ustwo™ designs and builds Channel 4′s YouView IPTV portal
YouView, the UK’s new IPTV service, heralds a new era for TV viewing. The service represents a collaboration between the UK’s best known broadcasters and broadband internet companies to deliver subscription-free live digital channels, catch-up and on demand TV via a set-top box.
We worked with Channel 4’s Future Media & Technology team to design and build its YouView portal user experience, from front-end user interface and interaction design, through to full stack development and technical integration. Together with YouView and other content partners, we built the portal to detailed specifications to ensure a consistent and quality user experience.
We translated the established ‘lean forward’ experience of Channel 4′s existing web-based 4oD content into a ‘10-foot lean back’ TV experience. We considered the principal design challenges to be the optimum presentation of the vast volume of content, ease of interaction with the service via remote control rather than by keyboard or mouse, and designing a user experience suitable for a national user base of all ages.
The portal also offers easy access to recently viewed programmes via the ‘You Viewed’ section, as well as an information panel designed to act as an onward journey menu for viewing more content or returning to C4 or YouView. Finally the incorporation of a ‘hero carousel’ helped ensure brand alignment throughout the 4oD experience.
Kevin Gallagher, Chief Information Officer at Channel 4 said: “YouView is a major development bringing the benefits of catch up and connectivity to the television. Building on the success of our leading commercial On Demand platform 4oD, we’re grateful for the work ustwo™ have done alongside our development team on the YouView portal user experience to give viewers even greater access to their favourite Channel 4 programmes when they want.”
