Animated Emotes
Rethinking digital asset management for Twitch streamers
Overview
Streamers use Twitch's Creator Dashboard to upload and manage custom digital assets that are used in their channel. When I got to Twitch, each feature had a different asset management and upload experience. Streamers had to re-orient themselves to different interaction paradigms and design patterns depending on whether they were uploading emotes, Cheermotes, or Bits Tier Emotes. Not only did the UX differ from feature to feature, most of the interactions were clunky and confusing. While I was originally asked to design an upload experience for Animated Emotes, I quickly identified the larger need to consolidate and standardize Twitch's digital asset management.
Managing digital assets on Twitch is frustrating and unpredictable
Unintuitive navigation and inconsistent information hierarchy for similar experiences across different asset types
The inability to save historically approved assets makes it challenging for streamers to respond to the needs of their communities quickly, and de-incentivizes the creation of new content.
Users want a dedicated space to upload and store all asset types. Improving navigation and consolidating asset pages would remove the dependency on 3P tools, make it easier to locate and manage all custom content, and allow creators to more easily locate and manage custom content
"One additional emote, or two additional emotes, isn't enough to "flex" on other subs, which is what tiered subs do. I'd love for it to be flashier - like, could their username be gold? Could their emotes move? Is Twitch planning on doing anything to add more value to tier 3 and tier 2 subs? One additional, two additional emotes don't cut it for me. I tell my community that I'd rather have them gift 3 or 5 subs than subscribe at a higher tier. -Paymoneywubby"
–Twitch Creator, Research Participant
Proposed Solution
The team and I used this redesign as an opportunity to completely rethink digital asset management on Twitch. In addition to redesigning the emote and digital asset management experience we introduced brand new functionality including a staging/storage library, drag-and-drop slot assignment, and emote approval status indicators.
Digital Assets Home
Creation of a page that consolidates Sub Emotes, Bits Tier Emotes, & Cheermotes into a single experience
Digital Asset Library
A library to store, swap, and manage assets independently from slots
Standard Asset Interactions
A consistent upload experience for all asset types, and a reliable noun-verb interaction model for asset selection and assignment
UX Architecture
Re-organizing our Creator Dashboard to create a singular experience for all digital asset management experiences
Digital Assets Home
Consolidating digital asset experiences into a single experience
Digital Asset Library
A library to store, swap, and manage assets independently from slots
Standard Asset Interactions
A consistent upload experience for all asset types, and a reliable noun-verb interaction model for asset selection and assignment
Drag-n-Drop
Intuitive, rapid asset slot assignment by introducing live preview and edit-in-place interactions
User Reception
Feedback from Twitch viewers and creators
