You’ve probably noticed connected TVs making their way into people’s homes and media conversations.  Yu Centrik has the privilege of beingable to boast its role as a pioneer in Quebec and Canada in the field of television interfaces.  Over the past five years we have beenexperimenting and innovating the television platform on diversedimensions; not only the designs themselves, but also design methods and validation techniques.

Our most recent project in this area, Illico New Generation, is the result of more than two years of iterative design and user validation.This is undoubtedly the longest consistent mandate at Yu Centrik since its founding! In addition, over 1000 conceptual wireframes were created in the process of designing 19 different applications; at times our team had as many as seven interaction designers working simultaneously.

For Illico New Generation, we helped develop an HD interface for Videotron which surpasses many leading products in the industry with respect to user experience. One of the main challenges lay in the prioritization of many features. We worked hard to create a layered power navigation system which provides more adventurous users with advanced options without cluttering the experience for those with basic needs.

This project also allowed us to develop an innovative comparative evaluation technique which we presented at a workshop at EuroITV 2010 in Finland. In addition, lessons learned during the extensive iterative usability tests for this project have directly influenced the construction of our new test laboratory. We have recreated an environment of comfortable living, equipped with discrete and fully controllable PTZ cameras. With this equipment, we can use a natural environment to test not only iTV interfaces, but also mobile apps and websites… or even both simultaneously!

With over 9500 hours of experience in strategy, design, validation and user testing on Videotron’s Illico New Generation alone, Yu Centrik holds a clear edge in interface design for television and connected TV. We believe there is an active discussion around the TV right now. The democratization of HD, TV’s connection to the Internet – 38 % of American household now have connected TVs – , and the emergence of new interaction modes (gestural control, voice interfaces, or even integration with tablets/smartphones), all depict a future where television increases its already enormous power of attraction.

illico New Generation in the News :

Les Affaires :  Télé numérique : Vidéotron reprend le dessus

La Presse : Illico télé: de 1992 à 2012 d’un coup

Branchez-vous : Lancement de la nouvelle génération d’illico