Get an estimate
Ewelina
2021/01/05
Streaming is nothing more than sharing content using streaming technology. Currently, there are many platforms on the market that offer streaming for their users. It has become very popular to stream your own screen during the game. It is also a very profitable procedure - professional streamers earn unimaginably large sums of money thanks to streaming.
The principle behind creating a good gaming streaming portal is simple. The user should be given the space to easily and intuitively share his content with the recipients. A properly designed user profile and options tailored to the needs of each streamer are the key elements of the portal. It is also worth remembering to give the opportunity to browse and search for other users' content and to quickly create your own teams.
The design stage can start with reviewing what the competition has to offer, i.e. benchmarking. The basis of a well-conducted benchmarking is to understand the needs of target users. In order to facilitate this process, a good way is to select key categories of needs and to match them with good practices found on competitive portals. This way we will keep order in searching for interesting insights.
Then it is worth creating the user flow of our streaming portal based on the diagnosed needs and using good practices. User flow is a graphical way of presenting possible user paths on the portal. It focuses on the steps and decisions taken. It makes it easy to check whether the user has finished a started process. It is used to present the functionality of the application. Graphical representation makes it easier to understand the idea of the portal.
The next step is prototyping. When designing a portal, its components should not be randomly arranged. Over the course of several decades, the community of UX designers has developed certain rules and patterns that should be followed so that the products we create encourage use and are logical to use. Using the principles created by the Nielsen Norman Group by Kelley Gordon, there are five principles to consider when designing an application:
1. Scale
2. Visual hierarchy of posted information
3. Balance
4. Contrast
5. Gestalt principles
The first rule relates to consciously sizing interface elements. By scaling them, we give them importance. The components we want to distinguish should be larger than the others. It is good practice not to exceed three different sizes. The large variety of items can be confusing.
Regarding the second principle, a visual hierarchy of posted information helps users navigate. The more important components should be highlighted in some way. The user then feels that he knows what he should do and how he can use our portal. An important issue is the spacing between individual elements in order to separate individual information from each other. Also be aware of the types of fonts used. It is a good practice to use a maximum of three fonts, it can also be one, but in different styles: bold, italic, etc.
Another rule is to keep the balance between the interface components included. It is important not to put most of the interface components on one side, but to keep some balance. You can do it in three ways: symmetrically, asymmetrically and from the inside. It depends on what effect we want to achieve. Symmetrical distribution is static, asymmetric in some way creates movement and engages the user in receiving information. The centrifugal system, in turn, focuses the attention on the main component and directs the eye to information deviating from the most important component.
The principle of contrast is one of the most important to consider. This refers to the juxtaposition of distinct elements so as to emphasize that they are different from each other. An example would be to change the color or size of a component when some action related to it is performed. The contrast should be noticeable and indicate that the status of the selected component has changed. It also involves the use of interface colors. The elements of the application should be legible in all conditions. Inappropriate selection of colors will make the use of the application problematic.
The last important point is the Gestalt rules, or grouping rules. They were created by psychologists after it was noticed that the human brain tends to group information together. These principles explain how people simplify and organize complex images that are composed of many elements, subconsciously arranging the parts into an organized system that forms a whole, rather than interpreting them as a series of different elements. Components that are closer together indicate that they belong to one group. A group can be, for example, the title of an article and its content, or a product category and photos belonging to that category.
These good design practices are universal and should be used when creating different systems for users. Market giants in the streaming category such as Twitch, Youtube are great examples of applying thoughtful stages to a design process that is focused on the target user.
