Turnip Hangouts: a new feature to watch videos with friends on your mobile!
Watch shows, movies, streams, etc. anytime, anywhere on your phone for free
About Me
As a Designer in Residence at 10K Designers, I had this opportunity to work with turnip, and was one of my first real-life problems to work on where my job was to give innovative solutions to enhance the watch party experience.
About Turnip Hangouts
Turnip is an India-based community and streaming platform for creators and their fans. They are empowering creators and community owners to create high-quality content, engage with their loyal fans on their clubs, and turn up their content game.
Here’s what the platform currently offers:
- Talk on audio, chat, send files in rooms
- Run interesting contests for your community
- Do live predictions, run polls and trivia with fans
- Watch YouTube videos together, along with audio
- Livestream to YouTube, Facebook, & more platforms. Record gameplays, and moments.
- See event stats — visits, minutes, people inside, etc
Getting Started
Goal: To design a feature where moderators of their respective communities can select third-party apps like Hotstar, Spotify, or YouTube that suit their need to engage users in their clubs.
- Music communities can play Spotify / Gaana tracks and vibe together
- Cricket buffs can watch cricket match highlights together on Hotstar
- TV show fanatics can watch re-runs of their favorite shows and gossip
Understanding Users:
I decided to delve deeper into the experiences and patterns of watch party users. I conducted a thorough competitive analysis, exploring multiple streaming services, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and understanding user behaviors across the diverse audio and video content landscape.
Who are the users?
- Group Admins: Individuals who organize watch parties and seek engaging activities to captivate their audience. They aim to create a lively and interactive environment for participants.
- Viewers: Individuals joining the watch party to unwind and enjoy content with others. Their main goal is to have a relaxing and enjoyable experience within the virtual group setting.
Key Insights
My research suggested that there were a few things that needed to be improved in each of the above watch party services.
- Participant Limit: Our watch party feature has different user limits based on the streaming platforms, creating an intimate and manageable virtual environment. This allows for easier coordination and interaction.
- Interaction Features: Incorporating chat and emoji reactions enhances user engagement during the watch party. These features create a dynamic and participative atmosphere.
- Mobile Streaming: The availability of mobile streaming broadens accessibility, capturing a large audience that prefers using mobile devices. This flexibility contributes to a more inclusive watch party experience.
- Content Compatibility: Our watch party feature is versatile and compatible with various streaming platforms like Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Crunchyroll, Spotify, Disney Hotstar, and more. This extensive content library ensures users can enjoy a diverse range of entertainment during the watch party.
This made me dive deeper into addressing the problem statements with potential solutions
Introducing: The Hangout
What is a Hangout?
Hangouts by Turnip lets you get together online with your community and friends to watch movies, shows, videos, sports, and much more from just one single platform, anytime and anywhere.
You can do all this while chatting and talking to them too!
Why is this useful?
- Convenience: Hang out online with your friends with zero hassles! Watch live streams, music videos, shows, sports, and much more on your phone on YouTube together with zero interruptions 🥳
- Everything on a single app: With Watch Party, all you need to do is create a room, put in the YouTube link and voila, you’re all set!
- No Audio Issues or Lags: Turnip Watch Party ensures that you and your friends have a smooth experience! Unlike your laptops or other video calling devices where you have to share your screen with your friends. By doing so, your screen tends to lag and the audio poses a problem. But hey, we fixed this issue for you 😏
- Voice Chat: How often do you come across a platform that lets you watch videos with friends and have voice chats too? Exactly!
- Anywhere & Anytime: With Turnip Watch Parties, you can watch videos online with your community anytime and anywhere!
Understanding the app
I initiated the design process by thoroughly examining the interface of various streaming services within our app. Given the large number of streaming platforms available, I opted to focus on Spotify as a particular challenge.
The goal was to enhance the engagement within a watch party, addressing a challenge where many other apps fall short.
Creating Hangout Room
Our platform currently doesn’t provide a clear showcase of the available streaming services.
My objective is to introduce a feature that not only showcases the diverse streaming options but also offers insights into the unique user experience each service offers upon joining a room.
In comparison to merely presenting icons of streaming services in the activity lists, incorporating visually compelling cues enhances user engagement and encourages clicks.
Easy sign-in, either in the app or using your phone, makes things convenient and ensures user that their data stays safe.
The user flow is split into 3 quick steps :
- Initiate Hangout:
Tap the dedicated Hangout button to access the Activity Panel, showcasing a variety of available third-party apps. - Select Activity:
Choose your preferred activity from the diverse options presented in the Activity Panel. This could be a streaming service or a specific type of watch party. - Seamless Sign-In:
Sign in effortlessly using the in-app browser or through your device’s native app, ensuring a secure and hassle-free authentication process for the selected streaming service.
