Project information
- Category: News and Media
- Client: The Printers Mysore
- Role: Project SPOC, UX & UI Designer
Project Brief
Design of the very first apps for a 50 yr old news media house so as to reach a bigger audience and shift brand perception through well-researched disruptive features.
About
Been around for over half a century, this newspaper has been perceived as a legacy and traditional media house. Now the brand is adapting to new methods so it wanted to change its perception to a new-age progressive media house through its new products i.e. new mobile apps.
Understanding the user
Research objective
To identify usage patterns while using any news app
Discovery
Notifications, in-App search, Live feed
Consumption
content format, offline access, story followup
Reaction
Ads, in-App commenting, social sharing
Research methods
We went ahead with 3 research methods, in order to comprehensively cover the areas of enquiry.
Focus group discussion
15-20 min session
In-depth interview
10-15 min session
Shadowing
5-7 min session
Research participants
Power user
A passionate reader who looks at specific apps for consuming news
Casual user
A enthusiastic reader who uses aggregator apps for news consumption, also does not read news regularly
Loyal user
A passionate and loyal reader to the DH brand who is seeking news on dedicated platforms
Demography
Mumbai
5 Male | 1 FemaleHyderabad
6 Male | 1 FemaleBangalore
1 Male | 4 FemaleTotal 18 Participants 12 Male | 6 Female
2 Loyal 8 Power 5 Casual 3 undetermined
Research analysis
Top insights
- 2 in 3 participants who wanted news, consider the notification they receive as the news headline to decide if they want to consume it.
- There is a strong expectation and perception of news apps being primarily for “reading news”
- 2 out of 3 participants cited the problem of access to news in no-or-low network areas, which is not being addressed.
- 20% participants are willing to pay a nominal fee for ad-free experience
- 60% of the participants do not comment in-app or on social media on any news article.
Paradoxically, more than 33% of participants still view or want to know about other's opinion for news of interest.
Competitors Audit
A comprehensive feature mapping of the available news apps
Solution
Features
From the analysis result we put together ideas for the App.
Customize categories
Weekly videos
Podcasts & newsletters
News shorts
High decible news
Notification controls
Trending topics & tags
Digital newspaper
Offline reading
Personalization
UX exploration
Around 18 concepts were developed and then are assessed based on criteria like discoverability, aesthetics etc. to select 5 concepts.
Empowered
Minimalist
Augmented
Balanced
Modular
UI exploration
We maintained the brand colors, keping the overall looks very relaxed and clean. The design direction was to keep screen clutter-free as a counter strategy to visually standout.
Visuals
Outcome
Some new features that were really appreciated
What's brewing in News
Introduction of a disruptive feature that satiate the feeling of urgency amongst the Power Users by providing a glimpse of upcoming coverage
Lite mode
Lite mode that will consume lesser internet data and will even work under low connectivity.
Takeaway
- Learnt about user research - research design, participants, questionnaires, interview script, scheduling, shadowing tasks, conducting interviews, research analysis
- Got exposure of client handling, project management, project scoping and scheduling.
- In order to understand a power user, I had personally indulged myself into reading newspaper daily, keeping up with current affairs and eventually ended up preparing for UPSC, for real.