Giving Users Control of Seek
Seeking on Sheyda VOD’s TV player gave no feedback about distance, speed or destination, and thumbnails had been removed to protect older TVs. I designed an adaptive seek model hat restores control on Smart TVs and protects performance on legacy devices: progressive speed, three-zoned feedback and device-tiered confirmation. My responsibility was the seek interaction model, from problem framing to engineering recommendations.
Data-driven improvements across the ad experience:
No Feedback: Users couldn’t tell how far they had jumped, how fast, or where they would land
Hardware Limits: Thumbnails had been removed to protect older TVs, so there was no preview of the destination
Hidden Gesture: Users didn’t know that holding
◀︎ or ▶︎ lets them seek faster
Remote-Only Input: Every interaction had to work with a few remote buttons and stay readable from a distance
What I Decided and What It Cost
Release To Seek, OK to Confirm
Decision: Smart TVs seek when the button is released. Legacy TVs seek only after OK.
Why: Release-to-commit matches Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV. On older TVs, OK prevents accidental seeks and scrubbing lag.
Trade-off: Legacy users take one extra step in exchange for stable playback.
Controls stay at the bottom
Decision: Pause, forward and back stay at the bottom, and the center shows only the speed multiplier.
Why: Center controls would cover the main subject of the image and break a pattern TV users already know.
Trade-off: Less prominent controls in exchange for an unobstructed picture. Not building it was a design decision.
Three Zones, Three Questions
Center (how fast): The speed multiplier only (⏩ ×4), with no extra text and no modal, readable from across the room
Left and right edges (how far): A live offset such as + 02:30, updating while the button is held
Bottom (where you will land): The seekbar with the destination time, plus a live thumbnail on capable devices
Discoverability: A one-time hint of 3 to 5 seconds on first player launch teaches the hold gesture without interrupting playback again
Fallback When Power Can’t Be Detected: The thumbnail appears only after a 300 to 500 ms dwell on the Seekbar, which avoids unnecessary decodes
Built for Performance: No video decode on every movement, seek only after the interaction ends and sprite-sheet thumbnails where possible
What the redesign should change:
For Viewers: A clear sense of how far they moved, at what speed and where they will land
For the Product: Less configuration, fewer seek errors and a better TV experience
For Performance: Stable playback on weaker devices without removing the experience on stronger ones
Lessons That guided the Design
A technical constraint became a design input and led to a tiered solution instead of a compromise
Separating feedback by zone keeps the screen readable from a distance
Guardrails such as end-of-video speed limits improve control without adding interface elements
Choosing not to build something, like center controls, protected the viewing experience
Service Design · UX Strategy · Adaptive Design · Information Hierarchy · Feature Discoverability · Performance-Aware Design
I focus on designing system-driven experiences that align with business goals.
If this approach resonates with your product, feel free to get in touch.
