NEW CHANNEL PACKS. NEW CUSTOMER BASE. NEW UX.

Customer Problem

Traditional Cable TV Customers are tired of paying for big cable packages with channels they don’t watch — a model DIRECTV had followed for decades. As cord-cutting took off, many switched to standalone streaming services to save money. But with prices rising year after year, those savings are fading, and customers are once again looking for better options.

Business Problem

DIRECTV saw this problem and launched Genre Packs—stackable, themed channel bundles that can include popular streaming services like Disney+. At the same time, the .com experience was undergoing design system standardization and overall UX improvements. It was important to the company to add the improvements and standards to the new customer experience.   Since there was no self-service experience yet, we had to design one from scratch to support it.

Solution

Design a new account management experience that lets this new group of customers easily manage their Genre Packs. Look for ways to improve how all customers manage their experience on the platform today.

Success

A strong self-service experience that reduces support calls by making Genre Pack management easy.

Streaming or satellite cable? Netflix or Disney? So many decisions!

To get started on improving the designs, I first looked at the current version of DIRECTV’s sister service called “Signature Packs.” This older version used a legacy design the business wanted to move away from.

My first step was to capture what the current “Manage my TV service” experience looked and felt like while preparing to ask about technical limitations.

I focused on how it was designed, how people selected products like add-ons and packages, and how they reviewed product details. I compared it to the new design system and began mapping out how things like layouts, page sections, and design elements could match the new system.

Value

Understanding to current state would be helpful for future conversations on acknowledging current system  and design problems, feasibility checks, while also allowing for early-mapping of components to the new design system.

Manage TV Package Legacy design

I worked with the lead UX researcher to find pain points in the old experience that we could fix. We looked at summary opportunities of past usability tests and interviews to see what users liked and didn’t like.

We also reviewed generative research studies done on the competition of DIRECTV and how they serve up offers to their logged in customers, so that we can be competitive with what's out on the market.

Value

Using data of past studies and knowledge of the UX researcher as a guide helped me to confirm problems in the system and discover new ones, so that I can be more selective of which issues to look out for for Genre Packs.

Seeking UX Analytics

To get a better sense of how users interacted with the platform, I used tools like Qualtrics to review session recordings and Qualmetrics to analyze survey responses. These tools helped me see firsthand how users behaved during key tasks like managing their packages, activating new services, or trying to downgrade.

One thing that stood out quickly was how often users became confused when trying to tell the difference between shopping for new services and reviewing what they already had. Both of these experiences were shown in the same visual area, which made it hard to distinguish between them.

User Frustration

Several users shared that it was confusing and frustrating to scroll just to see what services they currently had. They didn’t mind scrolling on their mobile devices, but what frustrated them was having to scroll back and forth multiple times just to verify what was on their account. The lack of clear separation made it difficult to feel confident about their selections. 

This confusion led to repeated service calls, as customers felt they couldn’t manage their TV packages on their own with confidence. It became clear that separating owned items from available ones and elevating key actions like “remove” or “add” would significantly improve usability.

Value

I found users were confused because owned services and upgrade options were shown together, causing frustration and more support calls. I recommended separating current packages, making actions clearer, and improving navigation — helping users feel confident and reducing calls.

Using systems like Qualmetrics to help see where customers were getting stuck or frustrated, and qualtrics to review direct customer feedback.

Help from Sales UX Team
To better understand how the new design system was already being used with Genre Packs for new or potential customers, I partnered with the UX designers on the Sales team.

They had already started presenting Genre Pack options using updated components, layouts, and styling. I observed how they organized the content, what parts of the design system they used most, and how they guided customers through the choices. This gave me solid visual and structural references I could reuse or adapt later for the account management experience. It also helped me see where the current sales flow and future self-service flow might need to align for a smoother customer journey.

Looking back at a previous implementation
I also revisited a recent project where I helped move Signature Packs from an older legacy design into the new design system. That effort gave me a playbook I could reuse—both for the design strategy and for how to collaborate with the same front-end developers and QA testers.

I studied what worked well and what could be improved from that project. Since the same engineering team would support Genre Packs, I wanted to make sure I brought forward all the lessons learned, like how we handled tricky edge cases or system limitations while still keeping the experience consistent and user-friendly.

Value

Gathering more perspective from sales team helped me understand how the self-service experience could be aligned to a degree with sales. Also, reviewing previous design workflows helped me move faster since some of the ideas were already vetted and approved.

