REPORTER REDESIGN

CLIENT??School Project

ROLE? Concept, Research, Visual Design

DURATION??February – March 2017

The Reporter is a monthly print based Magazine based in Rochester Institute of Technology. The content is managed mainly by students and Targets a tech-savvy yet artistic community in RIT.

PROBLEM SUMMARY

The current Reporter site is uninspiring and lacks a connection to the printed issue.The website lacks the visual hierarchy to separate the content of the website. The website lacks the look and feel of a magazine and needs a much-needed facelift to engage users.

RESEARCH RESULTS

I wanted to come up with a better solution through some preliminary user research before starting the design solution. I conducted interviews with students and noticed a pattern in their opinions and observations.

“The homepage is so cluttered with content that I don’t know where to start. It is pretty intimidating.?

60% of users said they spent anything between 1-10 minutes per visit. Users like to log in for short amounts of time for specific tasks and want a ‘grab n go’ like experience where they can access content fast and efficiently.

?I wish there was a way to see the number of people who have read, liked and shared an article. It would help see what’s trending?

Results show that users tend to primarily use 3 out of 8 main features available. This data proves some features in the app to be ineffective and unnecessary and a much more focused and streamlined approach is needed.

?Magazines are not just content heavy, they are visually stunning to look at, I want better images and presentation of information.”

People want to engage with more visual content and be more attracted by imagery and visuals.

PROJECT GOALS

Based on the preliminary research results I was able to establish 4 primary goals from this project. The goals focused primarily on visual design due to project requirements and I took this opportunity to dive deeper into the visual design process and improve my workflow and my technical vocabulary.

Create an efficient and easy to scan website

The solution would allow users to scan information easily and efficiently allowing them to better navigate the page better and access content faster.

A visually engaging design solution

Much like a magazine the content would be visually stimulating and engaging.

Effective print media integration

A design solution that will manage the complexity of the content and accommodate integration with external/printed media issues.

A new brand identity

Give the Reporter a new personality to create a better user-product association.

PROJECT GOALS

Based on the preliminary research results I was able to establish 4 primary goals from this project. The goals focused primarily on visual design due to project requirements and I took this opportunity to dive deeper into the visual design process and improve my workflow and my technical vocabulary.

WIREFRAMES

I wanted to enhance the use of imagery hence I went for bold shapes, large image boxes and sleek and minimal content architecture. I wanted to explore the idea of relating the popularity of content with the visual design to further enhance content hierarchy. I came up with the idea of content boxes that were scaled based on popularity, thus informing the user what’s popular visually instantly.

VISUAL DESIGN

I attempted to address the goals I had set for this project through my visual design solution. I focused on the overall visual design as well as some surface level UI details.

?Bold and Engaging Visuals

Research showed users felt the content was not visually engaging. I wanted to focus on creating a design solution that made use of engaging imagery and bold layouts to attract the users to the website.

A new visual personality

Create a welcoming and friendly visual design solution to help make students feel more comfortable using the app.

?Content hierarchy through scale

Users felt lost in the main content page as it lacked any kind of content hierarchy. In my design solution, I employ a grid structure with variably scaled content areas to bring attention to some articles as well as break out of the monotony.

FINAL SCREENS

Thank you!

Next Project –