Disclaimer: I am not affiliated nor associated with Formula One or Liberty Media. This is a case study to improve the usability of the product and enhance new features.
Below are some screenshots that I would like to highlight in red and explain exactly some of the current issues that are taking place at the moment for F1TV.
For the current experience, the Porsche Supercup Series is all contained within the grand prix for the specific event. This can be distracting and there are opportunities to showcase other content tied to F1 that will built up excitement for Sunday's main race.
Here are the times displayed for when events like practice sessions and qualifying take place. The problem here is there is no AM or PM plus time zones. This is easily a user experience problem where users might have to manually google the sessions for the time.
While the in-depth analysis is enriching and insightful, there's inconsistency here with no slideshow compared to other sections for F1TV that highlight those areas from watching archives to documentaries.
As i'm trying to search for specifically what I would like to watch for, this easily creates friction amongst users because it's hard to distinguish which is which. As i'm dragging down content, this takes up a lot of time and hard to follow.
F1TV is a formula one streaming app where you can access exclusive shows and highlights for a grand prix weekend. You can get rare insights for your favorite teams // drivers you root for, documentaries, and live races on your favorite platforms.
The friction and amount of complaints for F1TV is causing users to either have regrets using F1TV in the first place, cancel their subscription or encourage users to not recommend using F1TV. It lacks certain features, has organizational issues, problems with engagement, and ease of use.
Provide a cleaner user interface with respects to meeting F1TV's business objectives, core design style, improved visual hierarchy, & added features to prolong product usage. With implementing these changes & conceptual perspective, all core users for F1TV will benefit using the product.
This is a great base point on initiating the research for creating an actionable job story for F1TV users and understand the product in order to figure out what needs to be accomplished using the Jobs to be Done framework.
Based on the amount of reviews from F1TV's app store and reddit page, there was a lot to take in as far as having an understanding of where to start.
Using reddit (r/F1TV) as my main go-to source in finding F1TV users, it was a simple tactic to gauge interest and finding who would be interested in participating for this project.
For this task, research was being done on how to conduct user case study templates and questions that pertained to user behavior, pain points, constraints, what they like about the product, what can be improved, and closing thoughts.
It was also important to avoid leading questions and give users the space to speak freely about their experiences using F1TV and extract what can be applied while adding some fun questions to keep users loose and learning about their background.
Ultimately, I conducted two users, out of the five I was looking for. The more people who I can interview, the more I can hear out what stood out about their constraints. At the end of the day, I empathized that there are real working people who had lives & I respected that very much.
It's important to highlight the main goals for F1TV and bring together a cohesive understanding of ideas that are brought to the table. Improving the product can be a great opportunity to apply those methods in place.
In particular, business targets like optimizing value proposition is about understanding how this will benefit the product in regards to improving the user experience & adding enhanced features to the site.
Because of the lack of resources I had in only interviewing two users, instead of bringing up statistics and going through analysis, I will focus on needs and prioritization that will be essential to execute on final visuals.
Overall, F1TV has a market for hardcore and casual users worldwide. It just needs some polishing to make the user experience more enjoyable in regards to certain features and added new elements.
This will be the main priority as this was a consistent baritone for both users. navigation and hierarchy wise, finding content can be more accessible and easier to find.
There will be a focus on adding new features from watching a video where you left off to having a notification system to see new videos being uploaded.
For a broad general audience like Formula One, this is a simple fix and one that can help users know what time an event starts and dates uploaded for an event.
Another opportunity to enhance F1TV. Having a filter option can help find something you are looking for at a faster rate and helps save time.
S.C.A.M.P.E.R. (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to Another Use, Eliminate, Reverse) is a brainstorming method to note take and execute a plan to flush out ideas to implement in order to improve the user experience for F1TV.
It was particularly important that S.C.A.M.P.E.R. allowed me to think that something new already exists in the platform (For example: The rewind, fast forward functions already existed, but what's new is experimenting what that would look like if I simply press the 10 second rewind button instead of dragging my finger to do it).
Substitute and Reverse weren't included in the brainstorming strategy because it wasn't a necessary component that didn't need to be added.
In the website flowchart, there's a kinetic synergy full of arrows and directions in these set of pages to specifically look into the current live version from F1TV that needed some tweaks to make this more cohesive and engaging to users.
It was good to experiment and get a sense of solutions to visualize what the final designs would look like for the final look.
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For the home page (non-race) experience, it was imperative to compare the current version for F1TV and screenshot what that looks like versus what the improved designs looked like on the right. For the current versions, you had Porsche Supercup placed in the middle of scrolling, which disrupts the viewing experience.
The new improved experience features a simpler and consistent look that is pleasing to users. There is also the emphasis of dates and sub-categories (shows, highlights, etc.) featured onto the video you want to watch. And smaller series (F2, F3, Porsche Supercup) are placed on the top left of the page for those interested in looking into that.
