TikTok Got Boring… So I Redesigned It
TikTok brings joy to millions of users with dank memes, funny audios, and hype dances. But sometimes while you’re scrolling through the FYP in search of a good chuckle, all you see is video after video of the Renegade, whipped coffee, and Charli D’Amelio.
Due to the FYP algorithm, the content on TikTok can get repetitive. But finding new, interesting content on your own is difficult.
How might users find different content on TikTok outside of the FYP? How might users explore other’s interests that might appeal to them as well?
TikTok Discover Doesn’t Do Its Job
I originally thought that users had trouble seeking new content on TikTok because the Discover tab was not insightful about trending hashtags and organized poorly, so they were not inclined to use the feature. However, my mind changed after speaking with other TikTokers.
Learning from TikTokers
After interviewing multiple users, I found that it was true that users were not inclined to use the Discover feature. Here are key insights:
- Users don’t use the Discover feature to seek new content. (“I only use the Discover tab to search for old videos or audio that I want to see again.”)
- Users don’t actively seek new content outside of the FYP. (“I just keep scrolling and scrolling through the FYP to find new types of content.”)
- Users tend to stay on the FYP, and only navigate to their Inbox page when prompted with a notification. (“I use the FYP and DMs on TikTok the most. I check DMs when I get a new notification.”)
Through my user research, I found that the real problem is that people have trouble exploring content outside of their FYP because they don’t know what is popular or interesting to them or what other categories are available.
Enabling Users to Explore More Content
I recruited a couple friends to help me brainstorm. Due to the pandemic, we did this over video call by dragging sticky notes around a shared Figma file. We identified two opportunities to streamline the process of exploring other users’ interests:
- Improve what’s trending: How might we determine what is popular so users can find content that interests them from the trending page?
- Improve social interactions: How might we exchange content between users with similar interests?
We explored some solutions in the following low-fidelity drawings:
After analyzing the pros and cons of each solution, I decided to go with the group chat feature because it has high feasibility and high impact. People don’t really use the Discover page. Furthermore, most of the content people watch outside of the FYP are sent to them by friends. But a lot of these recommendations are sent over other apps like iMessage or Messenger, especially if a user wants to send videos to lots of people at once. With a group chat feature, users could directly exchange content with their friends inside of TikTok.
Incorporating Group DMs
As of now, TikTok DMs only allow users to send videos to individual users. I wanted the group chat feature to be incorporated into the existing DMs feature. I also wanted to include new features that would allow for easier content exchange. This would include an option to for users to create original content to send to the chat and a way to look at previous shared content in the chat.
Entry Points
The current entry point for TikTok DMs is through the Inbox page. I decided to do other explorations of entry points because DMs are relatively hidden on the Inbox page.
I decided to go with D during the medium-fidelity prototype. This entry point encourages the use of the DMs because it is one of the main features on the Inbox page. I did not choose to go through with B and C because the changes to the existing interface were too drastic and would disrupt the current user flow.
Creating a New Group Chat
Creating a group chat is an integral step of exchanging content with other users. During this step, it is important for users to identify who they are chatting with in a group at ease.
I eliminated C because the horizontal usernames at the bottom of the screen could run into the button. Out of A, B, and D, I chose A because larger profile pictures invoke a greater sense of familiarity. Also, the size of each profile picture is consistent, so each added user is given equal emphasis. In B and D, users with longer usernames have greater emphasis.
Group Chat Details
Looking back at a chat allows users to reminisce on shared memories with other group members. This sense of familiarity and friendliness can lead to better content exchange.
I eliminated A because there was no visual indication of a group, which is important for a sense of community. Looking at B, C, and D, I chose C because the features were not cluttered. Looking at E, F, and G, I chose to go with E because just enough content is displayed in the preview.
The Group Chat
The user must be able to interact with the content in the chat at ease and correlate them with the group.
I decided to go with header C. The grouping of the profile pictures creates the greatest sense of community and familiarity, and the chat name is prominent.
Learning from TikTokers — Again.
During testing, I found that users navigated through the group chat feature at ease. They said it was because it is similar to group chats in other apps and follows the flow of the current chat feature. However, I found that users weren’t sure of how to share content to the group chat. They wanted to head back to the FYP after looking through chats to explore more content. They also did not choose to navigate to the chat details to look for previous shared content.
So, I wanted to users to be able to create and share to group chats from both the FYP and the DMs page. On the current TikTok interface, users can create chats from DMs, share to chats from the FYP, and search for users to share videos with on the FYP. I expanded these pre-existing features to include group chats.
Creating Group Chat from DMs
Creating Group Chats from FYP
Sharing to Group Chats from FYP
Sharing to Group Chat from DMs
TikTok allows users to share videos to chats only from the FYP. Users expressed that it feels natural to send content inside of the group message, so it is useful to refer to saved videos inside of the chat.
Allowing users to create original content for chat members would also encourage content exchange. Users would feel less pressure to create ‘perfect’ content because they are sharing with a group of friends.
I eliminated A and B because the icons weren’t intuitive. The saved content also opens in a new page, which makes the user feel like they are navigating away from the chat. I chose C because users favorite videos to refer to them later. Users are still inside of the group chat because the favorites pop up as an overlay over the current chat. Also, the icon in C is the most clear because the separate bookmark and plus sign indicate that tapping the icon will lead to two different features.
Final Interaction
The final interaction focused on creating group chats and sharing content to group chat from the FYP and DMs as entry points. These are the most important user flows because users cannot share content without creating a group chat or selecting content to share. Non-essential features were not highlighted in my final prototype.
Conclusion
Talking to users, I realized how much joy such a short video can add to someone’s day. TikTok is more than a video sharing platform: it is a news source, a learning environment, a meme hub, and so much more. It does a great job of encouraging creativity, and I hope that group chats will further this by helping users exchange content at ease and be inspired by each other’s ingenuity.
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This is a case study for a project in Intro to Digital Product Design. I am in no way affiliated with TikTok.
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Shoutout to Cindy, Zain, and the rest of the Intro to DPD course staff for inspiring me to pursue my product design dreams! And a special thank you to the people who helped me with brainstorming, user research, user testing, and critiques. ❤
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I am a sophomore at Cornell University, pursuing a major in Information Science with a concentration in UX and a minor in business. This was my first ever case study and design process. I hope to continue to focus on Product Design.