Crafting a Hangout: The Design Process
To conceptualize the eight screens for the Hangout feature, I underwent an iterative design process, addressing various aspects:
- Total number of steps required to create a Hangout
- Iterating on icon design to enhance user comprehension
- Seamless Integration between the visual elements and auditory content within the Hangout.
- Minimizing alterations to the existing app UI to ensure a harmonious integration of the Hangout feature
Queue management details
Problem
During my research, I gained valuable insights into user behavior in other watch-party apps. Users tend to gravitate towards rooms that offer a sense of participation and involvement. In the absence of active engagement, there is a risk of users losing interest and disengaging from the watch party experience.
Solution
In response to the identified challenge, I introduced a Queue Management System. Users within the room can now seamlessly queue their preferred songs and influence their playlist’s order through voting.
To streamline song selection, users have two convenient options: they can add songs using their URL or leverage the integrated Spotify search functionality directly within the room.
This participatory feature enhances engagement, fostering a sense of involvement crucial for a sustained and enjoyable watch party
- Search for songs
Explore and discover songs with ease using the search feature. Simply input your desired track, artist, or album to find and add music to your queue effortlessly.
2. Search for songs while in the room
Seamlessly searching for songs allows users within the room to search for songs by entering URLs or song names, enhancing real-time interaction.
3. Add songs to the queue
Queue management through upvoting or downvoting: Users can actively participate in adjusting the song queue by expressing preferences through upvotes and downvotes, creating a collaborative music experience.
Queue Management System: Design Process
Explore the design iteration journey of the ‘Search and Queue’ feature, that paved the path to my final design. I tried multiple approaches:
- Experimented with different layouts to ensure an intuitive and visually appealing search interface.
- Prioritized clarity and simplicity in presenting actionable choices to users.
- Displaying few action items vs providing all details on a single screen
This design process section provides insight into the thoughtful considerations and creative exploration to craft an efficient and user-centric ‘Queue management’ experience within the app.
Lyrics and Karaoke Mode: Addressing Engagement
Problem
In my exploration of existing watch party apps, I identified a recurring issue — a lack of interactive and engaging features in audio-centric platforms. Many apps merely provide a passive listening experience, lacking the vibrancy and shared enjoyment found in video-centric counterparts. This lack of delightful features might contribute to the lower popularity of audio streaming compared to video streaming on these platforms.
Solution
I added a lively Karaoke Mode in Turnip, letting users control vocals, adjust music, and enjoy a shared singing experience, fostering interaction and fun.
Turnip effortlessly syncs with Spotify’s Lyrics Mode for a virtual karaoke experience. Singing along, reading lyrics together, and adjusting vocals create a lively and connected community in the virtual room.
The Karaoke feature in our app operates as follows:
- In the audio lobby:
Users can tap the Lyrics/Karaoke content on the player screen. A tooltip will prompt options to ‘share’ or ‘remove.’
2. In the Karaoke mode:
Tapping the Lyrics/Karaoke content reveals a details modal with options to view lyrics and adjust the equalizer settings, providing users with a versatile and customizable audio experience.
Lyrics and Karaoke Mode: Design Process
To create a seamless and engaging experience for our users, the design process for the Lyrics and Karaoke Mode involved multiple iterations taking into account :
- The total number of steps required to access and interact with the lyrics, equalizer, and music player functionalities.
- User intuition concerning what an icon signifies
- Minimizing modifications to the existing Turnip UI to maintain consistency and familiarity for users.
Chats and Settings Redesign
In addition to crafting the Hangouts feature, I took on the challenge of enhancing the chat section, aiming to make it more user-friendly and engaging.
The initial intent was to create a chat section that is concise and clear, prioritizing essential functionalities.
As I explored further, I realized that it was essential to have features like document uploads, image sharing, video uploads, and poll creation within the chat.
And that’s a wrap!
Key takeaways
Learnings:
- During this project, I developed my design process and learned that every project presents its unique challenges.
- Analyzing every component as an individual entity is important.
- Introducing a feature can set the tone for how a user may interact with it in the future.
- Understanding the problem statement thoroughly is extremely important to come up with better design decisions.
Challenges:
- The intricate challenge of harmonizing user needs with business requirements demanded a thoughtful approach. Considerations such as API integration, Spotify’s wrapper, and adherence to privacy policies added layers of complexity.
- Implementing features that seamlessly integrate within the app while providing a unique and delightful user experience posed a considerable challenge.
This was a very exciting project to work on, especially since as a fellow gamer, landing a gig with a company that truly appreciates the world of mobile gaming and its awesome audience was like leveling up in real life!
I am looking out for opportunities as a Product Designer do reach out to me on Twitter or Linkedin if you want to discuss further. :)
Thank you for your time!
PS: Don’t forget to shower those claps below!