Both users felt like the improved experience was something they would advocate for and liked very much. Here are their overall thoughts down below:
" I really love the organization and it looks cleaner on your new design you did. After the toggle, I see shows highlighted that are recommended and I like the upload date very much because I know what is being recently uploaded from new to old. I also love the category and the emphasis that brings to the new experience, understanding if it's highlights or shows. "
" I like the small categories for the different shows you did. Maybe have a way to have them categorized from newest to oldest in a subtle way? For the dates and sub-categories, that looks good, but I think you should get rid of the word, "uploaded" because the date itself is good enough."
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For the home page (grand prix) experience, the new designs are very similar to what you see if a grand prix event for an F1 race takes place in the current version.
The difference in this scenario are the improved designs and visual hierarchy that is a continuation from the above versions (home page non-race version) you don't see on the current versions as well as the added dates and categories too. The schedule is placed right front & center so it highlights the grand prix event.
Both users felt that the new experience are appropriate for what they are seeing.
" I'm glad you kept the toggle feature. I know what to watch as i'm clicking on what's interesting to watch. As mentioned, the organization looks clean and the knowing the schedule upfront is a welcome experience. "
" I think the shows and analysis tab is redundant with the 4 show windows although I like what you did with your newer version where you have the race specific tab (schedule) and highlights separate. That looks nice! "
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For the home page (grand prix - live) experience, it is very similar from the grand prix experience iterations from above. For the new iterations, the idea here is mainly to highlight that an event is live and currently taking place. When they first go to the home page, this is what the experience would look like. In the current experience, when an event is live, it's submerged within a category with a bunch of other videos next to it.
Another added feature is watching where you left off from a video and know when a video you watched is finished. This was tough because of the creativity it brought to design without expanding the dimensions and shape of what F1TV currently has on their site, so it was good to be innovative and think of ways to design and alter this specific feature.
Overall, the new experience won out simply because it is easier to understand and isn't cluttered within a category and videos you're interested to watch next to the live event. When an event is live, it adds an emphasis to what is currently going on and feels cleaner to look at.
" I didn't notice it at first, but now that you explained everything, it makes a lot more sense. Would be nice if you click the live event, it pops open a different link, but with the event highlighted in the toggle, it's clear to see. I also didn't notice the experience for a video in which it knows where you left off. It's frustrating to have to manually pinpoint and the scroll the finger to watch a certain portion of the video, but this is a nice addition overall."
" After viewing these home pages, I can't tell the difference between the different versions you did. I think that's a good thing because you want to keep things consistent without going out of bounds and doing something unordinary. The live feature you have is really cool but I think it could be polished a bit more and emphasized in which you could do something to highlight that area. "
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For the schedule page experience, there wasn't a wholesale change that needed to be improved other than changing time charts between 12 and 24 hour differentiation. Originally, it would've been good to do a design that was easier to understand and picked up for the general American audience. It turns out this was one ended and both users felt the desktop version was better hence the quote, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
" I think it's better to keep the 24 hour time chart because Formula 1 is known to be a European sport and for people who live in different parts of the world, it's more accessible to them o have that familiarity and on brand within F1."
" I would honestly just put one race on the pages and use the drop down menu so people can find what they want. And also make it update to not include races that have already passed. Can't really tell what improvements you made between the current and improved one for the schedule. "
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For the season page experience, this scenario was another iteration that didn't need a wholesale amount of changes. For the improved experience, it was more so experimenting with collapsing the view all feature and considered the amount of information one user can consume when dragging from top to bottom.
For version 2, view all is placed on the top right and implemented this placement for consistency purposes as you see the exact version of this from the home pages. In reality, this would end up clicking to another page to see all grand prix rounds, which was not a great idea to think through now that I put it in perspective.
" I like the round of the grand prix race, the dates, and the flag of the country. It's pretty straightforward and easier to look at as opposed to having the view all on the top right. Overall, I like what you did with version 1 because it's easier to see everything being displayed."
" Version 1 is the way to go. I like the designs you did here between the 'view more' and 'view less' feature, but I just think what you did with the pictures takes up too much real estate, especially when you 'view more'. I think a drop down menu at the top would be better and then maybe still keep the pictures that way. I also think that you could use pictures for more iconic imagery on specific tracks. For example, you can have a more scenic Azerbaijan with visible skyscrapers or what you used for Monaco's hairpin turn. "
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For the season grand prix experience, the current experience was confusing to look into because this was the first time in which the steering wheel logo on the bottom left had no context. For the deep dive, it turned out to be an onboard camera where only F1TV subscribers have access to look into driver cams for full grand prix races. It would have been better to understand what that logo meant , have a screenshot to emphasize that logo (like a preview), or have the logo replaced entirely to make the overall experience better & more consistent.
For the new experience, it's essentially the same concept from what's being emphasized at the beginning of the design treatments, so no need to over-explain it and why both users enjoyed the designs in the improved iteration.
" Not trying to sound like a broken record, but I can see you made some subtle changes on these pages compared to the current version. like the added dates and sub-categories. I like how consistent you are with these categories and layouts. That's one of the things I've noticed about your new designs is how clear cut and straightforward it is as if everything is stitched like a piece of clothing. "
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For the shows page experience, the main goal for designing the new experience was to do everything to not make the mistake that F1TV is currently making with their live version; make it simple and easy to understand. In the current experience, it's one jumbled mess and somehow about a quarter way scrolling down, Paddock Pass and F1 live is in this space when it could be highlighted and featured when users first click into the shows section.
