Showtime Networks

I had the opportunity to intern with Showtime Networks as a User Experience Designer and Researcher, aiming to create more delightful ways for users to stream their favorite shows and movies.

timeframe

June 2022
November 2022

skills

ux design
ux research
design systems
10 foot design

My Takeaways

Working on a streaming platform meant that my contribution to the user experience could greatly affect the customer opinions on the brand. I felt that the work I did as a Showtime intern was impactful, and more importantly served as a space where I gained so much knowledge on UX. Being involved in both the design and research greatly informed my overall understanding of user experience, and cannot be more grateful for what I have gained from this internship.

I would especially like to thank my manager, Kelly, for giving me this opportunity, and my mentor, Kano, for giving me guidance during this time!

Overview

Through being part of Showtime’s UX Design team, I was closely involved in all of the major design updates and projects that were being focused on during my time there. My experience was unique in a sense that rather than work on a singular project throughout the entire duration of my internship, I took on tasks that needed to be done on any current work that my manager or team were on. Due to this, I was able to learn and develop multiple skills that ranged across many different contexts and had to face various unique problems.

Design Systems

I gained extensive knowledge and experience on design systems during my internship. Since my time at Showtime involved a major rebrand of their digital platforms, I quickly learned to maintain, upkeep, as well as heavily update components and libraries within a large, corporate design system. I learned how to create as well as use components within Figma and translate design elements from different design platforms, such as Sketch, onto Figma.

Research

One of the aspects of UX I worked heavily on was research. I gathered data and feedback from around 80 user tests to improve Showtime products. I worked with my manager to create effective, and non-leading questionnaires to send out to users on UserTesting. In addition to my role in research on the UX side, I worked alongside the marketing research team to better understand our customer pain points. Through scraping, collecting, and organizing all the information from research, I was given the ability to give data-driven design solutions to my team.

Designing on Multiple Platforms

One of the most unique aspects of my experience at Showtime was my ability to design for multiple platforms. While I designed for Showtime’s mobile and web products, I was also able to design for 10 foot. Basically, this means I created designs specifically for interfaces that would be viewed at least 10 feet away from users, specifically TVs. Designing for bigger screens came with a set of different problems and constraints that you often do not run into with more common platforms. 

For example, I really had to consider the fact that the only touch points on a TV were the remote. And that the user would not be physically close to the screen. I thought of ways how multiple platforms could be combined (using your phone instead of the remote) and how these innovations could either improve or diminish the experience of our product. Overall, the experience of designing for 10 foot broadened my view on design and allowed me to be more innovative with my design solutions.

*if you would like to know more in depth about my experience here at Showtime, shoot me an email!