UI of Search on Video Assets: Development of Advanced Features

Abstract: In the cloud based video post-production industry, video files possessing large amounts of metadata is very common. When working with such files, a search interface with functionality that takes advantage of this data, with functions such as filtering, creating specific queries, and searching for the videos content, could greatly increase the ease of use of handling a large amount of files. In this thesis a high fidelity prototype is developed of a search feature on said video assets in a web-based video platform. The prototyping process consisted of iteratively designing prototypes with more and more fidelity, with design choices supported by user testing and expert evaluation. A total of three different design-iterations were made, one of low, medium and high fidelity, as well as a proof of concept for the creation of search tags. Each iteration was based on the result of the testing and evaluation of the previous iteration. The final prototype features a faceted search system of checkboxes and search tags for different video properties, that was well received by user tests and evaluation alike. The faceted search was found to be very efficient and easy to use for this application. The search tags was well understood and showed potential for ”pro functionality” as the interface becomes more complex and more features are added, they were in the current design however, arguably not needed as users preferred to use other parts of the interface. The overall layout of the design was also found to potentially require a redesign, depending of the kind of metadata present in a real world scenario, to fit the faceted search which dynamically change with the availability of metadata on the files.