Playstation Vue
Redesign

Project Brief
An expert review with a heuristic evaluation followed by a redesign exercise for problematic screens and features.
Role
Individually led and completed over a 2-3 week period.
About
Playstation Vue
Vue was Playstation's endeavor into tv streaming, launched in 2015. It's now gone, but during that time Playstation had an app to access their services. Although most likely not the sole cause of their demise, it was plagued with usability issues and errors creating a frustrating experience for customers.
Heuristic Evaluation
A combination of heuristics gathered from Nielsen, Fitts Law, and Gerhardt-Powals were used to assess high priority features such as sign in, account creation, onboarding, and usage of the streaming guide. Examples are shown here but a full version of the evaluation can be found in the link below.
Download full evaluation
Cannot create new account
When user opens app for first time, user must have a login already created. User also needs to have subscription plan chosen, app does not provide option to create or select plan type. User will need to leave app and go to web to do the above actions.
Violation:
User control and freedom - Nielsen
Severity:
Unusable
User taken to login with no ability to choose plan or create account
“Learn more” takes user to info page about Playstation Network ID. User most go to Sony website not formatted for mobile
User can only select "watch now"
Default login screen
If user forgets password, no way to recover or reset from within app
Reset password
Default login screen
If user forgets password, no way to recover or reset from within app
When user logs into app, if password is forgotten app identifies wrong username or password but does not provide a method for resetting or even hint for logging in. 
Violation:
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors - Nielsen
Severity:
Unusable
Non-standard guide layout
Direct TV Guide
Amazon Fire TV Guide
Vue guide shown with time slots on left and channels names on top, much different than typical execution.
Vue channel guide locates time slots vertically along the side unlike traditional channel guides both digitally and in print where the vertical axis is used for networks and the horizontal axis is used for time.
Violation:
Match between systems and the real world - Nielsen
Severity:
Irritant
Direct TV Guide
Amazon Fire TV Guide
Vue guide shown with time slots on left and channels names on top, much different than typical execution.

Redesign

Example problematic screens were updated via UI according to Playstation branding as well as solving for the UX issues outlined in the heuristic review mentioned earlier. These are just a few example screens  showing solutions to the discovered issues.

A better login experience
Previously if a user opened the app but had not created an account yet they were forced to leave the app and could only create an account on a desktop browser. The redesign allowed for new account creation and the ability to reset your password which was not possible before.
New user onboarding
First time users are presented with information to provide useful tips on using the app and an introduction to features they may find useful. Additional integrated onboarding could be implemented during usage as well.
TV guide redesign
Existing examples for tv guides were used as a reference for the redesign. This solution required reduced user's cognitive effort by implementing a format they were familiar with. New design also shows what is currently playing by highlighting the current show within the guide.

Want to work together?

Linkedin
Dribbble
Thanks for getting here 👍