PBS iOS Apps
Role: Art Direction, Interaction and Visual Design
In June 2015, we launched a new brand new PBS app for android and updated our iOS app for the first time in over 5 years. (crazy right?) Additionally, chromecast was something our users had been asking for unanimously since that platform was first introduced by Google and we wanted to make sure the new apps could support this functionality. With a redesign on a scale as large as this, we focused on 2 main goals: maintaining a consistent visual vocabulary across all our digital properties, and creating an integrated ecosystem where the user’s likes and preferences are seamlessly transported across any platform.
Onboarding
One of the best aspects of PBS is how close users feel to the brand. Pretty late in development, we came up with the idea of using a branded video as a way to tap into that brand affinity and show our users all the ways they can access and interact with their PBS content.
Chromecast
The apps included chromecast support for the first time. This was one of the more interesting aspects of the design process since chromecast is still such a new platform. We had to account for both sender and receiver designs and collaborated with the google chromecast team to make sure the integration was smooth across the iOS platform.
watch video your way
We wanted to make the iOS apps feel personal and easy to use. We did this by giving users tools to be able to personalize their own experiences. With this refresh, users could now keep track of their favorite shows, save episodes and clips for viewing later, and resume videos where they left off.