Prototyping New Media Formats
ROLE
Product Designer
Lead Prototyper
TEAM
Sonya Surapaneni
SKILLS
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Prototyping
10-foot UI Design
TIMELINE
6 Weeks
TOOLS
Figma
Protopie
ElevenLabs
HeyGen
PROJECT OVERVIEW
An unconventional project
My partner and I saw ourselves as an exploratory team within Threads trying to answer the fundamental question: "Can short form text (SFT) apps be viable on TV?". Before suggesting a full commitment of company resources, we set out to validate it's potential.
An intentional focus on text content
While most other TV apps focused on video, we wanted to tap into the treasure trove of underutilized text content that allow more than 1 billion users to:
Participate
Anyone can jump into any conversation quickly and easily.
Gauge
Conversations unravel in real-time, reflecting the current pulse.
Contribute
Lower barrier to creation encourages more contribution.
Expand
Hear from experts, communities, individuals about topics.
Express
Text encourages raw and unpolished expression
Discover
Jokes, ideas, observations, commentary not suited for video.
A prototyping first approach for testing
Modeling our approach after Vine and TikTok, we quickly realized the key to success would be to rapidly build high fidelity prototypes and test them on users to gauge the true experience.
CHALLENGE
The differences between consuming content on mobile devices and TVs
Comfortable Reading
TV users are used to video content and will likely not be quick to adopt reading.
Consumption Patterns
Threads users are used to active scrolling while TV users are used to a more "leaned back" viewing.
Conflicting Navigation
TVs use a significantly limited, binary interaction model unlike the rich model of mobile devices.
SOLUTION
The 3 versions of Threads on TV
A quick note before we jump into this, many of the prototypes in version 1 and 3 have an audio component.
VERSION 1
Theatre Mode
Our initial approach was to attempt to literally translate the app onto a TV. We then went ahead to attempt to create a passive viewing experience by adding autoscroll and an audio component.
*This prototype has audio*
Presenting v1 to a room of designers who've shipped media products
After finishing version 1, we were given the unique opportunity to present our work to a room of 15-20 product design veterans who have built media products and undestaand the bar that exist for people to be entertained. Here is what one of them had to say:
Gabriel Valdivia | Founder and Principal Designer at Valdivia Works
Meta
4 Years
2 years
CNN
2 years
Patreon
2 years
Our user test results weren't looking good either…
Around the same time we also tested our version 1 on users. The results corroborated with the feedback we received from the designers.
But from this opportunity to walk in the footsteps of those who had come before us and pick their minds, we learned some valuable lessons. The most important of which involved these insights:
INSIGHT
The role of TVs in a home
The designers really made us consider — were we looking at the TV using the right lens? Is there more to it than just being a source of passive entertainment and the modern equivalent of a hearth?
The different levels of engagement
They also led us to think deeply about the context in which users tend to find themselves using TVs which led us to realize that there are three levels of engagement:
Fully
You are fully/mostly focused on whats on the TV.
Partially
Your focus is split between the TV and some other activity.
Minimally
Your focusing mostly on some other activity while the TV is on.
Key human insight: TVs serve as a third voice in the home
Ultimately, we realized that TV's have moved into this role of being a presence that fills a space physical and provides a comforting sense of company. Especially when users are minimally engaged.
VERSION 2
Ambient Mode
Armed with this pivotal insight, we set out to incorporate the lessons and feedback we received in our second iteration — Ambient Mode. This version features the reintroduction of media, grouped content, and a more passive, "screensaver"-esque design.
In testing, Ambient mode was much better received by our users. This marked the end of our project (or so we thought) and we believed we created a use case that users would use and was achievable by today's technology, but not one that was as overwhelmingly compelling as we hoped.
VERSION 3
Personalized TV channel
Inspired by AI generated content on TikTok sourced from Reddit, we envisioned a TV channel generated by your Threads algorithm. We imagined an avatar that talks about what is on your timeline —going beyond the surface level topics, delving into the replies and the messy conversations that unfold.
*This prototype has audio*
END OF FREE TRIAL
Curious to hear more?
If you're curious about the nitty gritty of our process, don't hesitate to reach out to hw3617@nyu.edu and I'd be happy to bring you through the thinking. Thanks for following along!