Techniques are described herein for a multimode graphical user interface (GUI), where a first mode of the GUI uses an unguided navigation model and a second mode uses a guided navigation model in which the GUI is distilled down to only its most critical elements. This may be achieved by sequentially displaying a single user interface element and removing all other user-interface elements of the GUI. The second mode of the GUI may lead a user through multiple options one at a time, thus creating a guided navigation model. The second mode may be initiated upon detecting a certain event (e.g., a period of inactivity, an explicit command from the user, etc.). The multimode GUI may be used to guide a user through one or more recommended items of media content from one or more different content-providing sources.