News Reader App
About the project
Xayn is a company with AI and privacy in its DNA. These were strong factors in the development of their previous app, and when we got the idea for a new app, it was no different. The initial concept in this case was to develop an app that allows users to discover and navigate through news and articles. I collaborated with 2 other designers on this project.
Discovery
In the first phase, we conducted generative user research to learn more about our users' problems, goals, and behaviors. We started with a large-scale survey to gain initial insights and determine next steps for the research. We then conducted 10 user interviews, where I was responsible for drafting a research plan and script and conducting half of the interviews. I also ran a competitor analysis, which helped determine where our opportunities lay.
After this initial generative research, I facilitated a workshop with all key stakeholders to formulate a vision, goal and initial scope for the app.
Finally, we created personas based on the insights we gained and aligned within the design team.
Defining our concept
We then began developing low-fidelity prototypes and experimented with different approaches to the app, which we tested in unmoderated usability tests.
With the insights from the tests and alongside our design principles, we decided on an approach where we presented a single article at a time with an infinite scroll. We kept the navigation and actions at the bottom of the screen and combined them with various tappable and draggable actions. This allowed for both discoverability and shortcuts for power users.
Testing the solution
To validate our iteration, I ran another set of usability tests. This time, I created high-fidelity prototypes and made the interactive flow as realistic as possible to immerse our users in the experience and understand if my changes improved the overall interaction.
Final design solution
To conclude our design phase I added the missing and intermediate states and added the new components into our design system. After launching our MVP I continued iterating on it and adding new functionalities such as collections, and reader customizations (for background color and font sizes), as well as added onboarding cards to improve our user retention.
