Jumping through timestamps on youtube videos.

My role

Solo Designer, UX Research

Timeline

September-October (1 week)

Tools

Figma, Notion

Summary

The goal of this project was to identify why users tend to skip through youtube videos, and find a way to alleviate this issue.

This idea was developed through:

• white paper research and user interviews
• user personas
• journey map
• prototyping and usability testing

Project Overview

Reading comments has long been an instrinsic part of the Youtube viewing experience. However, this has enabled users to engage in excessive multitasking, leading to incomplete viewing duration and preference for an abridged and disjointed viewing experience.

This project proposes to add features that suit the increasingly sporadic and fast-paced sensibilities of many users today.

Problem: Skipping through Youtube videos via comments containing timestamp references causes users to lose their place.

• A prominent part of the viewing experience is seeing what fellow viewers have to say about the video one is watching. Users highlight exciting portions of the video, respond to the creator, and even create original in-jokes and memes by referencing points in the video.

  

  A comment on a video about Dvorak’s 9th Symphony pointing out a famous musical motif and joking about its similarity to the ‘Jaws’ theme

Why is this a problem?

• Users may become embroiled in the later portion of the video or find it tedious to memorize and locate their original position
• Users get into the habit of consuming longform video content in a piecewise, disjointed manner.