Hulu is one of several major streaming services that offers movies, tv shows, original content, etc. Users are able to create profiles within an account to customize their experience, as well as save favorites to watch later. What the service does not offer, however, is the option to create a playlist, similar to what you might find on a music app. Playlists would allow users to more closely manage what they are watching, in what order (or to shuffle what they watch). This would also allow parents to keep an even closer eye on what their children are able to watch.
COMPETITOR RESEARCH
I  analyzed four competitor services -- Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and iTunes -- and found the following:

  • ​Music streaming offers playlists, while video streaming does not.
  • Most video sites have a ”Watchlist” section, however, it acts more as a place to save items instead of one for the viewing experience.
  • Amazon Prime separates list by movies or TV shows – perhaps other category/tagging options would be possible.
USER RESEARCH
I conducted interviews with potential users to determine how best to design a playlist feature.

Research Questions
1. How interested are users in being able to create playlists on media services?
2. What features would they want these playlists to offer? (Shuffle, repeat, etc.)
3. How would this feature factor into a user’s decision about what streaming
services to subscribe to?

Takeaways
  • Users tend to subscribe to different services based on what content is available on which platform
  • Additional features like a playlist would be a “nice to have” option but not a differentiator (RQ3)
  • Some interviewees utilize existing watchlist features to save content they want to watch
  • Users overwhelmingly indicated they would be interested in a playlist feature (RQ2)
    • Several discussed wanting social options -- share their playlists, have a “watch party,” view public or curated lists
    • Playlists should be saved even when account is deactivated -- make them publicly viewable even if someone cannot watch the actual content
  • Some mentioned liking the existing recommendation features on Netflix, and that they
  • would like to see something similar embedded into playlists
  • Similar to music services recommending similar songs to add to lists
PERSONAS
CHALLENGES
This project was unique in that I was working within an existing design scheme. All of the fonts, colors, icons, and other elements were already selected, so it was a matter of fitting my idea into that.

The biggest challenge I faced was placing this section within the existing structure. Hulu has a section where you can save items to watch later, called "My Stuff." I had to decide if I wanted to keep this alongside the playlists, or eliminate it. I decided having both would be redundant and confusing to users, so I opted to stick with only the "My Playlists" section. This also made room in the menu for a section to browse public playlists, which interviewees had mentioned as something they'd like.

“Sometimes boundaries can paradoxically provide us with freedom” -- this is actually a quote from Daria, but it rang true here. Without having to worry about picking the branding elements, I could focus on the functionality and interactions to create the best experience possible.
WIREFRAMES
The first thing I had to decide was which version of Hulu to design for. If this were really a feature they were adding, it would have to work everywhere, of course, but for the scope of this project, I decided to design for the Apple TV app. This gave me some unique challenges -- for example, I had to consider how interactions would work using a remote instead of a mouse or touchscreen. 

I did not drastically change anything that was part of an existing screen, but I did have to create the new sections. Those were designed to fit into the existing layout, using other screens (such as the season screens on TV series) as examples.
HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
In testing my wireframes, I found some places where users needed more clarity. This is where the decision was made to eliminate the "My Stuff" section and replace it with "My Playlists." I also made sure to distinguish between the user's playlists and browsable ones, by using "My" in the name.
I wanted there to be an option to add multiple episodes of a show to a list at once, by checking them off from the season screen. From the wireframes to here, I moved the checkbox to the righthand side for visibility, and used Hulu's signature green to make them distinct.
Users needed ways to edit their playlists, as well. This includes creating new ones, changing the order of items, and deleting things altogether.
FINAL PROTOTYPE
​See the feature in action by watching the video below.