A feature added to the Vimeo platform that allows you to get personalized, curated video playlists, based on your interests and emotions that you're experiencing at the moment. As well as the ability to save and track your form entries to reflect on later and see personal trends.
My Role
UX Researcher
UX/UI Designer
Wireframer
Prototyper
User Interview Facilitator
User Testing Facilitator
Platform
Responsive Website Feature
Duration
April - May 2025
5 Weeks
Flow 01
Personalized Playlist
Flow 02
Watch and Rate Video
Flow 03
Checking out my personal Interest and Emotion Trends
The Impact
•
Analysis showed an anticipated 5-7% increase in user retention and satisfaction and would also provide its core clientele—professionals, businesses, and creators—with a more effective channel for their videos to be discovered, potentially driving a 10-15% uplift in unique video views for content featured in these personalized playlists, thereby reinforcing Vimeo's premium standing in the market.
•
4/5 test users reported that this feature would stop them from “doom scrolling” and help them watch videos that mean something to them, which would improve their mental well-being.
•
5/5 users expressed that using this feature, they would be able to quickly access their personalized playlist to save them time on searching for multiple types of videos.
I love the idea of being able to track my interests, but especially my emotions. So I can look back at them later and see any potential patterns that I wouldn’t be able to see otherwise.”
This is a crazy, awesome idea and I can’t wait to be able to use it!”
Ok, let’s get to the details
Here’s my process:
Background
Vimeo was founded by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein in Nov. 2004. As of 2024, Vimeo has over 300 million users, with a large portion being industry professionals and businesses.
The platform boasts over 100 billion video views and 1.7 million paid subscribers.
Total revenue in 2024 was $417 million.
The Research
Users are busy, business professionals that don’t have time to search on multiple topics of videos and just end up “doom scrolling”, feeling like they have wasted their time because those videos didn’t resonate with them.
Research Objectives
To learn what motivates the users to seek out watching videos when they go to their video watching platform of choice.
To discover if there has been scenarios that watching certain types of videos have caused the user more distress than before they started watching.
To determine if the users would desire a feature that would curate a personalized playlist, based on their interests and possibly their emotions, to help them work through those difficult emotions, or celebrate them. (the positive emotions)
To determine the best way to show users more positive video content, rather than negative video content.
Competitive Analysis
In order to understand “the wins” and “the misses” of these platforms, and find out what features that they offer, I did a thorough SWOT Analysis on Vimeo, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Highlights or “The Wins” of Vimeo
Focuses on professional creators and businesses.
High-quality video hosting and playback.
Advanced Analytics.
Audience Engagement.
Ways to improve or “The Misses” of Vimeo
Doesn’t have a way to give their users a personalized playlist option.
The advanced features can be overwhelming to new creators.
Hasn’t pursued “short-form” video focus to attract younger users.
Has a narrower video topic library because they’re focused on businesses.
Next, it’s time for the interviews
Takeaways
Through the interviews, I learned that:
6/6 of the participants go to watch videos online to escape life stressors.
5/6 said that if they watch a negative video, it does affect their overall mood negatively.
4/6 of the participants have many different interests and don’t enjoy having to search for them all individually.
6/6 of the participants would love to have a personalized playlist based on their interests and on what they’re going through emotionally at that time.
5/6 of the participants said that they would utilize the option of saving their curated playlist form entries to be able to look back and reflect on the data later.
Participants
Participant Recruitment
I interviewed 6 users. I made sure I had a variety of ages, professions and walks of life to get a well-rounded amount of insights of their experiences with watching videos online.
Interview Guide
Interview Guide
I focused my questions on what types of videos they watch, have they ever felt worse after watching a negative video, what interests and emotions they would like to see on the entry form and would they use a feature like this?
Interview Insights
Through the interviews, I gained insights on what types of videos the participants enjoy watching, why they go online to watch videos and the impact a negative video has on their mental health.
I also was able to see what topics of interests and which emotions they would like to see on the list of options for the personalized playlist.
Now, onto the User Personas
Between the knowledge I gathered from the SWOT analysis and the interviews I conducted, I was able to put together these 2 user personas that embody the majority of Vimeo’s users.
A snapshot of Vivian-
Vivian is a hard working social media manager with an eye for details. That also means that it’s difficult for her to turn her brain off of work and be able to relax.
”My limited free time needs quick access to hobby content or calming videos, without endless searching. A way to effortlessly track emotions for personal growth would also be invaluable.”
A snapshot of Ravi-
Ravi as an aspiring movie director that loves to create films that makes an impact in the world. Ravi has very little time to refresh and recharge or to get inspiration for his next project.
My intense work schedule(14-18 hour days) demands efficient access to inspiring film content for relaxation and creative fuel. Saving beloved videos is a must.”
The Project Scope
a.k.a. the “Problem Statements” and the “How Might We’s” that I discovered were:
To take it a step further, I created a:
Venn Diagram
To understand the business and the users even better to ensure that the solution is the best option for both the business and the users.
