Netflix

Netflix Reimagined: Designing a Personalized & Immersive Streaming Experience

Product Designer (Conceptual Case Study)

tools

Figma, Fig-jam, Google Forms, Maze, Airtable, Notion

ROLE

Product Designer (Conceptual Case Study)

tools

Figma, Fig-jam, Google Forms, Maze, Airtable, Notion

This self-initiated project explores how Netflix could evolve from a content library into an emotionally aware, personalized entertainment experience. I led the end-to-end design process from research and ideation to high-fidelity prototyping and usability testing applying the Double Diamond framework and strategic UX thinking.

Project Overview

Netflix plays a role in millions of daily routines, yet its interface often overwhelms users with choice especially when they’re tired, emotionally drained, or watching with others.

This project explores how Netflix can move beyond passive content delivery to become a smarter, more human-centered platform. Through mood-based discovery, smart home integration, shared profiles, and a conversational AI assistant, This redesigned experience is designed to:

  • Reduce decision fatigue

  • Improve emotional alignment with users’ daily states

  • Enhance shared viewing without disrupting personal recommendations

I designed a personalized system that adapts to users’ moods, context, and environment by turning passive watching into an immersive, intelligent experience.

Problem Statement & Goal

Netflix is a go-to destination for winding down, connecting with loved ones, or escaping into a story. But today’s experience isn’t keeping pace with changing user expectations. The platform lacks emotional responsiveness, intuitive discovery, and support for shared use cases.

As user routines, technologies, and emotional needs evolve, the opportunity is clear: Netflix must go beyond content delivery to offer intelligent, mood-aware, and frictionless experiences.

Goal

Reimagine the Netflix platform to:

  • Enable mood-based content discovery

  • Introduce a shared profile system for households

  • Integrate with smart home devices to enhance ambiance

  • Add an AI assistant to support real-time interaction and content insight

Process: Blending Emotional Insight with Product Strategy

I followed a modified Double Diamond framework:

  • Discover: Research into user behaviors, frustrations, and current competitor offerings

  • Define: Synthesis of insights into opportunity areas and UX goals

  • Develop: Low- and high-fidelity wireframes and flows for new features

  • Deliver: A polished conceptual prototype and feature set with UX rationale

User Persona

Sarah
The Overwhelmed Professional

Age: 29
Location: San Francisco, CA
Occupation: UX Designer
Tech Comfort: High
Lifestyle: Lives alone, smart home setup
Pain Points:

  • Feels emotionally drained after work

  • Finds endless scrolling exhausting

  • Wants effortless, mood-based viewing

🎯 Goals:

  • Quickly find something light to watch based on her mood

  • Have a seamless “movie night” experience with smart lighting/sound

  • Get quick show info without opening IMDb

Journey Map

View Full Personas

Competitive Analysis

To evaluate how Netflix can innovate, I explored how major streaming platforms and smart assistants address similar user needs, focusing on mood-based discovery, smart home integration, shared profiles, and AI interactions.

Define: Framing the Right Problems to Solve

After analyzing user frustrations and emotional behaviors during streaming, I synthesized findings into key problem themes and reframed them into actionable opportunity areas.

This phase helped me shift from broad emotional pain points to targeted design challenges that could guide ideation. I prioritized three themes that directly aligned with unmet user needs, technical feasibility, and Netflix’s strategic edge.


Key Problem Areas

How Might We Statements

These questions became the foundation for ideation and concept development.

Opportunity Prioritization Matrix

This helped focus the next phase on concepts that balanced innovation with implementability.

Develop: Designing Solutions That Feel Effortless and Human

Using the prioritized opportunity areas, I explored several solution directions and iteratively designed key features that addressed emotional pain points while aligning with Netflix’s product ecosystem.

I focused on three core concepts, each targeting a distinct user tension, and validated ideas through feedback and behavior mapping.


