Custom lists for self organisation

Being able to create a custom list of videos was a regular user feedback we got through support and app ratings, together with being able to schedule when to do a yoga video in a calendar. We used a low fidelity prototype as an interview basis with yogis to learn more about the underlying needs for each.  

The Team

  • 2 Designers
  • 1 Product Owner
  • 6 Developer
  • 1 Marketing consultant
  • 1 Content consultant

My Role

  • Market Research
  • User Research
  • Usability Testing
  • Wireframing
  • Prototyping
  • Workshop Facilitation

Used Tools

  • Figma
  • Miro
  • Hotjar
  • Rapid Usertests
  • Jira & Confluence

Duration
2 Month

Problem

User accumulated too many videos in their favourites list which made it hard to find a specific one when needed. They were leaving comments and contacting support about this issue for quite some time already and suggesting their own possible solutions.

Goal

Reduce the friction between deciding to practice yoga and starting the practice by help users to find the specific video they want to do right now quickly.

Challenge

Identify a good solution with focus on feasibility, so we can build and implement it quickly without overthrowing the current structure of the product or the existing favourite lists of our customers.

The Process

Brainstorm solutions

... to gather all the customer ideas that accumulated over time in feedback and support messages. For that I invited colleagues from marketing and customer support as they heard about many suggestions from our users.

Test 2 different ideas

... with small and rough click-dummies to learn which approach would help to solve the problem better.

Tree Testing

... to learn where the feature should be located within our existing information architecture.

Adapt the design

... to all other platforms (tablet and web) so we can guarantee a cross platform experience as we know our users find and watch videos often on different platforms.

Tree testing to find a spot within our IA

Prototypes within Figma

We wanted to achieve...

Stay authentic

Digital yoga should still feel like real yoga. When testing with a prototype that included dates or times to schedule when to do a specific yoga video we learned that this triggered a feeling of pressure and work that was not following “the way of yoga”. 

Be Flexible
We saw that our users not only wanted to save videos but also plan them, in a way that feels appropriate to yoga. Instead of providing a calendar, we gave users the option to set and edit the order of the videos within a list. This gave them the option to plan ahead for a specific time frame or create their own programs.

Reduce Mental Load
We heard users talking about their desire to switch things up and not do the same video over and over again. Some even had lists on paper to manage themselves and to avoid certain videos because “I just did that last week”. To help with this need, we introduced a “last seen” date to every video within a list.

So we decided on...

Use familiar places 


Through tree testing we wanted to find out, where in our current structure this feature should live so it’s not only found by new users but also accepted by existing users. We ended up building on top of where the favorites lived as this was not only a well rated place but was also a pain point in its current form.


Use existing iconography


The decision of the place also led to the decision of the trigger. We altered the heart icon to show its additional function but kept its basic shape to keep the association.


It is not a playlist


Users only watch a single video per session. Having an auto-play would just annoy users as they would need to quite it more often then it’s helpful.

App - Prototype

App - New List

App - Overview

Web - New List

Web - Overview

Feedback from our users
"...I also enjoy filling my own categories at Favorieten, so that I can find my favorite courses very quickly. Please by all means keep up the good work, I'm a really big fan!"

"Very good app to practice yoga at home. Now also with list function for favorites. Super handy and great yoga videos and meditations."

Leason Learned
Researching, designing and building this feature was nothing but a joy as it wasn't too complex but would have a big impact. 
Releasing it on the other hand brought difficulties with it I haven't encountered before. 
We were having  miscommunications about how to introduce this new feature in different places to our users. Now I know to start syncing early enough.

Fun Fact
Because this is a German app we had several lengthy discussions about the name of the feature that would appear in the navigation. As it is German tradition it ended up being quite the lengthy “Favorietenlisten”.