Visual Design, Interaction Design, UX/UI
HBO is an American premium cable network responsible for creating cutting edge content. In 2010 they launched a video on-demand service. Dubbed "TV Everywhere" it allows users to stream past and current films, specials, and sporting events, through various devices such as computers, mobile phones, game consoles, and digital media players.
I worked as a Senior Designer on a small team tasked with blue sky development meant to influence the next evolution of the HBO Go platform. Taking into consideration many aspects including interaction, visual design, user experience, and computer-generated simulation in physical environments, we worked to create an inspirational system to be leveraged by internal HBO teams.
As we conducted our research, it became clear to us that we wanted to develop an active and aware environment, as cinematic as the content within it. In this space elements move in fluid motions, and transitions occur in three dimensions following the z-axis. Furthermore we focused on cultivating an organic experience that fluidly shifts the users focus, with intuitive interactions that mirror physical and natural forces.
Our visual language concept was developed around the notion of amorphous environments. We wanted to create an interface that reacted to the content the viewer was currently watching and did not detract from individual programming. Just like an amorphous solid, such as glass, the interface became a layer through which content was represented and enhanced.
We developed socially-driven features, that allowed users to categorize their viewing habits and interact with friends who were engaging on the platform. These elements were layered, persistent, and relevant to on screen content, never requiring the user to shift their primary viewing focus.
Light infuses the environment, reflecting off of surfaces, providing interactive cues. Elements cast shadows, reinforcing their physical presence, and highlighting functionality. We limited color usage to allow content to shine, and leveraged glass-like surfaces that amplified the inherent color of individual content.
At the core of the application was the GO bar, this system utilized natural language sequencing in order to enable users to discover content in a way that was not disruptive to the experience. The bar served to be a powerful and dynamic tool capable of a wide variety of commands ranging from displaying activated content, launching playback, and allowing the user to quickly navigate the application to browsing titles, exploring features, and searching content through type and speech recognition, designed to mimic spoken work sentence structures like: "HBO Go: Watch, The Newsroom, Season 1." drove the algorithmic concept.
