Overview
Inspired by my Grandmother's struggles with Netflix, I initiated this personal project with one mission: to transform the streaming experience into a seamless and enjoyable journey for seniors.
While you can pick between an adult profile or Netflix Kids, there's currently no option that caters specifically to seniors. In this redesign, I prioritized navigation, readability, and visual clarity.
Additionally, I introduced features that deliver a personalized and enhanced streaming experience for senior users, addressing a current gap in Netflix's offerings.
Unlocking Potential: Why Focus on the Smallest Netflix Viewer Group?
As of 2018, those aged 65+ spent almost five hours daily watching TV. With COVID-19 reshaping habits, older viewers likely consume even more.
As of 2022, Americans age 50 and older are powering the growth of streaming video in the U.S., representing 39% of streaming watch time.
Interestingly, while older audiences power this surge, it appears that Netflix is seemingly behind Hulu in tapping into this demographic.
Adapting Netflix for this audience, especially considering the global growth of older viewers, could unlock a significant and untapped subscriber base amid the recent decline in quarterly paid subscribers.
Research & Analysis
I conducted user interviews to build new personas and to inform my design. The objective was to understand how seniors engage with Netflix, identifying what sets Netflix apart from other streaming services, and how it may fall short for older subscribers. I also studied competitor apps and industry trends to gather additional insights.
Information Architecture
I used journey mapping and user research to understand how seniors interact with Netflix, focusing on simplifying navigation, categorizing content logically, ensuring clear labeling and understandable terminology, and optimizing the layout for ease of use.
Wireframing & Prototyping
Using the insights from initial user interviews, I focused on solving the issues of the presentation of information, visual clutter, iconography, and font size.
In my sketches, I rearranged where certain features were located to address the users' preference for a familiar layout, ensuring a straightforward path to their desired content.
Other changes aimed to introduce senior users to features that they typically overlook due to placement on the screen or size.
Usability Testing
I conducted usability tests by inviting senior users to interact with the redesigned Netflix interface, observing their navigation and collecting feedback through interviews. This helped validate design decisions and refine the interface for improved accessibility and ease of use.
Visual Design & Design System
In my redesign, I prioritized visual design elements like larger fonts and high-contrast colors to enhance readability for senior users.
I recreated the Hawkins design system (Netflix's design framework) and ensured consistency and scalability by implementing personalized features within the system, promoting ease of use and accessibility throughout the interface.
Next Steps & Learnings
Looking back, I would love to conduct additional interviews and user testing to gather more insights and refine my designs further.
Additionally, in redesigning the Netflix interface to be more senior user-friendly, I've learned that navigating Netflix is a huge pain point for seniors. One thing that exacerbates this issue is a user's remote controller.
As I work further on this project, I aim to learn how senior users interact with their remote controllers and design a remote accessible on their smartphones that can connect to their smart TVs.
I'd like to address the challenges posed by confusing remotes and enhance the overall senior user experience on Netflix with features like voice search, typing directly on their smartphones, and providing media controls.
