Case Study: Evolution of Netflix
As a part of Day 003 of 100 days of UX, I studied the evolution of Netflix over the years from UX Timeline. I have listed my findings in this blog.
About Netflix:
Netflix is an American subscription streaming service and production company, launched on August 29, 1997. It offers a library of films and television series through distribution deals as well as its own productions, known as Netflix Originals(Wikipedia)
Analyzing the evolution of Netflix over years:
1. What are some noticeable changes seen throughout the years?
There is a continuous change in the User Interface and Experience of Netflix over the years.
Previously Netflix used to give rental DVDs & movies to the users which over the years changed to online streaming of web series, movies and TV shows.
Netflix’s website made more usable and enhance its user experience.
2. Why these changes were made?
Netflix made the changes to improve the usability of their product. To increase their user retention. They changed their website generically every year that means they effectively used the iterative nature of the design process. These changes improved the user experience of their product drastically. Hence, increasing their market over the years. They started with services like 1 month free trial since 2004, which are continued till now to grasp NBU attention.
They also reduced the amount of text on the landing page unlike the 1999 screen, when compared to 2022.
Netflix iteratively changed the design and the overall user experience, along with the color palette to primary colors as red and black.
3. What parts of it I would change while redesigning it for 2022?
Here is what I have redesigned. I have kept some parts of the website similar as it is classy(and I personally like the emphasis on images over text)
Heuristic Evaluation of Netflix
1. The Jakob’s Ten Usability Heuristics (Visibility of system status) that says Design should keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriation and timely feedback.
Example: Netflix used this by providing Information of where you can watch and few FAQs, which help users know what can be done and what is going on.
2. The Consistency Heuristic says users should not have to wonder about what actions to do done, where to perform action. Design should follow consistency across platforms.
Example: Netflix follow the similar and consistent interface across the platform whether its mobile, desktop or TV.
3. The Aesthetic and Minimalistic Heuristic which says interfaces should not contain information that is irrelevant. Aesthetics should be balanced with Usability
Example: Netflix conveys everything using the images, reducing the written text on the website and makes it more easy to use and have minimalistic looking interface.
4. The Miller’s Heuristic which says to reduce the cognitive load there should be 7(+/- 2) elements shown to the users.
Example: Netflix provide categorised selection which help easy selection and memorisation.
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