ABC iview – Smart TV

A digital future for ABC TV.

In 2019, the tipping point between traditional broadcast TV and video on demand was approaching. ABC iview required a new modern platform to showcase its content across the SmartTV market in Australia.

This project kicked off in July 2019. A first release was shipped 12 months later, in 2020. Since 2019, I have been responsible for the design direction across the Smart TV App. We are currently in a consistent iterative design and development cycle.

This work is also currently being used to inform an Android TV App rebuild.

What we did

∙ User research
∙ Vision and strategy
∙ Concept design and prototype creation
∙ Prototype testing
∙ Development prioritisation
∙ Design and development of first release
∙ Iterative design and development releases

What I learnt

Designing in context
Observing how people spend time watching TV, still is a fundamental part of this project for me. I learned that design is as much about observing life as it is about developing concepts and work.

Do more with less
Comparatively to modern tech, smart TVs severely lack processing power. The design challenge this creates is interesting: how do we create a premium experience with half the power? So far, the best answer I've found is to approach the work like an acoustic rendition of a song.

Product numbers

∙ 1m daily streams

∙ 1.2m weekly active users

Product team

∙ Stuart Flanagan – Lead Engineer
∙ Norman Vo – Engineer
∙ Ailia Rizvi – Engineer
∙ Marc Howard – Engineer
∙ Ash Srinivasan – Quality Assurance
∙ Alamelu Annamalai – Quality Assurance
∙ Phil Banks – User Research & Strategy
∙ Andrew Bray – Product Designer
∙ Bruce Collier – Product Manager
∙ Josh Akmens - Product Manager