The TV show Big Brother is a live competition where participants live under constant surveillance in a house equipped with cameras and microphones for three months while the show airs.
This unique format has attracted a dedicated fanbase who tune into the show’s Live Feeds which are available online during the entirety of the season. For several reasons, producers may need to turn off viewer access to Live Feeds which has become a consistent pinpoint for fans.
FeedsOn is a mobile application dedicated to providing this fanbase with real time status of whether or not the Live Feeds are currently turned on or off.
Context
FeedsOn began as a passion project for me as a member of the tight-knit Big Brother “Live Feeders” community. For over 20 years, the fanbase has felt the frustration of seeing the Live Feeds turned off sporadically and without warning for indefinite amounts of time. While the fans have no control over this problem, there is comfort to be found in knowing whether or not they are currently turned on before going through the process required to watch them.
As a UX designer, I saw an opportunity to ease viewer frustration by providing them with a product that would save them from disappointment of tuning into Live Feeds only to find them turned off. I completed this project independently over the course of two Big Brother seasons in 2021.
In addition to this case study, I kept a detailed diary of the project from conception to present day on Medium.
Objective
To provide Big Brother Live Feed viewers with a reliable method to check the real-time status of Big Brother Live Feeds.
Duration
Ongoing Project (8 months)
March 2021 - Present
Tools
Pen & Paper, Google Surveys, Usability Hub, Adobe Xd, Figma
Research
To understand the viewers of Big Brother better, I conducted user research in three phases. First, I created a technology probe to share with various community groups to gauge overall interest. Then, I distributed a user survey which garnered over 70 responses. Finally, user interviews were conducted and the data from all three processes was synthesized to collect the following insights.
Research Goals
Goal 1: How much time do Big Brother live feed viewers spend watching the live feeds?
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Viewers watch the Live Feeds for 3-7 days per week during the season.
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Viewers typically spend at least 3 hours per day watching the Live Feeds on days they watch.
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On average, viewers devote roughly 5 hours per day to viewing Live Feeds.
Goal 2: Do Big Brother live feed viewers currently check existing products to determine for information about the Big Brother live feeds?
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The most popular method of finding information on the live feeds was to check Twitter which 93% of respondents use.
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Dedicated fan sites like Hamsterwatch and Joker's Updates also attract 75% of respondents to their site for information.
Goal 3: Do Big Brother live feed viewers use an existing product to check the current status of the Big Brother live feeds?
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Nearly all survey respondents (93%) are subscribed to Feeds Bot on Twitter.
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Half of the respondents indicated that they receive mobile push notifications from Feeds Bot.
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Participants expressed a desire to know the current “on/off” status of the Live Feeds before they attempt to access the Live Feed website.
User Persona
Journey Map
The Problem Statement
“Big Brother Live Feed viewers need to know if the live feeds are currently on-air with a real-time tracker that is always available to them because they do not want to go through the lengthy process of checking the website without certainty that the live feeds are currently on-air.
We will know this to be true when viewers refer to a dedicated mobile app that informs them of real-time live feed on-air status before they decide to watch, or not to watch, Big Brother Live Feeds.”
User Stories
With the support of my user research, I began to view Mary as true User Persona and wanted to have a clear understanding of the problem space through her eyes. In order to accomplish this, I wrote User Stories to see the situation from her perspective.
As a Big Brother "Live Feeder", I want to know whether or not the Live Feeds are turned on at any given moment, so that I don't waste my valuable time preparing to watch a blank screen.
As a Big Brother "Superfan", I want to easily check house events and stats in one place, so that I don't have to navigate to multiple websites and Twitter accounts to stay up to date.
As a busy student, I want to stay "unspoiled" on the eviction nights that I am busy, so that I can enjoy watching live eviction shows on my own time.
Ideate
"How Might We" Questions
One method used to determine potential features to satisfy Mary's desires was to write a few How Might We (HMW) questions and try to answer them.
How might we deliver real-time feed status?
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Signifier on home page
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Push notifications
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Signifier on all pages
How might we provide information about stats and events?
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Push notifications
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“Events” and "Stats" pages
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“Events” section on homepage
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Links to Jokers and HW
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Twitter feed — Taran, HW, Jokers, etc.
How might we incorporate additional live feed content from other sources?
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Separate page
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Promote RHAP content on homepage
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Ask RHAP patrons
How might we make the product “spoiler-free”?
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Give users option to toggle content
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Give users control over push notifications
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Spoiler-free homepage
Task Flows
Task 1:
Entry Point:
Success Criteria:
Enable Push Notifications
Splash Screen
User enables push notifications for live feed alerts
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Splash Screen
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Register or Skip Registration
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(Register) Enter Email and Password or use Google
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Read Onboarding Coach Marks
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Screen: “Would you like to turn on push notifications?”
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If yes; success criteria met
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If no; continue to next step
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Turn on Push Notifications for Live Feeds from Homepage
Task 2:
Entry Point:
Success Criteria:
Explore Other Pages/Features
Open/Unlock Phone
User explores another feature after receiving a notification
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Open/Unlock Phone
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Notification on Home Screen
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“Live Feeds are On”
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Press notification
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App Opens to Homepage
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“Feeds Are On” message now visible
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Click ‘View Stats’ or ‘House Events’
Design
Paper Sketches
Mid Fidelity Prototype
Test
Usability Tests
Errors
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Two participants did not understand what the numbers on the Stats page represented.
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One participant did not understand the function of the notification toggle switches.
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Participants were unable to navigate to player profile pages from their home screen pictures.
Observations
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Participants understood and enjoyed the push notifications when the live feeds came back on.
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Two participants expressed concern that they would receive too many notifications
Negative Quotes
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“I don’t understand what the numbers mean here.”
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“House Events doesn’t imply that I will see a Twitter feed.”
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“It would be nice if evicted houseguests were differentiated from active houseguests.”
Positive Quotes
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“The notifications are really great. They would be a useful addition to my other BB resources.”
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“There is a lot of added value from the additional information on the app.”
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“I would download this immediately!”
Preference Tests
Despite getting more than 15 participants for both tests, neither test yielded statistically significant results. However, the comments left by participants were insightful as to which elements were doing their job and which were not.
Iterate
High Fidelity Prototype
With the data from the usability tests and preference tests in hand, I completed the final design for FeedsOn. A final step that I took was to create a “dark mode” of the app as well. This was mostly done because it was requested by a Big Brother fan who has sadly passed, but it also gave me an opportunity to try adapting a design to a dark mode for the first time as a designer.
Next Steps
When this case study was first published, the next steps were relatively unclear. However, since then, I have recruited a team of UI designers and a developer who I work closely with in order to create FeedsOn on Flutter. At this stage, we have gone back to the drawing board to modernize the UI and other visual elements of the design.
Here is a look at some of the updated designs that have since been produced:
Conclusion
FeedsOn was my first ever independent UX project and while it was time-consuming, it was a lot of fun to apply my design skills to something I am passionate about. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to get closer to other fans of Big Brother while also giving me the chance to understand what it is like to take full ownership of an end-to-end design project.
It was also a great opportunity to try Figma and FigJam which were tools that I had never used as a designer prior to beginning this project. I enjoyed expressing my creativity in designing useful and usable elements. Furthermore, learning how to bring the design to life with animations was a crucial step to understanding how to present my designs effectively.
Now, FeedsOn is providing me with a unique opportunity to apply Agile methodology to a real project and to work with talented designers and developers from different corners of the world. I look forward to the day that my dream of completing an app from conception to launch is complete.