Overview

News app readers are more engaged than news website readers, viewing more content/pages than website readers (see NiemanLab article Newsonomics: Why native apps still matter in the Age of Distribution

News junkies use their phones to check news sites multiple times a day – taking a break at work, waiting in line, commuting on public transportation, etc. These news checking sessions can often be quick bursts with or without fast WiFi/ data plans. Fast performance is critical to them or they will move on to another content source on their phone. Local news must be easy to scan and load quickly, not forcing too much scrolling or hunting for content.

The Goal

An app that will have more personalization and faster performance compared to our website. It will include multiple ways to filter and sort to get to the desired content quickly. It will be updated constantly with the latest breaking news throughout the day. 

Brainstorming, Sketching, and Wireframing

Along with a UX Researcher, we were tasked to design a local breaking news app experience that readers check throughout the day and to present the idea to all levels of leadership.

We looked into previous research and analyzed available data. We saw that personalization, customization, and social sharing capabilities were some of the important features for these readers. We want to give our users an experience that fits their preferences and lifestyle. Here were some ideas we came up with:

• Finding out which time of day they check the news so we can send them a notification or daily digest beforehand

• Ask how long they usually stop to read the news so we can give either the long or condensed version of the article

• Figure out their preferred layout on mobile — whether they just want to see the list of headlines or more appealing imagery

• Choice of which topics they are more interested in

As they are reading the article, we also want to give them an option to read a condensed or full version of the article.

Lastly, we saw that these free site news readers are still looking for the editorial hand of the local paper of record, not just an aggregated, automated feed. We should be telling them what is important news. So we give them “Top Local News” tab where the list is hand-picked by our editors.

What happened?

Although we received lots of reader validation during the project, the leadership team decided to hold off on pursuing this idea until we had a more solid foundation for the product.

There were other ideas that we presented as well like this “News on the Map” concept where we show a map interface with news stories tied to locations.