Design Guidelines for Notifications on Smart TVs

Notifications are among the core mechanisms of most smart devices. Smartphones, smartwatches, tablets and smart glasses all provide similar means to notify the user. For smart TVs, however, no standard notification mechanism has been established. Smart TVs are unlike other smart devices because they are used by multiple people - often at the same time. It is unclear how notifications on smart TVs should be designed and which information users need. From a set of focus groups, we derive a design space for notifications on smart TVs. By further studying selected design alternatives in an online survey and lab study we show, for example, that users demand different information when they are watching TV with others and that privacy is a major concern. We derive according design guidelines for notifications on smart TVs that developers can use to gain the user's attention in a meaningful way.