Reflection: Patterns & Flows

Eileen Tran
Aug 28, 2017 · 3 min read

This is a reflection on the patterns and flows of a website I love and use quite often, Netflix.

I’m sure Netflix needs no introduction, but in case you live under a rock, Netflix is a subscription service for streaming TV shows and movies online. Generally, I access Netflix via the app on my iPad or through the smart TV in the living room.

One of the main tasks I perform on Netflix is finding something entertaining to watch. Usually I’ll scroll down and browse what’s popular or what is recommended based on my past watch history. All of the selections are organized into a grid layout, with a carousel pattern which allows the user to scroll horizontally within each category.

Navigation

If you know what genre you’re interested in, you can browse through these categories as well. Each genre can be further filtered into subgenres and sorted by suggestions for you, the year released, alphabetically, or reverse alphabetically.

Search

If you know the specific name of the series/movie or even the actor you would like to watch, you can enter it into the search bar and the results will auto-populate and update as you type. I find Netflix’s search function really helpful because sometimes I can’t remember the name of a movie but I can just input the name of the actor and narrow my search from there.

After hovering over a selection, you can mark it with a thumbs up, a thumbs down, add to your list for later viewing, or click to expand the title, revealing a description. You can also choose to view other episodes in the series, other related selections, or details about the series (ratings, cast, genres, maturity ratings).

Profiles and Personalization

A feature I enjoy is that you can create different profiles for everyone who is sharing your Netflix account, which is convenient because each profile can remain customized for each person, based on watch history. I use my boyfriend, Richard’s account and profile but now he wants me to make my own profile since I was messing up his personalization of suggested titles.

Overall, Netflix does a great job with keeping all of their offerings well-organized and visually appealing for the user. I will continue to enjoy using Netflix to find the next binge-worthy series.

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Eileen Tran

Written by

DesignLab UX Academy student

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