The growth of the internet and technology has resulted in the concept that website and apps can learn about individual users through looking and remembering what the user has been looking at elsewhere on the internet.
This concept is one I want to take advantage of in my own project.
This will be the aspect of my website that will make it stand out. Even though there are examples out there already that do this sort of thing, each existing one has it's downfalls. I will be exploring the strengths and weaknesses of these examples, and then using this to inform my own concept.
Netflix
Netflix learns from what you have previously watched and presents you with a range of suggestions for your next watch. For example, I recently watched the documentary on the Amanda Knox case, Netflix saw this and has suggested I watch similar programmes.
I'm no tech expert so I googled how Netflix suggestions works and found this quote...
Carlos Gomez-Uribe:
"By looking at the metadata, you can find all kinds of similarities between shows. Were they created at roughly the same time? Do they tend to get the same ratings? You can also look at user behaviour—browsing, playing, searching. Sometimes what’s similar depends on who you’re talking about. Take director Pedro Almodóvar. You might have four very different movies by Almodóvar. But he’s such a strong voice that, by himself, he makes those videos similar to one another. For a different director—say, Spielberg—that might not be the case."
To simplify this, each programme will have a whole range of other programmes that Netflix associates with one another. These links are made using things like director, genre, user behaviour (people who watched this also watched that) etc.
The Netflix user experience :
1. The user will start up there laptop whilst either getting excited by thinking of something to put on or already knowing they want to carry on watching their favourite series.
2. Typing the letters 'Ne' into their search bar, google will finish the search for them getting them to the page quicker
3. Their account will automatically log in if they're on their own laptop
4. Then the user has the decision of what of they want to watch, whether this was preempted.
5. Finally, the user clicks on whatever they want to watch and can then sit back and relax whilst enjoying the show.
Netflix is designed to resemble a cinema setting with low light, black backgrounds and long wide thumbnails. The overall layout is very easy to you and does put the user at ease.
Personally, I sometimes use streaming websites to watch films if I can't find them on Netflix, the experiences between the two differ hugely. On streaming websites, adverts will pop up left right and centre, the page itself will be poorly laid out and hard to navigate. Where as Netflix doesn't have any adverts as it gets its funds from prescriptions.The layout is very easy to navigate and the site is very visual with large, high quality stills of the films that give you a good insight into the film/series.
ASOS
ASOS is one of the most popular and widely used fashion websites on the internet. They started out with the idea of selling clothes celebrities wear at an affordable price. The name stands for As Seen On Stars.
However, I have noticed that over the years it has lost touch with this idea and has grown exponentially due to user behaviour etc. The website is now full of thousands upon thousands of clothes that the user has to scroll through endlessly unless they know exactly what they're looking for in which case they can use the filters and search bar.
It includes a feature labelled "You might also like", which similar to Netflix, learns from what you've looked at previously and gives you suggestions as to what else people have looked at after looking at the original item. This is meant to inspire the shopper into finding new items that they may not have come across without the suggestions.
Another feature of ASOS is the #ASSEENONME section. This is for people who have already bought the item and then upload photos onto Instagram with this hashtag. ASOS will then find them and feature them on their own website.
This is similar to my idea of creating a fashion focused social media platform. One feature will be that you can add your friends and celebrities you admire according to their dress sense and so your 'news feed' is full of what your mates are buying, looking at and sharing as well as having official celebrity members that will share fashion posts, what they're wearing etc. This idea is very similar to Instagram, however what singles mine out is that it is purely fashion based.
ASOS Smartphone App
The first things the user sees when the app starts up are offers, discounts and a number of different departments.
The clear student target market is reinforced by the student discount that is a regular ASOS feature.
The use of bold, playful colour further reinforces this and makes for a friendly and eye catching tone of voice.
One of the most widely used applications is Spotify, used by anyone who wants access to their favourite music. Spotify includes a whole range of different features that make it unique and an enjoyable, engaging experience. On the right hand side, there is a live feed showing you what your mates have and are listening to at that moment. Down the left hand side there is a 'Discover Weekly' option that is a playlist put together by Spotify specifically made for you. The playlist is based on music you have been listening to through Spotify. This is an incredibly easy and functional way of finding new music. The user doesn't have to do any of the searching, and the playlist changes every week.These features make for a very unique experience for each individual user, personalised to your own taste in music. The live feed on the right hand side brings you and your mates music closer together and helps you further broaden your playlists.
Another feature is that you can follow your favourite artists so that when they release new songs, you are notified about it. I will be doing something similar with my concept where users will be notified anytime a celeb they are following posts something or is seen wearing anything of note.
My own concept will be heavily influenced by Spotify as it shares a lot of features with my own work. I will also be aiming to mirror the incredibly simple and easy to use visual layout shown below with a mixture of image, shape and colour.
Smartphone App
The most useful feature is the control panel at the bottom that consists of 5 of the most used and useful features in the app. This panel is in easy reach of the users thumb and makes navigating through the app very fast and comfortable.
To skip to the next song you can either press the next button or you can swipe the album artwork to the left revealing the new song. This is popular in apps these days such as in Tinder. It's an incredibly comfortable and easy way of navigating, something I will be considering in my concept.
Whatdropsnow
The first comparison is that is it clearly targets a younger demographic who are in to the newest and most current brands and trends.
The site announces when clothes are released and shows, in a very clear and easy format, anything that has been released recently.
Smartphone App
It also allows you to follow certain brands, save products to buy later and like products so that they show up on your profile.
More fashion app concepts
1. Whisp
Whisp is a messaging app that revolves solely around fashion. It makes getting your mates opinions on online clothes easier and more enjoyable. The function of the app is that it works in conjunction with Facebook and allows you to send links and images to any friend on your friends list quickly and easily.
I think that the idea of being able to chat with the people you follow on my app. This will give the concept more depth as it will strengthen the social media side of it and create a social hub full of opinions and trends. However what I will be avoiding is having it grow into something too large as this is a major criticism of existing sites like ASOS.
No comments:
Post a Comment