MediaQ

From media mayhem to organized bliss with one simple app.

Tired of juggling your notes app to track shows, books, and movies? MediaQ is a user-friendly app that makes it easy to track and manage media consumption across various platforms. It tackles the common issues of fragmented organization and inefficient tracking methods.

My Role

UX Designer
UX Researcher
Visual Designer

Skills

User Research
Competitor Research
Wireframing
Prototyping
Branding

Tools

Figma

TimeLine

8 Weeks

OVErview

Problem

People struggle to manage media consumption.

Many of us find it tough to manage our media consumption across multiple platforms because current tracking methods just don't cut it. They lack the features and organization we need, leading to fragmented management, inefficient progress tracking, and limited personalized recommendations. This ultimately diminishes the enjoyment and discovery of new content.

Solution

Create an app that helps users organize, track, and manage their media consumption effortlessly.

Simplify the process of adding media content to the user's watchlist, allowing for easy tracking and management
Design a user-friendly app to streamline and enrich their media consumption and tracking experience.
Enable users to create lists for organizing their media content.

Process

Research

User Surveys
& Interviews

People want to track their media consumption but there are many challenges that prevent them from doing so.

I conducted user surveys and interviews to understand the media consumption habits and preferences of individuals who spend the majority of their days consuming media.

My research insights revealed common pain points:

Users struggle to keep track of their various forms of media consumption across many different platforms.
Existing methods — the notes app, spreadsheets, Notion pages — are inefficient and time-consuming.
Many users forget what they've watched or want to watch, leading to frustration and time wasted trying to find something to watch.
Discovering new media content relies heavily on word of mouth and social media

Key User Insights

I have multiple notes of what kind of movies I want to watch. I'd rather have them all in one place.

It's hard to keep things organized and that makes me less motivated to add things to my "to watch or read" list

Glitches with the notes application makes tracking difficult. Sometimes I can't remember why I added something to the list. The list gets stale and I want new recommendations.

The Competition

Recognizing the abundance of existing media tracking platforms, my focus was on identifying areas where MediaQ could offer the greatest value. My analysis revealed that:

Intuitive and simple interfaces are a must
Social features are a selling point
Customization options offer flexibility but too much can overwhelm users
Need for a comprehensive tracking app where main features are not behind paywalls

Design

Wireframes

During the wireframe stage of MediaQ, I translated paper prototypes into digital designs, iterating on layout and functionality through user feedback.

Paper Prototype

I focused on quickly sketching out layouts and interactions. This approach allowed me to visualize features like personalized lists and content discovery, making it easy to gather feedback and make early improvements. After feedback, I created low-fidelity wireframes, focusing on simplifying MediaQ and making it more accessible, like setting "My List" as the homepage.

Low-Fidelity

Next, I created basic digital versions of those sketches to refine the user flow. It really helped me focus on the main screens like "My List" and "Discover."

High-Fidelity

In this phase, I brought in some color and branding for MediaQ. I wanted it to look vibrant and engaging while ensuring everything was user-friendly. I also did some user testing to make sure everything flowed well and met users’ needs!

After user feedback, I worked to

Simplify the Landing Page to use the "My List" screen as the landing page for a more user-centric interface.
Enhanced Navigation by relocating recommended content to the Discover screen to improve accessibility and streamline navigation
User Interaction Divergence highlighting the need for a flexible design approach to accommodate diverse user behaviors and preferences.
Provide a user onboarding experience to ease users into the app so that they can use it in a way that suits their needs.

Select Iterations

Home Screen/View of List

Media Details

Final Design

On-boarding for a First Time User

Users are introduced to key features such as creating personalized lists and discovering new content.
Users learn the direct functions of the app so that they can personalize list and lists and explore media tailored to their preferences.

This approach was chosen based on the user research findings, which highlighted the need for users to quickly understand how to create lists and discover media according to their preferences. Providing clear instructions during onboarding, ensures that users can easily navigate the app and begin managing their media consumption effortlessly from the moment they start using it.

Key screens for a first time user

Watching a Movie from the Wants List

When users make progress or finish watching/reading the on their list they mark it.
When a piece is completed the thumbnail for it will be placed in the completed tab.
After rating users can share it with their friends or add the show to their share list to share the whole list later.

The user journey was designed to provide users with a straightforward and intuitive experience for managing their watching or reading activities. This approach was chosen to address the pain point identified during user research, where users expressed frustration with existing methods that were cumbersome and time-consuming.

Key screens for watching a movie from the wants list

Final Screens

For the final screens, I focused on creating a cohesive and visually appealing design, ensuring a user-friendly interface that seamlessly integrates all the app's features for an enhanced media tracking experience. These screens showcase the range of lists users can create—current, wants, shared, and completed—each with a dedicated interface for easy navigation and management of media content.

ReflectionS

Key Insights

Reflecting on this project, I’ve gained valuable insights that have shaped my design approach:

Immersing myself in user research highlighted the power of empathy in design, ensuring that every decision improves user experience.
Crafting MediaQ's onboarding taught me that first impressions set the stage for the entire user journey, making a smooth, intuitive process crucial.
Each iteration was an opportunity for growth, embracing feedback, learning from mistakes, and evolving the design which fueled my passion for continuous improvement.

These insights have not only shaped my approach to design but have also left a lasting impact on how I perceive my role as a designer. They've instilled in me a sense of responsibility—to empathize deeply, to craft experiences thoughtfully, and to never stop striving for the best user experience.

Next Steps— Metrics

‍To evaluate MediaQ's potential success as a case study, I would:

Monitor User Engagement: Track daily active users, session duration, and feature usage to understand user behavior and preferences.
Gather User Feedback: Collect and analyze feedback through surveys and in-app prompts to identify areas for improvement
Measure Retention Rates: Monitor user retention rates to assess the app’s ability to keep users engaged over time.
Track Recommendations Usage: Evaluate the effectiveness of the recommendation engine by tracking how often users engage with suggested content.
Assess Goal Achievement: Measure how frequently users set and achieve media-related goals to determine the app’s impact on their media consumption habits

By focusing on these metrics, we can continuously refine MediaQ to better meet user needs and ensure its long-term success.