BBC Me

One personalised pattern for the entire BBC

The BBC Me project was one of the first spearheads in to a more personalised and joined up BBC. The idea was to enable a consistent set of personalised actions a user could take - like saving for later or following a given subject or programme - and help introduce users to our content from other areas through this mechanism. If you followed a BBC News story about Syria, we could recommend you a documentary about Assad's rise to power from iPlayer for example.

The result: a standard set of patterns that are easily recognisable wherever you are, along with an area where you can access your personalised things that can both afford a product centric view (all my stuff from iPlayer) as well as a pan-BBC view (all my stuff from iPlayer and News and Radio etc.). This project required us to think extensively about how to traverse different user experiences, different user needs as well as different stakeholder aims - while paving the way for the BBC to take full advantage of things like recommendations engines and personalised data.

Below is the 4th out of 5 different prototypes arrived at through design sprints and user testing.

The project was moved forward through a full regime of user testing - from explorative interviews to paper prototypes to more formal lab testing of high fidelity prototypes - as we partly tested designs as well as created momentum with our stakeholders through these proof-of-concepts.

Below, snapshots from different stages of the project - from early design games and structured interviews to paper prototypes to testing on screens. And finally, full fledged production designs, wireframes and flows

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As the project grew in scope, we released a set of MVP patterns and basic destinations across iPlayer, Radio & Music and Knowledge & Learning. This initiative has since become myBBC, one of the key strategic bets for the BBC going forward.

Below, the final production designs for the first MVP cut of BBC Me across different BBC product portfolios.

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