Concept 1: Mood-Based Discovery

Pain Point: “I don’t know what I feel like watching.”
Goal: Help users discover content based on their emotional state, not just genre or trends.

Solution Features:

  • Mood carousel (“I want to laugh,” “Need something cozy,” “Feeling adventurous”)

  • Dynamic homepage based on mood selection

  • Optional AI content matcher (optional input: context, activity, time of day)


Concept 2: Shared Profiles

Pain Point: Watching with others messes up personal recommendations.
Goal: Create an intentional space for co-viewing without affecting solo profiles.

Solution Features:

  • New "Together Mode" profile setup

  • Shared viewing history and watchlist

  • Adaptive recommendations based on shared behavior without blending algorithms


Concept 3: Smart Home Integration

Pain Point: Users want more control over their environment while watching.
Goal: Create a seamless, immersive home experience with minimal effort.

Solution Features:

  • Voice commands for lighting, volume, playback

  • Ambient mode that dims lights when a show starts

  • “Quiet Night” mode adjusts sound and brightness automatically after 10 PM


Rapid Prototyping & Feedback Loops

I created quick wireframes and concept flows to test assumptions around usability and emotional resonance. Feedback from 5 users highlighted:

  • Strong excitement around mood-based filtering

  • Concerns about privacy in shared profiles

  • Smart home integration worked best with preset defaults instead of complex controls

Sample Screens: Mood-Based Discovery · Shared Profiles · AI Assistant

Heat Maps and Testing Results

Key Highlights:

  • 90% success rate in completing the task

  • Average task time: 75.6 seconds

  • 34.6% misclick rate indicates areas for UI improvement

  • Most successful screens: onboarding and feature entry points

  • Most confusing screens: deeper AI feature interactions and shared profile logic (noted by higher misclicks)

Discover: Uncovering Emotional Gaps in Streaming

began with qualitative interviews and a global survey to understand how emotional states influence streaming behavior.

Methods Used:

  • 15 user interviews

  • Survey (6 countries, ages 22–45)

  • Informal conversations + competitor analysis

Key Pain Points Identified:

  • Emotional mismatch: Users wanted shows based on how they felt

  • Smart home readiness: Users expected environmental sync (“movie mode”)

  • Shared viewing friction: Watching with others disrupted recommendations

  • Lack of interaction: Users sought lightweight, in-the-moment assistance

User Persona

Sarah
The Overwhelmed Professional

Age: 29
Location: San Francisco, CA
Occupation: UX Designer
Tech Comfort: High
Lifestyle: Lives alone, smart home setup
Pain Points:

  • Feels emotionally drained after work

  • Finds endless scrolling exhausting

  • Wants effortless, mood-based viewing

🎯 Goals:

  • Quickly find something light to watch based on her mood

  • Have a seamless “movie night” experience with smart lighting/sound

  • Get quick show info without opening IMDb

Journey Map

View Full Personas

Competitive Analysis

To evaluate how Netflix can innovate, I explored how major streaming platforms and smart assistants address similar user needs, focusing on mood-based discovery, smart home integration, shared profiles, and AI interactions.

Define: Framing the Right Problems to Solve

After analyzing user frustrations and emotional behaviors during streaming, I synthesized findings into key problem themes and reframed them into actionable opportunity areas.

This phase helped me shift from broad emotional pain points to targeted design challenges that could guide ideation. I prioritized three themes that directly aligned with unmet user needs, technical feasibility, and Netflix’s strategic edge.


Key Problem Areas

Sample Screens: Mood-Based Discovery · Shared Profiles · AI Assistant

How Might We Statements

These questions became the foundation for ideation and concept development.

Opportunity Prioritization Matrix

This helped focus the next phase on concepts that balanced innovation with implementability.

Sample Screens: Mood-Based Discovery · Shared Profiles · AI Assistant

How Might We Statements

These questions became the foundation for ideation and concept development.

