Youtube Surf
•Media •Entertainment •Personal Project
TL;DR
YouTube Surf reimagines YouTube as a TV-like experience with curated live stations. By reducing choice paralysis and filtering unsafe or off-putting content, it provides an effortless, situationally appropriate way to watch — whether eating, relaxing, or keeping kids entertained.
Introduction
Context
YouTube has become this generation’s version of television — not just for entertainment, but as a daily companion. Users rely on it for background noise while working, a sleep aid at night, company during loneliness, or to occupy children. In many ways, it now plays the role TV once did for older generations: always on, always there.
Yet endless choice often hinders the experience. Faced with an overwhelming sea of videos, users struggle to decide what to watch, leading to frustration, wasted time, or giving up altogether. Worse, inappropriate content at the wrong time can create awkward moments, disrupt meals, or expose children to unsafe material. What should be comforting and effortless often becomes overwhelming and unreliable.
YouTube Surf addresses this by introducing a familiar, TV-like experience. Drawing inspiration from channel surfing and tools like Spotify DJ, it creates curated live channels for different contexts. Whether for dinner, bedtime, child entertainment, or background company, users can effortlessly surf until they land on content that fits the moment.
The goal is simple: reduce decision fatigue, ensure situationally appropriate content, and restore the ease and comfort of traditional television — updated for a YouTube generation.
Problem Statement
How might we create a curated YouTube experience that reduces decision fatigue and supports everyday routines?
Goal
Design a YouTube feature that delivers a simplified, curated, TV-like viewing experience, reducing choice overload, providing safe content, and supporting everyday situations such as eating, relaxing, or entertaining children.
Research
User Interviews
Daily YouTube users from diverse backgrounds were interviewed to understand their habits and pain points with the platform’s autoplay and recommended videos features. Interviews revealed that users engage with YouTube for multiple purposes, including:
Evening entertainment
Mealtime companion
Background noise for sleep or relaxation
Keeping children occupied
The most recurring pain point was deciding what to watch amidst an overwhelming volume of content. Users also highlighted issues with autoplay and recommended videos:
Videos often play off-topic or inappropriate content, which is especially problematic during meals or when children are watching.
Recommended video thumbnails are sometimes deliberately off-putting to attract clicks, frustrating users seeking safe, predictable content.
User Personas
Based on interviews, the following personas were generated to represent key user archetypes:
User Stories
Based on these personas, user stories and ideal state flows were created to illustrate pain points and potential exit points. This helped shape a product that minimizes friction while maintaining a TV-like “lean-back” experience.
Competitive Audit Direct Competitors
An extensive audit of entertainment services — both live and streaming — was conducted to explore how users discover and consume content efficiently. Key findings:
Closest existing solution: Spotify DJ, which allows users to play content without making decisions. This validates the need for a “jump-in” feature to reduce choice fatigue.
Live TV & desktop streaming: Navigation typically uses a channel guide or sidebar navigation, which is intuitive for traditional TV-style viewing. For desktop users, a channel agenda and station guide helped efficiently browse content.
Challenges: Smaller devices (phones/tablets) pose difficulties for “surfable” layouts; for this project, the focus is primarily on TV and desktop experiences.
Define
Based on research and competitive insights, YouTube Surf’s primary functions and design scope are:
Core Functions
Curated, situationally appropriate content
“Jump-in” feature to reduce decision fatigue
Multiple themed stations
Quick switching between long-form videos
Target Devices
Desktop
TV
Ideation
User Flow
Based on research insights, fast and effortless user flow is critical. The Surf function should be easily accessible from the landing page:
Desktop: The jump-in point is integrated into the sidebar alongside key features such as Subscriptions, Live, and Music, aligning with YouTube’s existing design framework. Users can quickly enter Surf and move between stations with minimal friction.
TV: Navigation mirrors traditional television, using channel up/down to switch stations. Additional options allow users to view more information about the current video or station, maintaining a lean-back, familiar experience.
The goal is to allow users to flow freely between channels, ensuring the current station meets their expectations without unnecessary clicks or menus.
Information Architecture
For desktop, all relevant information is readily available on a single screen, allowing users to see and switch between multiple channels at a glance. For TV, a fullscreen, immersive experience is prioritized, as this aligns with traditional viewing habits.
Early Concepts & Sketches
Early experimentation focused on:
Scale, placement, and information density: Large, visible channel options on desktop create a sense of freedom, enabling quick switching.
Channel agenda: Displaying what’s coming next allows users to preemptively switch if desired.
Fullscreen video: On desktop, fullscreen felt restrictive, whereas on TV it felt natural and immersive.
Sketching on paper allowed rapid iteration of layout ideas before moving into digital prototypes.
Digital Concepting
With a validated low fidelity Prototype, experimentation moved into digital formats.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Low-fidelity prototypes were built from the sketches and proposed user flows to test usability and performance. Five primary designs with multiple variants were tested to validate navigation, content visibility, and interaction flow.
Desktop Low Fidelity Prototype
TV Low Fidelity Prototype
Brand Guideline
Maintaining brand alignment with existing YouTube products was a priority, ensuring the addition of Surf felt consistent within the ecosystem.
Logo design: Inspired by the name “Surf,” a wave icon was considered, but the final design integrates TV graphics, immediately contextualizing the feature as a TV-like viewing function. Juxtaposing the name "Surf" against a TV icon instantly contextualises its function.
Overall aesthetics were kept simple, modern, and consistent with YouTube’s visual language to support familiarity and quick adoption.
Final Design
TV Design
The Surf icon takes users directly into their last-watched channel, instantly engaging them in the same way a traditional TV would turn on directly to content.
Navigation is intuitive and minimal:
Left/Right: Switch channels
Down: Access additional information
Down again: View detailed channel directory
On-screen prompts provide clear guidance for all interactions. Users can quickly access a directory of stations, sortable by category, either via the remote’s back button or the on-screen navigation, ensuring effortless discovery of content.
Desktop Experience
The desktop version builds on YouTube’s familiar interface while introducing features designed for effortless channel surfing:
Bottom Bar (Upcoming Videos): Displays the next videos in the current station’s queue. This gives users foresight into what’s coming up, allowing them to decide whether to stay on the station or switch to another that better suits their mood or context. It reduces the need for constant micromanagement of content and mirrors the predictability of traditional TV programming.
Side Bar (Station Overview): Shows all available stations and their currently playing videos at a glance. Users can quickly scan through multiple channels without leaving the main viewing area. Each station preview includes key information such as video length, genre, or category, giving users the context they need to make quick, informed decisions.
Seamless Navigation: Users can switch between stations with a single click or hover, creating a fluid, frictionless experience. The design balances freedom and simplicity, preventing users from feeling “locked in” to a single video or overwhelmed by choice.
Visual Feedback: Hovering over a station or upcoming video triggers subtle previews or highlight effects, providing instant visual feedback and reinforcing the sense of control.
Mood & Context Adaptation: Users can filter or sort stations by category (e.g., background noise, family-friendly, study, relaxation), ensuring content is situationally appropriate and aligned with their current activity.
This approach gives desktop users a television-like experience while maintaining the flexibility and interactivity of digital platforms. It reduces decision fatigue, keeps the focus on enjoyment, and makes content discovery effortless, all within a familiar YouTube environment.
Designed & Developed
by Zac Low