What Reuters Taught Me About UX
One of the biggest issues I run into as a designer is putting error and empty states off until last. When you really consider your product in the context of your users, there are an almost infinite amount of ways to fail and usually just one way to succeed. The path to success is riddled with assumptions.
Some of these assumptions might be justified and you might even be right in saying, “If these optimal conditions aren’t met, I’m not sure what I am expected to do.”
I want to quickly recount my experience with the Reuters Apple TV app.
The first time I opened the Reuters app, I was struck by the elegant simplicity. The soft music that played as it waited for me to make a selection often became the ambient backdrop for my other activities, simply because it was that pleasing. “Your news is ready. How much time do you have?”, the app asks with the option to select 10, 15, or 30 minutes of news. After selecting an option, Reuters announces the time in a natural voice (seriously, did they record every possible time in that voice!?) that puts Siri to absolute shame.
“It’s 11:44. Here are your top stories.” There is a quick preview of each of my news pieces that are labeled “Opening Sequence” should you ever take the time to pause and notice.
The entire experience is accented by amazing high resolution stills and short video clips followed by fluid transitions through each news story. Pausing again, I notice that Now Top News next to a video clip of President Obama and Vice President Biden isn’t the only text; upon pausing, I see the now familiar caption in the top left hand corner read “Obama sells his Supreme Court nominee”. This might seem like a minor detail, however, this allows me to quickly understand the context of the video from a paused state without any anxiety. If I run to the bathroom, I don’t need to wait for my brain to catchup. Reuters has already considered the interruption and adjusted accordingly.
This app is as close to a standard news broadcast with a hint of the future that I have ever seen. Bloomberg’s app doesn’t come close. Don’t get me started on the trash that is CNBC’s Apple TV app.
The chrome slides away and I’m left with full screen video. No distractions.
Reuters has truly made an app that works by simply getting out of the way while you consume content and giving you just enough information when there is some interruption to your experience such as a transition between stories or your own intervention with the content.
This leads me to the magic moment. For whatever reason, AT&T Uverse decided I could get by with .0005kbps or whatever nonsense speed triggered what happened next, but I’m glad it did.
The video suddenly stuttered to a halt. It paused and instead of the spinning wheel I’ve grown accustomed to with most apps that lose network signal, I heard the video start back up. I was initially frustrated, as the video was not playing and I anticipated having to restart the app to resync in the event that the video came back in out of sync with the audio, but I noticed a message on the screen: “Low Connection Quality. Switching to audio only mode until the connection improves.”
This probably isn’t the exact wording, as the connection corrected itself within about 20 seconds and I didn’t get the chance to snap a picture. The result, however, is the same. Reuters had recognized an issue with the connection and gracefully deprecated to an alternative that allowed me to continue with my news experience.
I can only imagine that had the quality decreased further, it would have presented me with the article form of the video. I’m kidding, although that would be pretty cool.
So what’s the point of all this? It’s pretty amazing how quickly your experience can change with any product. If you consider the dead ends your user might run into and connect those paths to the desired outcome, you can delight your users in even the most unexpected places.
