BBC TV Home

In 2015 I worked as Senior User Experience Designer on BBC TV Home in London. The page had to serve two different needs in one place: help viewers discover something compelling to watch, and help them make a quick decision about live and upcoming programmes across BBC channels.

The experience combined a prime-time programme carousel with a channel-by-channel view of what was on now and next. Viewers could move from editorial discovery into live viewing or continue into the wider TV schedule.

I worked from existing behavioural data and research through concepts, wireframes, interaction design, prototypes and testing with marketing, product, research and engineering colleagues.

Viewers had difficulty discovering live television, finding what was on next and planning prime-time viewing. The challenge was to make a content-rich homepage useful without turning it into an overloaded TV guide.

The design needed a clear route from editorial discovery to immediate live viewing, while preserving a deeper route for people who wanted the full schedule. Discovery and utility had to share one surface without competing for attention.

The experience also needed to work across desktop, tablet and mobile. The responsive solution could not simply compress the desktop layout. It had to preserve the distinction between choosing something now and planning what to watch next.

I worked with research and existing behavioural data to understand how viewers moved between editorial discovery and live programming. Surveys, interviews and usability testing exposed two recurring needs: viewers wanted a faster route to live programmes and clearer visibility of what was next, especially during prime-time viewing.

I translated those findings into concepts and blocked-out wireframes, then tested the hierarchy before moving into visual design.

The core pattern stayed consistent across breakpoints:

1. Featured content first.
2. A channel-based ON NOW / ON NEXT view second.
3. A clear route to the full TV Guide.

The design was reviewed through mockups and testing across desktop, tablet-width and mobile layouts.

The resulting TV Home experience connected programme discovery with live-TV planning in one page.

The carousel surfaced featured prime-time programmes, while the channel-by-channel ON NOW / ON NEXT listing gave viewers a direct route to current and upcoming broadcasts.

The layout shipped across desktop, tablet-width and mobile. The mobile version used tabs to preserve the same distinction in a narrower viewport.

No quantitative outcome is recorded for this version, so these are qualitative product and delivery outcomes rather than measured performance claims.

I would have tested the balance between editorial discovery and live utility earlier, before the visual hierarchy became too settled. The central tension was not simply where to place a carousel. It was how much editorial emphasis the page could carry before the TV guide stopped feeling immediate.

The durable lesson was to preserve the user's decision context across breakpoints. A responsive redesign should not merely compress the desktop layout. It should retain the distinction between choosing something now and planning what to watch next.

Prototypes and mockups were produced across screen sizes so the carousel and channel guide could be reviewed as a working layout rather than as isolated static screens.

The desktop mockups showed two states: the above-the-fold carousel with the first channel rows, and the page scrolled to reveal the full eight-channel ON NOW / ON NEXT guide.

The responsive review covered desktop, tablet-width and mobile layouts. On mobile, ON NOW and ON NEXT became tabs so the same channel-by-channel guide could fit a narrow screen.

The responsive design preserved the distinction between ON NOW and ON NEXT across screen sizes, helping viewers understand whether they were choosing something to watch immediately or planning ahead.

On mobile, the two states became tabs rather than disappearing into a compressed schedule. This retained the same information architecture within a narrower viewport.

The available record supports responsive interaction and content hierarchy decisions. It does not include a formal accessibility audit or measured accessibility outcome.

The design was developed and reviewed through research, concepts, blocked-out wireframes, prototypes, mockups and testing.

Testing examined combinations of layout and content across the carousel, channel rows and ON NOW / ON NEXT structure.

The final responsive pattern was prepared for rollout across desktop, tablet-width and mobile. The three-format coverage is a delivery outcome, not a claim about audience adoption or performance.

Some information and details are omitted because of confidentiality constraints.

This case study represents my work and does not necessarily reflect the views or strategies of the BBC.

Portfolio material is presented under Fair Dealing guidelines. No confidential or proprietary BBC information has been disclosed.

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