YouTube

Empowering users to stay connected
to creators they care about

Role

UX Designer

Team

Individual

Skills

UX Research UX/UI Design Prototyping

Timeline

5 weeks

Overview

Subscribed, but still missing out

YouTube excels at large-scale content discovery through algorithmic recommendations. However, a significant portion of its users also intentionally engage with the platform by subscribing to creators but are struggling to keep up with uploads from those channels. 

Problem

Where the experience breaks down

Missed uploads

Users often do not see new videos from subscribed channels in their feed due to algorithmic prioritization.

Information is spread across multiple pages

Lack of visibility

The current subscriptions feed can feel overwhelming, especially for users subscribed to many channels.

Information is spread across multiple pages

Limited control

Users have few tools to distinguish between watched and unwatched subscription content or what they’ve missed.

Information is spread across multiple pages

Manual workarounds

Users resort to enabling notifications, manually checking channel pages, or relying on memory to find new videos.

Information is spread across multiple pages

Research

Investigating deeper into the issue

Competitive Analysis

I conducted a competitive analysis to see how YouTube compares with similar social media sites. All platforms offer limited user controls over the organization and prioritization of content from creators, brands, and people they follow. Instagram gave users the most agency while YouTube and Twitch offered the least.

User Interviews

Users did not always see the content they wanted in their feed and resorted to manual workarounds to find that content.

100%

of users browse the homepage feed more than the subscriptions page

Information is spread across multiple pages

83%

of users expect subscribing will push the channel’s content to their feed

Information is spread across multiple pages

83%

of users have favorite channel subscriptions

Information is spread across multiple pages

83%

of users check other pages for new uploads when they don’t see it  on their feed

Information is spread across multiple pages

“... I thought that the algorithm always pushed content from my favorite channel and similar channels but I don't think so. They just give me all the recent things that I've been watching and probably [aren't] pushing my subscribed channels much.”

— Interview participant

Another interesting finding was that 33% of users have experienced a skewed feed after watching a random video.

Affinity Map

Further analysis and synthesis of my interview notes helped me identify service gaps. Users needed:

  • To feel confident that important content will display naturally without having to actively search or manage their feed

  • Subscribing to a channel to reliably signal priority and help them stay connected to creators they care about

  • A subscriptions space that is easy to scan, reduces clutter, and helps them quickly identify what’s new or relevant

  • A way to easily select or view content based on their current time, mood, or intent

User Persona

Based on my research findings, I created the following user persona as my target user.

How Might We

How might we make subscribing to a channel clearly and consistently surface content from creators users care about?

Process

User feedback helped direct me toward a solution feature

Brainstorming ideas

I mapped potential solutions in an Impact vs. Effort matrix to identify easy wins and asked people to select the solution they liked most. The subscribed content discovery idea received the most votes.

Feature Prioritization

I prioritized the aforementioned feature along with a purpose label feature for the MVP. The first would consistently surface important subscribed content to users on the homepage. The second would provide context on why users might be interested in watching a certain video.

Ideation

I brainstormed several possible solutions for the subscribed content discovery feature and asked people to select their favorites in a group crit session. Most people liked the subscriptions row idea the best.

“[The subscriptions row] is my favorite! I'm an avid Youtube watcher, and I like this because I think subscriptions would do better being highlighted on the homepage. I completely forget that there's already a tab (at least on the Youtube app) for subscriptions, which means I waste time on my homepage scrolling through things I'm not subscribed to. I'd much rather just see subscribed content front-and-center by default as soon as I open Youtube without having to dig.”

— Designlab student

Task Flows

I wanted this solution to apply to several use cases and selected the following based on the user interviews:

  1. Catch up on new uploads from a subscribed channel

  2. Find an unwatched video from a subscribed channel you usually watch

  3. FInd a new episode from a podcast you listen to weekly

Early Explorations

I explored feature placements and visibility

Label Placement

I explored different label placements around the video thumbnails. Dedicating a whole row just for the label seemed excessive and created more noise around the thumbnail. I decided to go with the option with the label placed inside the thumbnail, similar to the video duration label on the bottom right corner.

Subscribed Content Discovery Placement

I explored different placements for the subscription row. I initially considered the top of the feed but then tested lower positions as well. Ultimately, the third row offered the best balance, allowing YouTube to prioritize algorithmic recommendations without losing visibility into subscription content.

Row Visibility

I tested two versions of the subscriptions row: one with no background and one with a gray background. The no-background version blends seamlessly with YouTube's design system but lacks distinction from algorithmic content. The gray background version softly highlights the section, creating visible separation and draws users' eyes to the row as a curated set of videos from followed creators.

High Fidelity Wireframes

Iterating in low fidelity helped me quickly move on to high fidelity wireframes

Usability Test

Users understood the feature’s purpose and content but also encountered usability issues

Despite the issues, users rated the overall usefulness of the feature an average of 4.9/5. 

Users were confused by a few of the filter terminology

Information is spread across multiple pages

Users mistook the drop down as a filter instead of a sort

Information is spread across multiple pages

Users expected the most recently uploaded videos to be shown first

Information is spread across multiple pages

Revisions

Subscriptions Discovery Row

I simplified the controls by removing the drop down and multi-step filtering, leaving only one-click filter buttons. I added the ‘Recently Uploaded’ and ‘Favorites’ filter options.

Subscriptions Sidebar

Users had a hard time distinguishing between the subscriptions and algorithmic sections and wanted a more obvious separation. I added a gray background to the section to stay consistent with the homepage and added more spacing between the sections.

Solution

A discovery shelf to keep users updated with subscribed content

The feature lets users see and catch up on content from subscribed creators right on the homepage.

The row also lives in different topic pages, letting users see subscription content based on their current interests.

Users can also see similar subscribed content on the video sidebar, giving them access to subscribed videos without having to leave the current page.

Reflection

What I learned

  1. Balancing between business and user needs can be challenging.
    Business and user goals aren’t always aligned, but it’s our job as designers to advocate for users, crafting a better experience for them while still staying aligned with business objectives.

  2. If I had more time, I would conduct another usability test.
    A second test would help me validate if the new changes increases the usability of the solution.