STARZ #TakeTheLead

DESCRIPTION

#TakeTheLead is STARZ and Lionsgate's commitment to amplifying narratives by, about, and for women and underrepresented audiences.

Our team created an interactive microsite in a 2 week rapid sprint working cross functionally with product, research, engineering, legal, and marketing teams from Lionsgate, Starz, and 3rd party contractors.

Publicized in Variety, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, and by the Golden Globe Awards

ROLE

UX Design Lead: Me, Myself, & I

UI Design Lead: Kate Salkin

UX Design, UX Strategy, Visual Design

2 week rapid sprint

PROBLEM

Creating IMPACT within a small window

Among the projects I worked on at Starz, this is one of my favorites! Within a tight deadline of two weeks, we embarked on the task of designing and developing a website from the ground up, while also creating a fresh style guide and determining content, website architecture, and interactions.

This project holds a special place in my heart, not just because it marked my debut as a lead designer (no pressure), but also due to my genuine belief in the initiative's potential to amplify the voices of underrepresented audiences in media and entertainment.

CONSTRAINTS AND CONSIDERATIONS

Time constraints - We were under a strict 2 week deadline until media publications were to publicly announce our new initiative.
Dependency constraints - Due to the tight deadline, our original design plan had to be adjusted as our content team dedicated several days to curating content, adding further pressure to the timeline.

PRIORITIZED BUSINESS AND USER OBJECTIVES

SOLUTION

Content driven web design means designing for attention.

Attention Grabbing Hero Video

Immediately draw attention to the website's purpose with a short introduction video.

Banner Blocks

Create visual interest and break the monotony of text-heavy content with varying content banners.

Horizontal Scrolling

Reduce endless vertical scrolling by utilizing carousels.

PERSONAS

Appealing to multiple audiences

With the aim of informing individuals about the initiative, we refined our personas to include Current Users, Potential New Users, and Industry Professionals. All three groups have unique cases for visiting the website.

Veda Gottumukkala is an Austin based Product Designer formerly at Comcast and Starz. Currently looking for new opportunities.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Content + Marketing informed us what content to display.

Based on the market research conducted by the Content and Marketing teams, I designed the website's structure using the content they provided.

WIREFRAMING

The IA led me into building out the frames for our different touch points.

We devised a hierarchical organizational system that established a seamless user flow and created visual intrigue.

Mobile

Tablet

Desktop

Kate and I collaborated to define the various breakpoints and determine the appropriate adjustments the website should make for each breakpoint.

SUCCESS METRICS

STARZ #TakeTheLead is a central hub to educate our audiences on the steps we are taking to bring awareness to and promote diversity and inclusion within media. This is evidenced by the television shows and movies that make up STARZ's content.

SUCCESS METRICS

Increase in Newsletter registrations
Individual page views on the Take The Lead site
Increased view count on our Speaker Series YouTube videos
Increased movement to STARZ unauthorized home page view via Take the Lead entrypoint
Increased account sign ups for STARZ

STATS I LOVE

At Starz, 46% of its showrunners are people of color, as are 63% of actors and actresses with leading roles
Women make up 55% of Starz's showrunners
Women make up 75% of the network's executive team (with half of those execs being women of color)

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENT & NEXT STEPS

Need for Evaluative Research

When faced with a tight deadline, we had to make compromises and adapt our usual design process. Given additional time, I would prioritize extensive evaluative research and engage in user exercises to enhance the information architecture (IA) and overall page organization. I would conduct a Card Sort exercise to provide insights into how users categorize information and a Tree Test to assess the website's navigation ease.

All to say, I love media and streaming and hope to return to the industry as a designer again. Although I would have liked to showcase more projects from my tenure at STARZ, I hope this glimpse provided you with a sense of my work and my passion for film and television. Please reach out if you want to discuss my project in more detail, I'm always happy to chat.

Thanks for sticking around till the end and hope you enjoyed this case study. If you have comments, feedback, or just want to know how the hell to pronounce my last name, feel free to reach out to me at veda.gottumukkala@gmail.com. Cheers!

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