Crunchyroll UI Redesign
Sup readers. It’s simple, I’m an Anime fan (based on my previous articles, that goes without saying), and therefore lead me to explore the famous video streaming platform: CrunchyRoll, that I had heard so much about.
In addition to exploring my love for the media, the desire to support those working in the industry lead me in search of an Anime-only platform (Netflix already has enough of my money) and doesn’t feature nearly a 10th of how many animes are actually available to watch.
The experience
To say the least, my excitement to try the platform far outweighed the actual experience of using it for the first time. It felt and looked liked ‘a glorified forum’ that you also have to pay for.
I figured with the rise of streaming platforms such as; Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and even Amazon Prime Video (yes, even them), Crunchyroll should be able to offer a similar cinematic and explorative experience too. So what was lacking?
The discovery and the changes
It was important to establish what made Crunchyroll so popular for their viewers in the first place, and how the experience could be improved upon.
The featuring of episodes below
Add to queue
High-quality video with subtitle selection/info
Overall user rating
The comments (the community)
Episode description
Publisher of anime
Progress through the episode indicator
With these key features in mind, I designed a more immersive experience with a few additional features.
Follow anime: I’m just about tired of updating my list of animes ‘watched’, ‘need to watch’, and ‘watching’. I just wanted to have that information stored somewhere and be updated whenever a new episode/season is released as Spotify does for albums and playlists.
Age rating: For those who just want to know what they’re getting themselves in for (a common goal for most anime watchers)
Apart from these new features, my aim was to improve the overall user experience by featuring the most relevant information above the fold such as; the episode information, episode user rating, subtitle info, and episode selection.
Knowing how big ‘community’ is for anime watchers it was important to allow space for the comments section but also improve the presentation with a cleaner appeal and less blocky.
Feedback from the Anime community:
