In early 2018, the IMDb UX team embarked on a series of research studies, design sprints and competitor reviews to define what would soon be called the Modernization project of IMDb. It was an ambitious proposal that would require the entire org to dedicated their time and resources to over the course of the following years. As 2021 rolls through, much of this vision has been incorporated into the site today, completely changing not only the face of IMDb, but the purpose as well; IMDb as a fully responsive, personalized, Where & What to Watch destination.
Starting with the Home Page, my role in the project was to define the video experience, building on the Vision proposal I had been working on in unison. This included not only the Video Hero on the Homepage, but each individual video-based widget the customer would interact with as they browse through the page.
The Modernized IMDb Homepage launched in late 2019 on mobile and early 2020 on Desktop breakpoints.
Design sprint idea board from our initial group brainstorming session
More whiteboard images from a second round of brainstorming, aiming to define a content strategy for video on the page
Early wires looking at the Video Hero experience, along with various widgets down the page that would host video content
Wireframes from the first User-study looking at a variety of interaction patterns that could be incorporated into the Hero. This concept included the idea of "Video Channels" that would allow the customers to browse Hero content through a new and focused design paradigm
Enhanced designs to support the wires above
Launched in 2019/2020, the Modernized Homepage on IMDb