Proposed Solution
Next, I got to have fun with figuring out how I get to solve this problem!
After some brainstorming and dreaming about what this feature could look like, I came up with these Wireflows. They’re based on the Task Flows that made the most sense on how solve these problems of needing:
A quick and easy way to get a personalized playlist based on the user’s interests and emotional needs.
Being able to give Vimeo feedback on if the user enjoyed the video it curated for them, and be able to come back to the videos that the user loves.
Be able to track those entries for future reflection and personal growth.
Emotion/Interest Form:
4 You Reels Page:
Video Watch Page:
Rate Video Form (A/B Testing):
4 You Reel Trends Page:
Here are the fun iterations from the different stages of designing this feature.
Playlist Personalization Form
V. 01 (Wireflows)
Which turned into a 2 page form(based on feedback from user testing) with the interests FIRST, instead of the emotions. That way, the users don’t have to start this process with thinking about potentially difficult emotions. The user can ease into that.
V. 03 (Hi-Fi)
4U Reels Video Page
V. 01 (Wireflows)
V. 03 (Hi-Fi)
Video Rating Form
The smiley faces changed to stars (based on feedback in the user testing)
V. 01 (Wireflows)
V. 03 (Hi-Fi)
4U Reel Trends
V. 01 (Wireflows)
V. 03 (Hi-Fi)
4U Reels Hi-Fi Interactive Prototype
Flow 01
Personalized Playlist
Flow 02
Watch and Rate Video
Flow 03
Checking out my personal Interest and Emotion Trends
These are the details as to how I got from the User Interviews to the Finished Product.
Here Was My Testing Plan
Next, we have my 2 User Testing Results:
HIGHLIGHT:
The 4U Reel Trends page was confusing to the participants, so that was my #1 thing to improve before the 2nd round of testing.
Lo-Fi Testing Results:
HIGHTLIGHT:
The 4U Reel Trends page iterations were a success with the participants! 3/5 participants were having issues with the hover states because they were on mobile, so I fixed that in my final iterations before launch.
Hi-Fi Testing Results:
After my Second Round of User Testing, I did one last round of Iterations for this Feature Before Launch.
The Final Changes Were:
I swapped the interests forms and the emotion forms so the user eases into how they might be feeling instead of starting with that.
I swapped the interests and emotions graphs on the 4U Reel Trends page for continuity purposes and to ease the user into the trends information about the emotions that they have felt recently.
During the last round of testing, I took out the “hover states” on the end of the forms/rating screens and the play button on the watch screen for ease of mobile users.
I changed the headers that said “4 You Reels”, 4 You Reel Trends” to “4U Reels” and “4U Reel Trends” to make it cohesive throughout the website to match the logo on the homepage.
I changed the words on the form buttons from “Interests” (on the emotions page) and “My Reels”(on the interest form) to “Save my interests Go to emotions” (on the interests page) and “Save my emotions Go to 4U Reels” (on the emotions page)
The Impact
Analysis showed an anticipated 5-7% increase in user retention and satisfaction and would also provide its core clientele—professionals, businesses, and creators—with a more effective channel for their videos to be discovered, potentially driving a 10-15% uplift in unique video views for content featured in these personalized playlists, thereby reinforcing Vimeo's premium standing in the market.
4/5 test users reported that this feature would stop them from “doom scrolling” and help them watch videos that mean something to them, which would improve their mental well-being.
5/5 users expressed that using this feature, they would be able to quickly access their personalized playlist to save them time on searching for multiple types of videos.
“I love the idea of being able to track my interests, but especially my emotions. So I can look back at them later and see any potential patterns that I wouldn’t be able to see otherwise.”
“This is a crazy, awesome idea and I can’t wait to be able to use it!”
This empathetic feature really taps into user well-being and personalized experience.
Building on that, here are four more possible ideas for expanding or adding to this feature:
Interest-Based Event & Workshop Discovery: Bridge online interest with offline or live virtual opportunities. Based on a user's strongest interest trends and (optionally) their geographical location, Vimeo could provide tailored recommendations for relevant events.
01
02
Collaborative Mood Spaces:
Enable users to create a "Shared Mood Space" with a small group. This could be great for couples, families, or small friend groups wanting to unwind together.
Integrate Bio-metric/Wearable Data
(Opt-In): For users who opt-in and connect compatible wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches, sleep trackers), the system could passively gather bio-metric data (like elevated heart rate, or low activity). It could then suggest preemptive content recommendations without needing to manually fill out a form.
03
04
Interest-Driven Community Hubs:
Allow users to opt-in to private or semi-private "Interest Groups" (e.g., "Abstract Digital Art Discussion"). Exclusive content from creators in that niche, and forums for discussion and collaboration. The system could even suggest group members based on overlapping "interest trends."