Elia Alberti

Elia Alberti

UI UX Product & Interaction Designer | Creative Thinker | Product Innovator | Prototyping Adept

Discovery+ Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

 

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Cross-Platform Design

Working as part of the UXD team I worked toward developing and championing a user-centred design process able to promote a culture of customer-focused product discovery and delivery cross-platform to present to the Discovery+ vast userbase the best possible CX allowing them experience the Beijing Winter Olympics seamlessly regardless of which device they’re on.

I supported the UI design process by developing and enhancing design systems particularly for mobile, Android and iOS whilst I also worked on translating the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 visual identity’s into a cohesive UI pattern library, developing an iconography and set of pictograms representative not only of the geographical location of where the Olympics where held at but also the local culture and traditions.

Creating low and high-fidelity mock-ups and prototypes that evolve into pixel-perfect designs ready for development was one aspect of my assignment however I was equally very much focused on supporting the development team and back-end engineers with the creation of brand new assets and UI guidelines whilst liaising with the editorial team analysing and exploring the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics’ brand and visual identity to produce visual assets such as the background image to be used on the main landing / home page cross-platform.

 

Achieving & Measuring Success

Discovery reported record Olympic Winter Games viewership and engagement on its digital platforms, as the household appeal of discovery+ drove significantly higher consumption and numbers of new paid subscribers compared to PyeongChang 2018, specifically:

    • New paid streaming subscribers for Beijing 2022 exceed PyeongChang 2018 by almost 50%

    • Over 1 billion streaming minutes consumed across discovery+ and Eurosport subscription services

    • Over half of new Olympic subscribers also enjoyed discovery+’s entertainment content, meaningfully enhancing subscriber lifetime value

 

Discovery+ US – WEB

 

Discovery+ US – MOBILE

 

Discovery+ US – Connected TV

 

Discovery+ EU – WEB

 

Discovery+ EU – MOBILE

 

Discovery+ EU – Connected TV

 

Discovery+ – Sport Pictograms Library

 

Discovery+ – Visual Identity – Background image creation

DISCOVERY+ The Streaming Home Of The Olympics Across UK And Europe

As The Streaming Home of the Olympics across UK and Europe, Discovery+ delivered the ultimate Games experience capturing all the unmissable moments live from the greatest sport show on Earth. Athletes from over 200 nations descendED on Beijing to compete in a multitude of competitions for the world’s largest international sport event.

Beijing 2022 produced strong results across Discovery’s European television network and streaming products. Discovery+ drove an increased number of new paid streaming subscribers, the total of which exceeded PyeongChang 2018 by almost 50%.

More than 156 million Europeans visited Discovery’s platforms with over one billion streaming minutes consumed, 19 times more than the last Olympic Winter Games. Discovery+ and Eurosport streaming services saw 8 times more streaming viewers during this Games as users consumed more than double the content with average consumption exceeding 7 hours per viewer. The same trend was seen on linear television with viewers on average watching 24% longer than PyeongChang 2018.

Discovery presented the Beijing Winter Olympics in 50 markets in Europe featuring 11 national productions and coverage in 19 languages. It is the only place in Europe to offer all of the Olympics Discovery+ and its Eurosport digital services.

Jean-Briac Perrette, President & CEO, Discovery Streaming & International, said: “The Winter Olympics has proven to be a terrific success for discovery+ and all our channels and platforms across Europe. Discovery is leading the way in building global scale in streaming whilst also maintaining strength in traditional television viewership, significantly outperforming the market across both.”

CLIENT

Discovery Inc.

TECHNOLOGY

Sky Q Order Tracker

 

 

Analysis Overview and Aims

Objective:

Identify opportunities to optimise Order Tracking for BB Provisioning to reduce digital leakage

Sample Size: 99 customers who have visited Order Tracking within 14 days of placing a BB order and subsequently called the contact centre

Insight Aims:

  • What are the most common issues customers have within Order Tracking that lead to them to still need to call?

  • What is the customer intent when using Order Tracking on Sky Q STB?

  • Does our current journey include what customers typically want to see/get from Order Tracking?

  • Looking at trends in customer behaviour when using Order Tracking, Is there any copy we could change, or amend/add next best actions?

Clicktale and Call Listening Analysis - Issue Summary

[ Click to View the Full Document ] – Clicktale and Call Listening Analysis – Issue Summary

 

The problems identified

 

39% of broadband provisioning customers

called to check their order status even though this was available online via Order Tracking.

