scope and constraints. So I focused on designing for a subscription based business model. This, along with user insights, helped inform the design.
1 in 3 fans are still watching on illegal sites.
To get a glimpse into the fandom and their watching habits, I remotely conducted a survey on 25 participants who watched anime at least once a month in the last year.
Which platform are you using primarily to watch anime?
How did you hear about the most recent anime you’ve watched?
Survey results showed that one-third of participants are still using pirated streaming sites. Where are legitimate streaming services failing fans? Another finding showed that 42.9% of respondents found the last anime they watched through a friend’s recommendation.
Fans are frustrated with clunky language filters and lack of control
The survey illuminated some common frustrations among anime watchers. I used an affinity map to focus on the ones brought up the most.
01
Tedious language filtering options, different language options being hidden behind paywalls, and poor translations are driving fans away.
02
Viewers don’t know what to watch next. There’s no personalization.
03
Lack of control is a key ingredient for a bad user experience. Sharing, skipping, and going back are all essentials to a seamless user experience.
How industry leaders show you exactly what you want to watch
Since fans are struggling to find something to watch and lack control in their watching experience, I looked at how industry leaders currently solve these problems.
Industry leaders focused on reducing decision fatigue. Instances of this that stand out include TikTok’s ‘for you page’ that continuously feeds the viewer videos or Netflix’s ‘Play Something’ feature that will choose a show or movie for you. These platforms also give users control with seamless playback options — think of the iconic ‘Skip Intro’ button. Seeing these gaps in current anime streaming services, I saw an opportunity for the solution.
Designing the solution + major improvements
I designed the initial solutions on paper and tested for two rounds of feedback. A total 16 participants remotely tested the prototype via maze. They were not screened for anime expertise since I wanted insights from anime novices.
Additional ‘Group Watch’ button
For the first task, participants were asked to watch an anime simultaneously with friends. 2 out of 8 participants dropped off the on the first screen (left). Since they went looking for that feature elsewhere, I added that same button to another screen (right).
After the change, the bounce rate decreased from 25% to 0%, suggesting people were no longer searching for that feature in other areas.
Finding a show based on friend activity
Since roughly half of survey respondents mentioned they found their latest anime through a friend’s recommendation, I designed a feature that allowed users to play what their friend’s had most recently watched, but this task has the lowest success rate. I changed the design to instead display shows that had been liked by friends instead.
The final screens
Reflections
Why, not how. The first version of this case study was twice the size of what it is now. I was excited to show every usability test finding and explain every design decision, but this wasn’t feasible. I had to ask “What are the most meaningful decisions I took toward solving this problem?” Focusing on major insights rather than granular details were essential in improving the storytelling.
There’s many ways to solve a problem. I was eager to stand by a feature that allowed viewers to watch what their friends had recently watched. Survey results showed that people often relied on friend recommendations. I was sure this was the answer. But when test results showed otherwise. I tried to redesigning the feature a few times when ultimately exploring a different solution worked better in the long run.