Heat Maps and Testing Results

Key Highlights:

  • 90% success rate in completing the task

  • Average task time: 75.6 seconds

  • 34.6% misclick rate indicates areas for UI improvement

  • Most successful screens: onboarding and feature entry points

  • Most confusing screens: deeper AI feature interactions and shared profile logic (noted by higher misclicks)

Sample Screens: Mood-Based Discovery · Shared Profiles · AI Assistant

Opportunity Prioritization Matrix

This helped focus the next phase on concepts that balanced innovation with implementability.

Develop: Designing Solutions That Feel Effortless and Human

Using the prioritized opportunity areas, I explored several solution directions and iteratively designed key features that addressed emotional pain points while aligning with Netflix’s product ecosystem.

I focused on three core concepts, each targeting a distinct user tension, and validated ideas through feedback and behavior mapping.


Concept 1: Mood-Based Discovery

Pain Point: “I don’t know what I feel like watching.”
Goal: Help users discover content based on their emotional state, not just genre or trends.

Solution Features:

  • Mood carousel (“I want to laugh,” “Need something cozy,” “Feeling adventurous”)

  • Dynamic homepage based on mood selection

  • Optional AI content matcher (optional input: context, activity, time of day)


Concept 2: Shared Profiles

Pain Point: Watching with others messes up personal recommendations.
Goal: Create an intentional space for co-viewing without affecting solo profiles.

Solution Features:

  • New "Together Mode" profile setup

  • Shared viewing history and watchlist

  • Adaptive recommendations based on shared behavior without blending algorithms


Concept 3: Smart Home Integration

Pain Point: Users want more control over their environment while watching.
Goal: Create a seamless, immersive home experience with minimal effort.

Solution Features:

  • Voice commands for lighting, volume, playback

  • Ambient mode that dims lights when a show starts

  • “Quiet Night” mode adjusts sound and brightness automatically after 10 PM


Rapid Prototyping & Feedback Loops

I created quick wireframes and concept flows to test assumptions around usability and emotional resonance. Feedback from 5 users highlighted:

  • Strong excitement around mood-based filtering

  • Concerns about privacy in shared profiles

  • Smart home integration worked best with preset defaults instead of complex controls

Sample Screens: Mood-Based Discovery · Shared Profiles · AI Assistant

Heat Maps and Testing Results

Key Highlights:

  • 90% success rate in completing the task

  • Average task time: 75.6 seconds

  • 34.6% misclick rate indicates areas for UI improvement

  • Most successful screens: onboarding and feature entry points

  • Most confusing screens: deeper AI feature interactions and shared profile logic (noted by higher misclicks)

Deliver: Bringing the Vision to Life & Reflecting on Impact

After prototyping and validating core features, I refined the product into a cohesive experience designed to feel intuitive, emotionally supportive, and aligned with Netflix’s product voice.

Sample Screens: Mood-Based Discovery · Shared Profiles · AI Assistant

Final Outcome

The reimagined Netflix experience introduces:

  • Mood-Based Discovery that makes finding “what to watch” emotionally intuitive

  • Shared Profiles that adapt to group dynamics without muddying personal preferences

  • Smart Home Integration that enhances immersion with voice-activated and context-aware controls

The concept balances advanced personalization with a calm, human-centered interface — prioritizing ease, emotion, and contextual relevance.

Strategic Takeaways

Human-centered AI is no longer a novelty it’s expected.
I designed for trust, transparency, and opt-in control to keep AI helpful, not intrusive.

  • Context > Content.
    Personalization that adapts to mood, time, and social context leads to deeper engagement than traditional algorithms.

  • Clarity over complexity.
    Small interactions (like shared PINs or ambient dimming) made a surprising difference in how users felt about control and comfort.

What I’d Do Next

If handed off to engineering and product teams, I’d continue by:

  • Expanding accessibility support (screen reader, contrast-friendly UI for night use)

  • Partnering with data science to fine-tune mood-based recommendation engines

  • Running A/B tests on user opt-in for Smart Home features