 

56% of these customers had the status of ‘In Progress’

The reasons the customers called were:

  • Information – who contacts other provider regarding phone line takeover
  • Order was cancelled as the wrong address was used – had to be reordered to correct address
  • Status change to action required – Openreach engineer needed to be booked
  • Activation date on OT was showing the day she contacted Sky and BBT was not working
  • Customer was worried about one her Q boxes not arriving

 

44% of these customers had the status of ‘Action Required’

The reasons customers fell into this status were:

  • Failed order due to system issues. Customer was alerted via SMS
  • Order recovery team had cancelled order
  • Delayed order due to issue with service install – customer alerted via SMS

 

The goal of the project

  • Improve on current Track My Order experience on Sky Q STB
  • Reduce calls into the contact centre, with focus on ordered items where better informations could have been provided
  • Increase engagement of customers with the order tracking process
  • Improve on the following key issues that customers highlighted as being the biggest problems they have:
    • Checking order status
    • Checking service activation date
    • Check Sky Q hub delivery
    • Check engineer date

 

KPIs

  • Number of calls into the contact center, obviously we wanted to drastically reduce the number

  • Engagement level with user when visiting the Track My Order experience on Sky Q

  • Customer Satisfaction level (increase the CSAT score)

 

How I planned to solve it

Working in Agile we set up a team which included me as the Senior UI/UX Designer, PO, back end and front-end developers.

The process put in place to develop the feature is as follow:

    • DISCOVER – Background Research / User interview / Analysis

    • DEFINE – Feature prioritisation / User persona / Costumer journey

    • DESIGN – Wireframe / Visual mock-up / Prototype

    • TESTING – Usability testing / User testing sessions / A-B testing

    • DELIVER – Pixel perfect visuals / Interactive prototype / Assets ready for devs

 

Background research

Similar Order Tracking Experiences

Sky Mobile Order Tracking Experience

Sky.com Order Tracking Experience

 

Wireframes

The main aim is to identify the best layout and scalable solution which would be then developed into the fully fledge journey.

The focus is on presenting all of the necessary information whilst clearly displaying order’s statuses optimising the on-screen real estate in order to be able to accommodate all of the products and correlative journey within the wider process.

 

User flow – Click to view full screen

 

Visual exploration

Several variations on the UI of the Order Details screen as well as the Main Dashboard elements.

 

Phase one

My focus was on visualising the most appropriate, effective and immediate visual solution, comparing and developing an easy to understand iconography, colour scheme, labels and order status / informations.

 

Phase two

I’ve delve into labels, clearly signposting the current order’s status at a glance, the solid background of the smart tile and variations on the overall look and feel.

 

BOT journey, Voice commands, Conversational UI

A Conversational UI gives the privilege to the user of interacting with the STB on human terms. Conversational interface allows a user to tell the STB what to do.

With my work I’ve identified the correct syntax and voice actions a customer should utilise in order to get to check is order’s status from anywhere in the Sky Q STB.

I’ve then developed an MVP for what a potential BOT-guided journey would look like, adapting several element of the UI and creating brand new ones, changing the interactivity paradigms and utilising new areas of the on-screen real estate such as the lower third of the screen.

 

User flow – MVP

User flow of the Sky Q Order Tracking MVP.

 

Order Tracking - MVP - User flow

Order Tracking – MVP – User flow

 

Interactive notification

The so called “umbrella notification” as they display in the upper third of the screen, have been identified as an optimal way to keep the customers informed about any status update on their ordered products. It also provides a quick an easy way to interact with, reschedule, cancel or track on map any live order.

 

Product Statuses

Each and every product can have up to four different statuses, On Track, Delayed, Get in Touch and Complete. These are all of statuses of the several products available to track as part of the MVP journey.

The fact that one product changes status has structural consequences as with the new status the order may now present two distinct CTAs depending on factors such as if the order requires an engineer installation or is a self-install one.

 

Sky Q 2TB STB

 

Sky Q HUB

 

Sky Q HUB / Self Install

 

Sky Q Minibox

 

Sky Q Minibox & Remote Complete

 

How I measured success data analysis

Within the first three months following the launch of the new Order Tracking experience on Sky Q STB we collected the following data:

28% less

phone calls to the Contact Centre for customers with active orders

11.5% increase

in customer satisfaction following the introduction of the new experience

15.3% increase

of customers using the new Order Tracking dashboard and viewing orders on the Sky Q STB

 

Developers handover / specifications

Preparation of the specifications for the whole of the journey provided to the front end developers.

Smart Tiles Specs

Smart Tiles Specs

What is Order Tracking?

Order tracking is where you can track all your orders, ranging from accessories to Sky Store products, delve into the order’s details, reschedule an engineer visit and get a precise estimate of when the product will be with you.

