Same Same but Different

A few years ago, I was advising a consumer tech company, and two of a bunch of things I was working on, was conceptualizing the search function and recommendation engine for the tech team to then build.

And one of many tech services I was learning from, was Netflix. Netflix does not have the greatest search function. It’s recommendation engine though is quite good.

What I personally find really incredible about Netflix, apart from the selection of movies, is how the simple process of changing thumbnails and visual preview clips on movie or series listings, keeps the same content list feeling fresh and new.

It is something other services could learn from as a way to keep relatively unchanging sections remain interesting.

Of course, it won’t work everywhere. For instance, it won’t work too well with a food or grocery ordering app. Here, users want to quickly order stuff get moving.

Changing dish or product images here would only add to the delay and confusion, increasing cognitive load for the user for what should have been a simple action.

Imagine searching for, or being prompted to, add your regular order of cereal or variety of fruit to your cart, but it takes you a minute or more to realize it is the same old cereal or favourite variety of a fruit. That you didn’t recognize it because someone changed its picture.

Where will it work? Apparel, electronics, stationery listings, etc.

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