The Hindu — UX Case Study
Content focused experience with enhanced Discoverability of key features.
Why I took this project❔ 😉
Despite being :
➡ 2nd most circulated English Newspaper
➡ Ranked 2nd Best English Newspaper in India
➡ 17% rise in newspaper readership in 2019
Their digital platform suffers badly in terms of UX 😔
As a result, users prefer other news reading apps over The Hindu 😟
So this was an opportunity for me to try to solve this problem 😅.
⚠️ What is wrong ?
Notification Feature is hard to access
To get to ‘Just In’ feature she has to :
1️⃣ Go to Dashboard
2️⃣ Go to ‘Updated Privacy Policy Section’
3️⃣ Tap onto 🔔 icon
— — — — — — — — — — —
Mood Index after 3 clicks :
😃 ➡ 😦 ➡ 😠
Gaming Section is hidden
To get to ‘Crossword+’ feature he has to :
1️⃣ Go to Dashboard
2️⃣ Tap on ‘Archives section’
3️⃣ Again Go to Dashboard (Archive Section)
4️⃣ Tap on ‘ Crossword+’
— — — — — — — — — — — Mood Index after 4 clicks :
😃 ➡ 😦 ➡ 😫 ➡😡
Finding ‘Trending News’ Section is not intuitive
To get to ‘Trending News’ section she has to :
1️⃣ Go to Dashboard
2️⃣ Go to ‘Updated Privacy Policy Section’
3️⃣ Tap onto ‘Trending on The Hindu’ Section
— — — — — — — — — — — Mood Index after 3 clicks
😃 ➡ 😦 ➡ 😮
Over enthusiastic about getting user to Subscribe
What’s OKAY 👍
1️⃣ You clicking onto Crown icon in Top Navigation bar to Subscribe.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
What’s NOT OKAY 👎
1️⃣ Tap on Briefing icon ➡ landing into Subscribe Page
2️⃣ Tap on My Stories icon ➡ landing into Subscribe Page
3️⃣ Tap on Suggested icon ➡ landing into Subscribe Page
4️⃣ Tap on Profile icon ➡ landing into Subscribe Page
👦 User Persona
📝 Usability Testing
🔎 Identifying Problems
removing clutter & compiling data into categories
Pain Points to focus on :
🔴 Pain Point : 1- Notification Feature is hard to locate
🔴 Pain Point : 2 - Gaming Section is hidden
🔴 Pain Point : 3 — Finding ‘Trending News’ Section is not intuitive
🔴 Pain Point : 4— Search engine is not optimized for fast content finding
Sketches 📝
2–3 quick sketches for each screen
Hi -fidelity prototypes 📱
Re-designs
Pain Point 1️⃣
Notification Feature is hard to access 😓
Issues are :
🔹 Poor Navigation
🔹 Poorly organized page
🔹 Time taking process
🔹 Cognitive overload
Some Results :
🔹 4/5 users used Horizontal Scroll bar for categories
🔹 5/5 users said that screen was less cluttered than before
🔹 4/5 users users said images helped them in scanning news
🔹 5/5 users said removing ✖️ from top Navigation helped them in Navigation
Pain Point 2️⃣
Gaming Section is hidden 🙈
Issues are :
🔹 Cognitive overload
🔹 Time taking process
🔹 Poor Navigation
🔹 Improper Visual Hierarchy
Some Results :
🔹 5/5 users said Navigation became easier
🔹 4/5 users said Crossword Section now improved their Subscription decision
🔹 4/5 users users said ‘ Play Now ‘ button was more clearly visible than before
Pain Point 3️⃣
Finding ‘Trending News’ Section is not intuitive 😑
Issues are :
🔹 Too much emphasis on getting user to Subscribe
🔹 Not enough attention to story
🔹 Improper Visual Hierarchy
🔹 Mentally exhausting navigation
Some Results :
🔹 4/5 users said comments & reactions helped them in choosing articles
🔹 4/5 users said re-design impacted their Subscription decision
🔹 5/5 users said Navigation became easier
Pain Point 4️⃣
Search engine is not optimized for fast content finding 👏
Some Results :
🔹 4/5 users said choosing from a list of options was easier
🔹 5/5 users said it took less time than before
Note : The Hindu is a great News Reading app with a grand mission to educate people about all the general knowledge as well as it gives them a platform to share their reviews. This is a dummy re-design project made for non-commercial purpose to showcase in my UX design portfolio.