Project Background

More than 39% of existing customers who call up within 14 days of placing an order could have solved their issue if a better customer experience was provided to them. An update to our current order tracking process would provide real value for STB users wanting to track their items.

UX

I’ve researched, analysed and compared the best cases of similar UX Design solutions to the project’s final brief whilst considering both internal and users’ requirements in order to help me identify risk assumptions early and swiftly, avoiding to waste up time for a final solution that doesn’t satisfy the users nor the company’s goals and vision.

UI & Visual Assets

There have been several iterations of the UI of the whole journey, they’re based on technical limitations and back-end capabilities, user feedback gather via on-site workshops, user testing with fully working prototypes, A-B testing which solution would better satisfy customers needs.

The importance of Prototypes

Many ideas fail, not because they are flawed, but because people didn’t ‘get it’. It can be hard to imagine new products, services or features. That is where traditional specification documents and business plans fail. They do not excite people about the potential. They do not show them what could be.

Which is why working in Agile, I felt the need to prototype pretty much every design task for every sprint so to shows stakeholders, developer, PM and back-end, what I was going to build. That means everybody had the same picture of the end goal. It significantly reduces the need for people to ‘fill in the gaps’ with their imagination.

It’s also a great tool for user testing session, to gauge the level of engagement of a specific feature and further iterate if and when needed. Occasionally and particularly in the early days of a project, I had to make few assumptions about what users want. Some companies do market research, but just like stakeholders users often struggle to picture what it is you are proposing building.

Testing a prototype allows you to validate the assumptions you make and be confident you are building the right thing.

Click on the thumbnail below to launch the interactive prototype:

Click here to launch prototype

Click here to launch the interactive prototype

TARGET AUDIENCE

Sky Q STB customers.

CLIENT

Sky

TECHNOLOGY

Order Tracker Prototypes

Launch Interactive Prototype

Launch Interactive Prototype

 

Navigation:

UP = W
DOWN = S
LEFT = A
RIGHT = D

Back  = B
Enter = G

 

Order statuses:

When you’re in the order details screen by clicking on the numbers 1 to 4 the status of the product can be changed to show the visual outcome / layout and implications.

On the Sky Remote, you can use the coloured buttons.

 

Statuses:

Blue/ On Track = 1
Red / Get in touch = 2
Yellow / Delay = 3
Green/ Complete = 4

 

Order Tracking – Full Journey

 

Order Tracking – Main Dashboard

 

Order Tracking – Order details screen

 

Order Tracking – Reschedule an order

What is Order Tracking?

Order tracking is where you can track all your orders, ranging from accessories to Sky Store products, delve into the order’s details, reschedule an engineer visit and get a precise estimate of when the product will be with you.

Background and strategic fit

Precisely 39% of existing customers who call up within 14 days of placing an order could have solved their issue if better information had been displayed to them. An update to our current order tracking process could provide real value for STB users wanting to track their items.

The importance of Prototypes

Many ideas fail, not because they are flawed, but because people didn’t ‘get it’. It can be hard to imagine new products, services or features. That is where traditional specification documents and business plans fail. They do not excite people about the potential. They do not show them what could be.

Which is why working in Agile, I felt the need to prototype pretty much every design task for every sprint so to shows stakeholders, developer, PM and back-end, what I was going to build. That means everybody had the same picture of the end goal. It significantly reduces the need for people to ‘fill in the gaps’ with their imagination.

It’s also a great tool for user testing session, to gauge the level of engagement of a specific feature and further iterate if and when needed. Occasionally and particularly in the early days of a project, I had to make few assumptions about what users want. Some companies do market research, but just like stakeholders users often struggle to picture what it is you are proposing building.

Testing a prototype allows you to validate the assumptions you make and be confident you are building the right thing.

Prototype navigable via keyboard or Sky Remote (using Flirc).

TARGET AUDIENCE

Sky Q STB customers.

CLIENT

Sky

TECHNOLOGY

Sky Q Sport Configurator

Prototypes

The following are examples of different approaches to the sport configurator area of the Sky Q STB where the users can pick their favourite sports and bundle them together configuring his own viewing experience.

 

Sport Configurator – Safe option

This first option of the sport configurator prototype has been identified as the safest option since each and every channels’ video keeps its original aspect ratio, making it much simpler to build (front end – back end) and keep up to date once launched, since videos can be easily swapped with new ones if needed without any major post editing effort.

 

Sport Configurator – Backdrop variant

With this version of the sport configurator prototype I wanted to explore the possibility of having channels’ videos playing in the background, behind the main gradient. The main downside to this solution is that part of the videos are covered by copy, thumbnails and screen gradient.