Sales/Upper funnel examples, Signature package design upgrade

Next, I led working sessions with designers, writers, and researchers to review findings and plan improvements for the new Genre Pack features using the updated design system. We focused on:

• Reducing frustration by placing all current items in one clear space, separate from purchasable products.
• Making actions easier to find by moving key controls—like activating streaming or removing items—higher on the page.
• Adjusting Sales-driven designs that didn’t fit account management, presenting alternatives to UX directors.
• Following established layout patterns due to technical limits.
   

After aligning on solutions, I created updated designs in Figma using the new system.

Value

It's important to get alignment on designs early on. Having the expertise and minds of other UXers tied to similar projects brought more thoughts to the table, and more confidence to the design direction.

Skipping wireframes

I used Figma components from the new design system to quickly build sample UI screens, skipping wireframes to speed up the process.

Design and Dev Reviews Early On

I reviewed designs with the UX team three times a week and invited Dev and QA for early feasibility checks. When they couldn’t attend, I kept the TPM updated to confirm technical feasibility.

Behold: The Sticker Sheet

Using research insights and team feedback, we grouped customer products into one section using reusable card components with key actions. Mobile layouts were limiting, so I designed a “Sticker Sheet” to display all products in a single list while keeping actions accessible. After sharing early with the UX Director and Product Owner, feedback led to refinements, and the design was approved to move forward.

Guerrilla Usability Testing
We validated the sticker sheet concept through a quick usability study. I partnered with the lead UX researcher and a junior designer to build a Figma mobile prototype and script for a moderated test with 6 participants, showing business leaders research could be done quickly.

The study tested how users understood Genre Pack products when shown as cards vs. as a list in the sticker sheet. We asked what they expected, how they thought it worked, and how it fit into managing their account.

Positive Feedback to Further Drive the Design
Users understood the sticker sheet and appreciated having everything in one place. Some highlights were:

• Users wanted more details about owned products
• Some called out the false bottom, causing some to miss products below, but most said they’d likely scroll further on a real mobile device.

With user approval, I brought in the technical team for another round of feasibility checks.

TPM Collaboration

After validating the sticker sheet concept with customers, I moved into feasibility checks with the technical team.

From my past work on the Signature product, I knew the TPM preferred one-on-one design reviews before anything was shared with the full dev team. While we could loop in dev and QA during the design process, the final handoff typically went through the TPM, who also wrote the stories for implementation.

TPM Preference
We met several times to walk through the updated sticker sheet designs and check what was possible—like showing SVODs with Genre Packs, allowing customers to launch them, and formatting promotions and pricing correctly. Some changes had to be made due to technical limitations. For example, we hoped to remove the cards that represented what  customers owned and only show what they owned in the sticker sheet (leading to some duplication), but this had to be saved for a later phase.

This helped me focus on the most important features first and make sure we stayed within our technical and business constraints.

🔥 Blockers
I learned the full feature set was possible but needed phased rollout. I created two design sets: a full version for development and a simplified version for demos to UX directors and product managers.

After confirming design feasibility and technical constraints, I worked with the TPM to share mobile-based happy path use cases with the legal team for review.

Terms and Conditions Check
The legal team’s priority was ensuring customers could clearly see the terms and conditions, especially before completing purchases. While this pattern existed in checkout, the content needed updates for Genre Pack customers.

I collaborated with the UX content team in Figma to include the correct T&Cs at each step and kept the files updated for legal approval and stakeholder review.

Value

Teaming up with the TPM to review with legal showed an aligned effort and agreement upon the solution.

The Hand-off

After legal sign-off, the UX content designer and I made minor updates, then shared the final designs with the dev and QA teams during their grooming session with the TPM. From that point, I shifted into a support role to help ensure the build matched the intended experience.

The Hand-shake

I held weekly check-ins with the Lead Developer, Lead QA, and TPM to go over design specs, Figma quirks, happy path flows, edge cases, and any design library conflicts. We also worked with the design systems team to ensure accessibility and visual standards were met.

Since the sticker sheet component was brand new and not yet in the design system, we kept the design systems team updated so it could be added in a future release.

Before launch, the product manager and TPM presented the final build to business leadership, including marketing and sales. As Lead UX Designer, I joined to answer questions and support design decisions with research and data.

🔥 Blockers
Some concerns came up around the sticker sheet not showing channel logos like Sales traditionally did. I explained that while logos are helpful for marketing, usability studies showed that account management users prioritize clarity, cost control, and quick access to what they own. Logos could still be used when promoting new products.

Changing Business Rules
Genre Packs were constantly evolving—rules around eligibility, mini-pack availability, naming, pricing, and SVOD pairing kept changing. I stayed in close contact with business teams and attended key meetings to make sure the designs reflected the latest updates. These changes directly affected user flows and UI decisions.