Case study: Netflix plugin marketplace
Brief
To design the concept of a plugin marketplace for Netflix. Developers can create their own plugins and publish them, and users can find & install plugins at the marketplace. Plugin marketplace is a separate product in itself i.e it is a separate store by Netflix (like Chrome Webstore). This marketplace is designed for both the user types of the marketplace -
- the product users who will find and install plugins, and
- the developers who publish plugins to the marketplace
Design process
1. Discover
Understand the problem, perform secondary research by analysing similar. and/or competitive apps, identify basic patterns and come up with a strategy. Talk to users and figure out their requirements. Research on the brand and design guidelines of Netflix.
Secondary research
Apps and products with similar features:
- Chrome Webstore
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grammar-and-spelling-chec/kdfieneakcjfaiglcfcgkidlkmlijjnh - Figma community
https://www.figma.com/community/explore?tab=plugins&sort=installs - Adobe XD plugin store
- Visual studio marketplace
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode - Atom packages
https://atom.io/packages - Wordpress plugins
https://wordpress.org/plugins/
Basic pattern observed
Most of the plugin stores have similar patterns and sections.
- A search to browse for something if they have in their mind
- Top plugins/ Editor’s choice section
- Browse all plugins
- Details page of plugin and ability to install, like/rate, comment, share and report
- Suggested plugin/ More by this developer section
- For developers: create/ publish plugin, insights, documentation, blogs
User groups identified
Two user groups were identified from the brief which was provided
- Users who will download the plugins
- Developers who will create and publish plugins
Netflix Design Language System
Hawkins: Netflix design language system
Font: Netflix sans
- https://netflixtechblog.com/hawkins-diving-into-the-reasoning-behind-our-design-system-964a7357547
- https://www.designsystemsforfigma.com/blog/blending-brand-and-product
- https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/netflix-sans-typeface-dalton-maag-graphic-design-210318?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=intsocial
- https://brand.netflix.com/en/
2. Define
Clearly define the user goals, needs and pain points, etc which were a result of the research.
User Goals
For product users
- I want to browse and search for plugins and download the ones I require
- I want to give my plugin requests
For developers
- I want to publish my plugin
- I want to see plugin status and insights of my plugins
- I want to see plugin requested by the users to get ideas
User Needs
For product users
- I want to be able to easily search and filter plugins according to my needs
- I want to have a forum where I can post my plugin requests
For developers
- I want to access documentation, tutorials or blogs to help me with creation of my plugin
- I want to have a dashboard which shows all insights of my plugins
- I want to have access to the plugin request forum
3. Ideate
Come up with new concepts and ideas to improve the existing experience provided by other similar products. Create information architecture and user flows.
New proposed ideas
- Plugin request board: A forum/community and each plugin request is a thread where people can like to show their support and also comment to discuss. Users can see how many people are working on it. Developers can mark whether they will pick up the request. It is also possible that Netflix picks up a popular request and develops it as a feature.
Took inspiration from Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/popular/ - N-coins: Took inspiration Reward users and developers with N-coins for requesting plugins (when it reaches x likes) and successfully developing and publishing plugins respectively. This gives motivation to both users and developers. They can redeem these coins for Netflix subscription/goodies (decided by netflix).
Took inspiration from Stackoverflow. https://stackoverflow.com/ - Netflix approved Moderators (Scalability POV): Each plugin is required to be reviewed and approved by Netflix before being published in the marketplace. It will be difficult for Netflix to review each and every plugin when there will be thousands/millions of plugins in queue to be reviewed. To solve for this, Netflix can tag developers as moderators and a fixed number of them have to approve the plugin for it to be published.
Information Architecture and User flow
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ovN_LY3HhUWh-PFlzxLlx7nzsiJl05U0/view?usp=sharing
4. Design
Come up with wireframes for the website which include all the features and help the user to accomplish all their goals. Once satisfied with the wireframes, create Visual Design and prototype to get the final result.
Wireframes for product users
Wireframes for developers
Visual design for product users
Visual design of key screens for product users. Tried to follow Netflix design as closely as possible
Potential plugin ideas
- Subtitle plugin (for language in which subtitle not available & subtitles with both original language and choice of language shown to help learn the language)
- VPN plugin
- Watchparty plugin
- Skip NSFW content plugin
- Generate playlist according to what other profiles/friends are watching / See what other profiles/ friends are watching
