Yandex 360, an all-in-one virtual office with a broad range of services for efficient workflows: Mail, Cloud storage, Documents, Calendar, Video calls, Messenger, Notes. Yandex Disk is a cloud storage for files and photos, the most popular way to store important things in the region.
To view photos and videos on a big screen, Yandex Disk users need to come up with workaround methods.
Who
30 million regular users of the service use Yandex Disk to store their photos and videos, automatically uploading them from their mobile devices.
When and Where
Wherever there is a TV or projector with support for Yandex TV or Android TV, people can relive their favorite moments and view photos, videos, or memories on the big screen.
What
An app for viewing photos and videos on TV within the Yandex 360 ecosystem.
Results
TOP 1
Among Yandex TV applications in March 2024
XXX thousand
Monthly active users of Disk TV app
+2%
Monthly active users of the entire service
My role: I was the author of the product idea and served as the product designer.
Design Process
Empathise and Define
Users value using familiar services across various platforms. A comparative analysis prioritized popular options, leading to Disk for TV for viewing photos and videos on large screens. We studied user behavior with the TV app, including content types and usage contexts, to guide our design.
Ideate and Prototype
We designed a simple and concise user flow centered around remote control as the main input method, focusing on registration via QR code, browsing albums, memories, photos, and videos, and accessing user profiles.
Test
With each update, we tested our product in the internal Yandex TV laboratory on over 15 different devices, including TVs and projectors with screen sizes ranging from 32" to 120".
Iterate through each step ↑
→ Empathise and Define
Conducting a brand perception study of Yandex 360, we found that Yandex 360 services are not associated with technology. For a large group of users, it is important to be able to use familiar services even on specific platforms and devices. As part of the decision-making process, we conducted a comparative analysis of services and platforms and selected the most in-demand and easy-to-implement options. Disk for TV solved the task of interacting with photos and videos on large screens, within the most rapidly growing segment of the audience.
After securing resources for design as part of the goal-setting process, we initiated by gaining a deeper understanding of the typical user behaviors regarding the TV application. This included identifying the primary types of content they consume and the contexts in which they engage with it.
→ Ideate and Prototype
Based on an understanding of the primary use cases and considering remote control as the main input method, we designed a brief and straightforward flow: registration via QR code, browsing albums, memories, photos, and videos, and accessing user profiles.
At that moment, the Yandex TV team updated their devices, adding voice control to the remote. As a result, we had to revise part of the scenarios by incorporating interactive prompts for voice interaction.
With each update, we conducted testing in the internal Yandex TV laboratory, evaluating the usability of our product on more than 15 different devices, including TVs and projectors ranging from 32" to 120" in diagonal size.
On March 13, 2024, the product was officially launched on all devices powered by Yandex TV. The release for Android TV is scheduled for June 2024.