Mark'r, embedding real-time annotation into online film streaming
Allowing fans to comment on, save, and compile their favorite film scenes to reflect on and share with others.
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
1 month
Team
Just me!
Tools
Figma, Cursor, Claude Code
PROBLEM
I wanted to save the moment, not the whole show.
Streaming platforms have become incredibly good at helping us save what we want to watch. But what about the moments we want to remember?
As a film fanatic, I found myself wanting to save more than an entire show. It might be a line of dialogue that stuck with me, a beautifully shot scene, or a moment that made me laugh. Yet, my only options were to take a screenshot, jot down a timestamp elsewhere, or hope I could find the scene again later.
With so many streaming platforms, even remembering where a moment came from became a challenge. Which platform was it on? Which series, which episode, and where in the timeline?
Platforms like Netflix and Hulu already solve the problem of keeping track of what we want to watch through features like My List. But saving an entire title isn't the same as preserving a moment within it. That gap between saving content and saving the moments that matter became the starting point for Mark'r.
IDEA
What if saving a scene were as easy as pausing a video?
Mark'r is a browser extension that lets viewers bookmark specific timestamps while streaming, add personal annotations, and revisit saved moments from one central library. I wanted to make capturing a moment feel as natural as pausing a video. Rather than introducing another complicated tool into the viewing experience, I focused on three lightweight actions:
Save — capture the platform, title, and exact timestamp without interrupting the viewing experience.
Annotate — add just enough context so "that scene" still makes sense weeks later.
Return — browse every saved moment and jump directly back to where it happened.
The challenge wasn't simply making these actions possible. It was making them feel effortless enough that viewers could use them without losing their place in the story.
SOLUTION
A bookmarking tool that lives outside a streaming platform, so users can save their favorite moments across platforms
As I defined the product further, another insight changed how I approached the solution: this feature didn't really belong to any single streaming service.
Every platform encourages viewers to build its library of shows. But viewers' interests and memories don't follow those boundaries. A favorite scene from Netflix might mean just as much as a funny moment from Hulu or a line from a film on another service. Designing solely within one platform would limit the very experience I wanted to create.
I reframed the question. Instead of asking, "How should Netflix let users bookmark scenes?" I asked, "What would the ideal experience look like if streaming platforms didn't matter?" That shift led me to design Mark'r as a cross-platform browser extension, with a centralized dashboard where viewers could revisit and organize moments from different services.
It also shaped the relationship between the extension and the dashboard. The extension was designed for capturing moments in the moment, while the dashboard supported the longer-term experience of browsing, organizing, and rediscovering them.
Rather than treating bookmarking as an isolated feature, I wanted to create a continuous experience from discovery to reflection to rediscovery.
INTERACTION FLOW
The best bookmarking experience might be the one you barely notice.
I began thinking beyond the bookmark itself and considered everything a viewer would need to do around it. How could someone capture a thought, organize a scene, and return to watching without breaking their flow?
Rather than sending users through separate screens and menus, I designed a single, streamlined interaction. With one click, the video pauses and an annotation tab opens, giving viewers space to write a note and sort the scene into a collection. Once they're finished, playback resumes automatically. Each decision served the same goal: minimize the effort between noticing a moment and saving it.
Automatic pausing gives viewers time to capture their thoughts without missing what happens next.
Inline annotation removes the need to switch to another app or record timestamps manually.
Collection sorting lets viewers organize moments as they save them, making their library easier to revisit later.
Automatic playback resumption removes the extra step of returning to the video and pressing play.
These details may seem small individually, but together they shape how the experience feels. A feature that requires too many clicks or interrupts the moment it's meant to preserve can quickly become more effort than it's worth.
FINAL DESIGN
An in-stream bookmarking tool for your favorite film moments.
A personal library for the scenes, quotes, and little moments you never want to lose across streaming platforms.
REFLECTION
I learned that seamless design isn't just about simplifying the main action. It's about anticipating the steps around it and making those feel just as effortless.
This project changed how I think about interaction design. Initially, the problem seemed straightforward: users needed a way to bookmark specific scenes. But solving the feature itself was only part of the challenge. I learned to look more closely at the user's mental process: what catches their attention, what they want to remember, what might interrupt them, and what they need when they return later.
The most meaningful design decisions weren't necessarily the most visible ones. They were the small interactions that reduced friction: preserving playback position, keeping annotation within reach, and removing unnecessary steps between saving and returning.