This was an undecided decision so creating multiple versions for the new experience was the option to make for this portion of the designs. For version 1, shows are highlighted at the top and a more consistent lining of shows scrolling all the way down is coherent. For version 2, similar process except shows are being highlighted in a toggled version to click through.
In the end, version 1 for the improved experience won out and both users throughly liked the emphasis for shows displayed on top.
" I really like how you emphasized the shows in the manner that you did. The shows are more produced and benefits F1TV subscribers in a way that they paid content specifically for this. The highlights and categories below are really organized although I feel like race highlights aren't considered shows and feel like Paddock Pass and Weekend Warm-Ups should be on top over best onboards personally. "
" Version 1 is a big win. As mentioned in the beginning for the home pages, have a subtle way in which you know what is recently uploaded. Other than that, I love tech talk so I like where you placed it very much. This pretty much sums up what I meant from the initial interview you had with me when dragging down and seeing the pre-race and post-race in the middle of dragging down. It's placed at a position where I don't have a hard time finding it and I can get to it straight away without wasting any more time. "
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For the documentaries page experience, the current experience also wasn't ideal and wasn't consistent from other respective sections they had (shows in particular). Usually in this case, it was imperative to emphasize that consistency with the new iterations, not differentiate it. This is very similar to shows (from above), which is why it's not a surprise that both users like version 1 better.
Version 2 was slightly altered to highlight the toggle slideshow section and down the last 2 documentaries, they only had 3 videos to show (How the Season was won & F1 Origins) so instead having it shown in the middle of the page, it is at the bottom, so it doesn't disrupt that viewing experience that's being altered.
" One thing I want to add is sometimes it would be good for the documentaries to be randomized so I can learn the sport of F1 better as a casual fan who consumes content and not have to watch F1 Origins over and over again. Some days it could be Greatest Races since I love watching archived races or other days you can highlight Inside Story, for example. "
" Overall, this looks great. Just want to share the same sentiments from my thoughts on your shows page you did for documentaries. These pages you've done are a big improvement and i'm happy that you took the time to look into this. "
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Filters was a unique add-on for F1TV. Although the users specifically interviewed for this project didn't mentioned adding filter to this experience, there were particular sections when finding documentaries and shows that were long and didn't had a filter to find what you were looking for. This was a major problem because it adds time to what is currently a frustrating process on their site. In general, this can be enhanced if it was implemented on F1TV, save some time, and make the filter subtle without making it too overwhelming as it is right now.
" I like the filter feature because it is user friendly and it makes people engaged. I think it would be better to have most recent instead of last 7 days. "
" Holy s*** do I love this! Now sure what best match is, but seeing only stuff from the last seven days is awesome. "
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Notifications was a recommended request for one of the users to add on for F1TV. When you look at other video platforms, generally this is a system that allows all new videos that are recently updated to ultimately help users know what's the latest content to watch.
" I like the notifications you added very much. It makes me feel not as lost and it's more easier to access and find videos that are new. However, one thing I would recommend is also adding a watchlist and save videos for later to watch. "
" This is great too! I love this feature on Youtube as well."
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Finally, for the rewind & fast forward functions, this was a highly recommended request to add that needed to be addressed as the current experience does not allow you to even have that option because you have to manually drag your finger to select what you are looking for. With this add-on, the experience to watch content for F1TV is more lively and easier to pinpoint.
" This also looks great, but it needs to be seen in action. For feedback, I think you can integrate the fast forward, rewind functions with a circular arrow and having the 10 seconds embedded in the middle instead. Think that would look better personally, but this is a very long, overdue feature that needs to be added on F1TV because I see this on other video hosting platforms. It's crazy to me that F1TV doesn't have this function natively available and how this can be easily added. "
After looking into the prototype, users were able to assess and answer important questions about the usability of F1TV regarding user behavior, end-to-end experiences, and what their major impressions were.
On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, the two users that participated in this project were able to rate their overall experiences in the below, respective categories in the task they were assigned.
Overall, clarity is an area that needed to be addressed due to my inexperience doing usability testing. From me end, this is an area that is a work in progress in making sure I introduce them concise instructions for how to use a tool they have never used before (InVision).
Overall, the key takeaways in the improved user experience for F1TV was key business objectives were met & enhanced features added a new dimension to either watching or finding content faster. Improved visual hierarchy helped the flow & consistency more seamless & efficient.
On the other hand, some new features were extracted (search & downloading shows) because it wasn't a sustainable business model that wouldn't get enough usage, so tough decisions needed to be made in order to maximize the experience for F1TV & not overwhelm users with too much to take in.
Finally, one other point that can't be emphasized enough was finding users for this project was extremely difficult. As mentioned at the beginning of the case study, it was essential to specifically interview F1TV users to get a better grasp and understanding of the product.
