Netflix: Product Suite
DockYard was hired to design and engineer a suite of seven digital products built to transform how Netflix originals are produced. As Director of Design at DockYard, I led our team of product designers. We worked closely with Netflix and their unique, infamous culture. Our process was a solid one, building a trusted relationship with a forward-thinking company that doesn’t often work with outside vendors.
Here is a case study, describing one of the products we designed and built:
1. Focus on Filmmakers
We did extensive user research to discover crew members’ needs: relevant, personalized information delivered in real-time. This allows filmmakers to focus on filmmaking, empowering them to make meaningful creative decisions and fostering the unfettered creative environment for which Netflix has become famous.
The product is modular, which balances needs with the ability to better plan activities across the entire product ecosystem. When everyone understands the overall creative vision, they know they’re making a difference to Netflix audiences and stakeholders.
Team members can build their daily schedules from anywhere, on any device, and access of those schedules seamlessly from any other device.
2. Workflow
An example use of the app: production assistants set up daily goals, or “milestones” and assistant directors send notifications on what’s been completed and what’s happening next. Set crews receive those updates on their mobile devices and know instantly where they need to be. The application also integrates with locations services, so with the click of a button, crew members get instant directions to the set.
3. Seamless Integration
The engineers integrated this product with Netflix’s existing APIs to maintain data integrity across its existing ecosystem of apps.
4. Results
Netflix has seen a significant advantage in enhanced communication thanks to the products we designed and built for them. Production delays have been reduced significantly and the studio has vastly improved its decision making processes.