 

Sport Configurator – Diagonal Stripes

For this version of the sport configurator I got inspired by the most recent LG smart tv UI since the advantages of adopting the diagonal stripes as a menu element is that many more channels could be shown to the users due to the minimal amount of real estate used by the diagonal stripes.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s largest media company and pay-TV broadcaster by revenue (as of 2018), with 23 million subscribers and more than 31,000 employees as of 2019.[5] The company is primarily involved in satellite television.

U.S. media and telecoms conglomerate Comcast acquired the entirety of Sky in 2018 for £17.28 per-share.

Before the acquisition by Comcast, Sky was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and had a market capitalisation of approximately £18.75 billion (€26.76 billion) as of 2018.

What is the Sport configurator?

The sport configurator is an area of the Sky Q STB where the users can pick their favourite sports / channels and by doing so creating a customised viewing experience which fit their specific needs and habits.

The importance of Prototypes

Many ideas fail, not because they are flawed, but because people didn’t ‘get it’. It can be hard to imagine new products, services or features. That is where traditional specification documents and business plans fail. They do not excite people about the potential. They do not show them what could be.

Which is why working in Agile, I felt the need to prototype pretty much every design task for every sprint so to shows stakeholders, developer, PM and back-end, what I was going to build. That means everybody had the same picture of the end goal. It significantly reduces the need for people to ‘fill in the gaps’ with their imagination.

It’s also a great tool for user testing session, to gauge the level of engagement of a specific feature and further iterate if and when needed. Occasionally and particularly in the early days of a project, I had to make few assumptions about what users want. Some companies do market research, but just like stakeholders users often struggle to picture what it is you are proposing building.

Testing a prototype allows you to validate the assumptions you make and be confident you are building the right thing.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Sky Q STB users.

CLIENT

Sky

TECHNOLOGY

TalkTalk TV STB UI

 

 

The problem identified

Talktalk has just completed the acquisition of Blinkbox, the online purchase and rental VOD company and it now has to restructure the whole catalogue of Movies and TV series.

The current STB user experience and interface needs an almost complete overhaul in order to not only accommodate the new titles but to offer the user a seamless and intuitive user experience.

 

The goal of the project

The goal of the project was to offer users a brand new immersive interface for the TalkTalk TV Store capable of showcasing the latest cinematographic contents in an efficient and effective way, which would engage with potential new users whilst allowing them to navigate a vast catalogue of the last movies and tv series from the comfort of their couch.

 

KPIs

  • To increase users subscriptions to VOD packages

  • To drive a younger audience to join TalkTalk TV

  • To decrease churn rate

 

How we planned to solve it

Working in Agile we set up a team of four including UI / Visual Designer, PM, back end and front-end developers.

The process put in place to develop the feature is as follow:

    • DISCOVER – Background Research / User interview / Competitive analysis

    • DEFINE – Feature prioritisation / User persona / Costumer journey

    • DESIGN – Wireframe / Visual mock-up / Prototype

    • TESTING – Usability testing / User testing sessions / A-B testing

    • DELIVER – Pixel perfect visuals / Interactive prototype / Assets ready for devs

 

Information Architecture

 

User Experience

How I measured success data analysis

Following the launch of the new STB UI/UX we collected the following data:

7.2% increase

of users’ subscriptions to VOD packages (sports most popular)

3.2% of new subscribers

in the 20 to 30 years old demographic group (predominantly male)

1.8% churn rate

decrease since the new STB user interface was launched

DESCRIPTION

TalkTalk TV the Set Top Box Experience, the project I was tasked with consisted in creating a brand new immersive interface for the TalkTalk TV Store capable of showcasing the latest cinematographic contents in an efficient and effective way, which would engage with our users whilst allowing them to navigate a vaste catalogue of the last movies and tv series from the confort of their couch.

Information Architecture

Backbone of the project it servers to define and visualise how the several elements and areas of the whole experience are categorised and organised hierarchically. Mapping out the IA is crucial to make sure that all of the main functionalities and areas of the wider business are present and connected in the most effective and simple way.

UX

I’ve research, analysed and compared the best cases of similar UX Design solutions to the project’s final brief whilst considering both internal and users’ requirements in order to help me identify risk assumptions early and swiftly, avoiding to waste up time for a final solution that doesn’t satisfy the users nor the company’s goals and vision.

UI & Visual Assets

Visuals of the STB UI prepared for the final prototype to be presented internally to the engineering team in order to understand if there could have been any last tweak or last remaining feasibility issue.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Both male and female audience, between 16-45 yrs old.

CLIENT

TalkTalk TV

TECHNOLOGY