Developing a Great User Interface

Developing a Great User Interface A Netflix Case Study Sean Kane Director, User Interface Engineering UIE Web Application Summit - Monterey January 2007 Innovative techniques Netflix uses to make finding movies an easy, personalized experience.

Background
Designer, Developer, Usability Research
Product Development
Presentation-Layer Architect
UI Engineering Lead
Ajax Developer

Connecting people to the movies they’ll love
Unexpected value
Design, technology, insight and culture
Context
Approach
Examples

Quick Facts
World’s largest online movie rental service
5.7 million members
70,000 titles – 200 Genres
41 Shipping Centers
Over 1.4 million daily ships – 42 Million DVDs
>95% of all titles are rented each quarter
Two release week cycle

Development Approach Qualitative & Quantitative

EPIC Easy Personalized Innovative Cinematic

Intuition is only a Start
Prove it
Define metrics
Qualitative and quantitative testing
Find gems in tests
Prove with real world data
Don’t become emotionally involved
Total Stars Added
Number of Interactions
Time to task completion

Lifecycle Concept Paper Prototype Usability Testing Functional Prototype Usability Testing Production-Ready Prototype Quantitative Testing Full Release Refine

Starbar Rating Widget
Connect people with the movies they’ll love.

Stars
Rental patterns != strong signal of taste
Red Stars
Average rating
Predictive rating
Yellow Stars
Member rating
Marks movie as seen
Refresh page to update prediction Note change In red stars

Simplify

Star Power
Over 1.5 billion ratings
Users get yellow stars
Rate anywhere
Could be better
Red stars are perceived as average

Back of the Box Using Ajax to make finding the right movie simple

Watching the User Patterns
Repeating paths
User requests
Nonmember experience

What About BOB?
More detail fast
Prototype
Mostly a success

The New Path
Fascinating qualitative test
Very favorable response
Largest traffic swing
Some glitches

Queue Add Confirmation Layer Keeping context

A Successful Page Browse Site Add Movie Queue Add Confirmation Return to Starting Point? User Pattern

New Interaction
Keep people in context
Deliver same content

Strong Opinions, One Winner
Concept debate
Qualitative testing
Quantitative testing
Launched with confidence
Room for improvement

Recommendations Layer Not everything works as expected

Goals
Establish rating/personalization connection
Show personalization in action

Because you loved Toy Story… We recommend A Bug’s Life Close x Seen it? Rate it. If not Add It

Weak correlation
Moving focus
Timing
Inconsistent behavior

Friends Recommendation Layer Obscurity

Release Day

If Untested
Reactive
Defensive
Time wasted looking at bad data
Quick fixes not tested
Left guessing
Seasonal obfuscation

Previews The textbook case-study

Variants
No Control
User Select
Full Control
Whack-a-mole

More Information Netflix is Hiring www.netflix.com/jobs Senior User Interface Engineers HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java, Flash Senior User Interface Designers Senior Manager, Consumer Behavior and Analysis Sean Kane Blog: seankane.wordpress.com

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Developing a Great User Interface

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