UX/UI - CARTOON NETWORK ANYTHING

In 2014, executives at Cartoon Network asked "What does the television channel of the future look like?" More specifically, "What does a television channel look like to a child who has never had cable and has been watching video content on a mobile device their entire lives?" Then they paid us to find out. What we came up with is Cartoon Network Anything, a social-media-feed-inspired collection of bite-sized, linearly programmed content we like to call a "micro network." Free to download, and free of traditional television commercials, Anything is Cartoon Network's " effort to hang on to its core audience of kids as they increasingly shift toward mobile and watch less traditional TV" (Variety).

CREATING ACTIVITIES AND CONTENT

To keep the app feeling fresh and alive, a huge amount of content was going to have to be created for it and cycled relatively seamlessly. Content would have to be split into several distinct templates we called "activities," to be implemented quickly and efficiently. I pitched and prototyped several activity templates, most of which made it into the final app.

CONTENT

After being involved in the conception and launch, I moved into a content production role. A bit literally and a bit figuratively, I created dozens if not hundreds of pieces of content as well as helped create and manage a pipeline through which content could be created efficiently.

Art Direction and Game Design

With several studios making games for CNA, the art and game-play standards absolutely had to be maintained. I personally review art, UI and game design for all CNA games. To aid in this task, I created an extensive in-game UI style-guide to ensure that our games look unified and polished. Game engine concepting and review was also a large part of maintaining the standard of quality of the app. Engines had to be flexible enough to be used several times without seeming recycled or stale. 

Sponsorship activities

Kids hate ads. I mean, everyone hates ads, but kids will literally drop the device they are holding and walk away if they are served too many commercials. The ads on Anything are carefully worked  into the format of the app's activities and held to the same level of quality. They are just as rewarding to interact with as native content and feature varied high profile properties from Star Wars to Lego to Marvel and because of this, they never interrupt the flow and entertainment of the app. Our team works hard to create and maintain the idea that ads are only good if they treat the audience with respect, and nothing is more disrespectful in the mobile world than a lazy and obnoxious advertisement. I, as well as the rest of the app team, are very proud to be watchers on that wall.