An American distributor, publisher, production and licensing company that was mainly known for streaming anime but has expanded to other ventures in more recent years. They now include manga, dorama, games, and more.
As a fan of Crunchyroll's services, I noticed that the desktop app seemed to be lacking visually in relation to its website. There were also organization issues that were noted in my own usage of their services.
Gather research and feedback to create mockups of Crunchyroll's desktop app that are more visually appealing and organized. Utilize their current branding informed by UI/UX trends to improve their desktop app.
I began by looking at other apps that seem to have better UI aesthetics and UX flow. I looked towards Netflix, Spotify, Steam, Blizzard, and more to find common elements that work and unique ones that peak my interest. Common elements such as navigation, dynamic information, and so forth influenced my layout decisions. Aesthetically I leaned more toward the gaming apps with overlapping transparencies, faded background images, glow effects, and more.
After looking at the UI/UX of other desktop apps, I compared them to the current one for Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll's app was very basic with a flat design that, in my opinion, was not fitting for anime media. It had the appearance of a basic blog-like website. When I watch anime there are many visual aspects that make each unique and I wanted to incorporate that into the design. So I merged Crunchyroll's website visuals with influences drawn from other apps to ultimately create mockups of a few pages to exhibit this.
Since this was a passion project and not official work done for Crunchyroll it was mostly a learning experience. By going through the design process for the mockups I brushed up on current UI/UX trends. I was able to practice using various design tools and look more into Crunchyroll's branding, visual design, and more in the process as well. I have revisited this project each year to brainstorm updates that can be made to improve my designs with changes in design ideology, technology, or Crunchyroll's branding.
