Project Overview

At the IBM Mobile Innovation Lab, our team was asked to build a streaming application that would showcase a new IBM technology called Contextual Sync. Contextual Sync is an open-source, real-time, continuous data sync service for web, IoT, and mobile.

We created Together Stream - a social and synchronized streaming experience that allows users to stream videos together in real-time. Our solution included an iOS app, available on the App Store, as well as a web app.

My Role

UI/UX, Video Production

Design Process

We explored a variety of potential use cases that would highlight the new technology and after conducting extensive market research, we focused our scope on video streaming. We then interviewed users about their streaming habits, documented their pain points, and created a user flow addressing these needs.

Mobile App

In the app, “hosts” can create a stream and select trending videos or search for their personal favorites. After inviting their friends to tune in, the stream will play across all devices and provide everyone with a completely synchronized experience.

The stream host has full control to pause, restart or skip the current video, or choose a new one from their queue. Stream participants can chat about the current video or suggest something different to be played next.

Web App

After completing the mobile app, we extended the experience to web so that users could view on desktop as well. We initially planned to create a fully flushed-out web experience, complete with the ability to start streams and invite friends. However, to accommodate our tight deadline, we cut our scope so that users could only join streams on web, not start them.

When a host starts a stream on mobile, they can invite friends who have not yet downloaded the app. If they become interested in Together Stream, they are prompted to visit the App Store to get the full experience. By cutting the scope, we were able to deliver a complete user experience that showcased the power of Contextual Sync across both web and mobile.