myNOW

Personalized News Media Show

Tools

Brief

myNow Tools.png

Solo mobile app UX project where research methods are established and practiced. Basic Prototyping methods are practiced. 

Objective

Create a news-based smartphone app that has specific consideration for the living room experience.

Challenge

Defining scope and direction of the app. Understanding how people today intake news stories and information. Discovering what specific features would benefit the user. Establish the first time user flow and the common user flow. 

Methodology

  • Sketchbook
  • iPhone (for voice recording and prototyping)
  • Marvel Prototyping
  • Sketch App
  • Keynote

Sketching, Concept Mapping, Face-to-Face Interviews, Ideation, User Flows, Paper Prototyping, Interactive Prototyping, User Testing 

Process

Getting Started

In order to define a path for the app. There are vital questions I must keep in mind while working on this app.

"Will this work in the living room? and how does it function away from home?"

"How are people getting the news these days?"

"What problem can I solve?"

Research

Being my first real immersion into the UX process. I had to focus on defining the direction of my app. Instead of just tackling the issue with just making a news app play videos on your TV. I wanted to understand how people were intaking the news and see what problems there are that keep people from watching/listening to the news.

Concept Mapping

I started with my notebook by concept mapping the theme of News. This helped me understand all the auxiliary elements related to News. Like time of day, News topics, methods of intake (such as reading, watching, listening etc.), where is the user when they are experiencing the news. 

User Interviews

By helping me visualize all the related information, concept mapping helped me create my interview questions. I chose to do face-to-face interviews to allow myself room to have a conversation about their experience and get any information that I haven’t thought to seek out from my questions. The goal of the interview was to comprehend how users are getting the news or what their current issues are that keep them from watching or reading the news.

Take Aways (Analysis)

Notable Interview Questions

  • Many users don’t watch the news on TV as much anymore with the ability to get news from social media. 
  • Users mostly “watch” the news in the morning. While they are getting ready for the day. Such as getting dressed or making breakfast. 
  • TV watching demands the heavy attention for the experience. And many users aren’t willing to afford that much focus.
  • Users who experience the News on the TV tend to leave it on in the background. Light/Medium Attention Affordance. 
  • Users who read the news via Social media prefer the choice of topics and interests to experience and are turned off from from the TV experience of fixed set of topics.
  • Users who watch/listen to the news in the morning usually care most for traffic and weather. They want to adapt their day when they are getting started and want to be prepared for the commute.
  • Time is a huge factor on a user’s consideration of getting the news. People will check the news in short burst to kill time but will avoid news programs to avoid committing a fixed set of time. 
  • How are you intaking the news? online? offline?
  • What device or format are you using for the news? TV, Social Media, Blogs, Radio etc.
  • Are you doing anything else(multitasking) while getting the news? 
  • What time of day mostly?
  • What topics do you care for the most? 
  • Where are you when getting the news?
  • How do you get the weather and traffic?

Ideation

Inspiration

  • Youtube TV Queue (Chromecast)
  • Pandora
  • Newsy
  • Local News
  • Flipboard
  • Apple News

Considerations for the App

  • Users should experience the topics they care for the most
  • Allow users to watch the TV (for the living room or bedroom)
  • Allow users to listen to the news 
  • Give weather and traffic report every time.
  • Allow users to specify commute to get a custom report
 

Prototyping

On Paper

Final Prototype

Direction

Create a dynamic News Show relevant to the users day and interests

  • App creates a personalized video playlist according to users interests (Prioritizing users interests)
  • Playlist compromised of 3-8 min video news stories to allow variety. More topics in a set time. 
  • Chromecast/Airplay video to let users enjoy an full at-home experience and save phone battery life.
  • Audio only mode to let users enjoy the news stories passively while working on other activities. Save battery life.
  • Morning use of app prioritizes weather and traffic first. This lets them get the most vital for their day up front.
  • Video actions for each Story: Follow Story, Favorite, Share, Not Interested
  • “Follow Story” will let the app know of a specific story to be kept up to date on. Follow up stories are guaranteed to be in Playlists the next time the app is launched.
  • Favorite allows users to save a story for later
  • Share lets users post Story to social media (such as Facebook, Twitter etc.), get copy link, and pass to other services Pocket, email, text message
  • Not Interested for stories that not fit the users interests
  • Follow Story and Not Interested functions teaches the app to refine user interests and create better playlist