Top: ffwd’s video player page Bottom: Twitmatic’s video search results page
ffwd.com & Twitmatic
CLIENT ffwd
ffwd is a video startup that we worked with closely for a few years. At its core, ffwd is a way to discover and watch videos based on your personal interests. As people use the site more, it learns about your likes and dislikes.
The main challenge for designing a site like ffwd was filtering a tremendous amount of information, and presenting it in a way that didn’t overwhelm users. We centered the design around the main orange button (ffwd) and gave it a slot-machine effect, to simulate a hypnotic rhythm for users. That way, they’d keep hitting the button as long as they knew that another great video was (potentially) just around the corner. And it worked, the average video-watching session on ffwd was almost 50% longer than on YouTube, with some users staying connected for as long as six hours.
We also designed ffwd’s real-time video search engine, Twitmatic. This site scoured Twitter accounts to see what videos were being shared on any given topic. The site was ultimately both a way to discover both videos, and the people who were sharing them.