Designing to Guide - Web Design: March 2016

Thursday, 31 March 2016

Why the open brief?
Why would someone come to my news website over another one???

Thoughts:

I want my website to be the opposite of hectic tone the users are used to from news websites
I want it to be uncluttered
My website will be light and welcoming - people will actually want to visit it and read articles
Article pages will be minimalistic so that user isn't overwhelmed with information while they're trying to read
I didn't want to redesign the Dominion Post as it already has a following/target audience - a certain 'middle aged plus' tone/vibe
I want to create something that young people make visiting a part of their daily habits
I want to get more youths involved in reading news from reputable sources - rather than Facebook etc

Notes:

Some slight hesitation over whether the 'Digital Living' section is under 'Technology' or 'Lifestyle', but the user did choose the right section the first time.
Asking the user to find the 'first article' is a bit ambiguous - do you mean the first article posted or the first article on the screen.

Comments on the prototype:

Is it too much user interaction to have to scroll down to fine the initial navigation?
Could you have a different home screen for general users/explorers and users who have signed in?
Is the header too big?

Notes:

Think about a dashboard type arrangement on the 'My Account' home page - e.g. headings and latest articles for places/interests that are clickable and lead to more in depth pages
NPR and Radio New Zealand - Look at these in regard to how they manage audio clips
Could the comment section be somewhere not at the bottom of the page? Could comments be a way that people are drawn to articles - e.g. An auto updating latest comments section on the home page?
Consider where the 'share' buttons are on the page
Is it bad that the user has to scroll all the way back up to the top of the page to get to the navigation?
Barry needs to print articles to read them!
Think about how the 'share' elements can be made more original - e.g. personalised message
The email Barry receives would be more likely to come from the 'share' element - not from someone opening their emails, composing a new message, and copy and pasting the link
Consider if you (the user) would be notified through email/sms etc if there was a new article relating to their 'Places' or 'Interests'
Is the 'Listen to' symbol obvious enough? Is it a screen reader or a recording? Do you listen to it on the page or download it? Could you download multiple at once - e.g. all the latest articles in the 'Health & Wellbeing' section?