DirecTV Now: 10ft Framework

I was lucky to join DirecTV about 6 months before we started designing the company’s first live streaming platform.

By collaborating with other UX and UI leads, I contributed to the framework and information architecture of the entire product, across web, mobile app, and TV. The TV apps had to support a wide range of operating systems and different types of remotes — the most difficult one being the AppleTV remote, with its limited buttons and swipe navigation.

We explored several options, including 4-quandrant navigation, pressing Select to enter a browse mode, and many more. We ultimately landed back on something more familiar. There was endless debate and iteration over directional swiping, what should be in the main nav, and where items should live for the easiest access. Observational user research, card sorting and usage data from our legacy set-top boxes were critical in this phase.

As my role developed on the team, I took on the responsibility of prototyping all interactions and designing all transitions — ultimately building a small team of designer/animators to build out the motion design system across all platforms. Our work included animating the transitions in After Effects, or building a Principle prototype, to share with engineers so they could replicate the motion design.