Grady Newsource: UX Study
- 1. UX STUDY GRADY NEWSOURCE J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A KATE DEVLIN, LEAH MOSS, ANDREA SKELLIE & ASHLEY PANTER
- 2. I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E S T U D Y J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A THE CLIENT GRADY NEWSOURCE
- 3. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E S T U D Y Nsenga Burton Grady Faculty & Grady Newsource Digital Editor THE CLIENT
- 4. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E S T U D Y RESEARCH QUESTION WHERE ARE THE PROBLEM AREAS OF GRADY NEWSOURCE? WHAT IS THE EXTENT TO THESE PROBLEMS?
- 5. I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E S T U D Y J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A PHASE 1 OBSERVATION PHASE 2 INTERVIEWS PHASE 3 USABILITY TEST DATA COLLECTION
- 6. OBSERVATION PHASE 1 J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N
- 7. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: O B S E R V A T I O N M E T H O D S OBSERVATION METHODS
- 8. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: O B S E R V A T I O N F I N D I N G S FINDINGS BOUNCE RATE
- 9. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: O B S E R V A T I O N F I N D I N G S FINDINGS HEATMAP
- 10. D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: O B S E R V A T I O N J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A INSIGHT BOTH BOUNCE RATE & HEATMAP DATA INDICATE THAT USERS CAN’T FIND THE INFORMATION THEY NEED.
- 11. INTERVIEWS PHASE 2 J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N
- 12. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S M E T H O D S USAGE While you were a part of the Grady Newsource staff, how did you primarily use the website? FEATURES & NAVIGATION Which features do you use most on the website? PROBLEMS What is your greatest challenge when using the website? INTERVIEWS METHODS
- 13. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S F I N D I N G S LaPorsche Thomas Grady Newsource Student Janice Hume Grady Faculty Chris Shumway Grady Faculty Miles Moraitis Grady Newsource Student Ivanka Pjesivac Grady Faculty
- 14. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S F I N D I N G S Janice Hume Grady Faculty BALANCING DUAL PURPOSES Site purpose is changing in the fall, and capstone courses will be featured in addition the daily turnaround. NEW USER FRIENDLY “I want someone who doesn’t know what we’re doing to be able to kind of tell immediately.” GRADUATE & TRAVEL ARTICLES Dr. Hume liked the health and travel journalism sections.
- 15. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S F I N D I N G S Miles Moraitis Grady Newsource Executive Producer UNFRIENDLY DESIGN “The design is unwelcoming.” Overall, Miles thought the site was unfriendly to both readers and to students in the class who worked on the site. HIGHLIGHT THE BROADCAST The livestream needs to be one of the first things you see. RETAINING AUDIENCE Newsource is run on a semester-by-semester basis, and there will always be breaks with no activity. Miles recommends making the website as up-to-date as possible.
- 16. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S F I N D I N G S LaPorsche Thomas Grady Newsource Student SHARING STORIES “There’s so much going on with the website that people won’t be able to find my stories. I don’t know how to, so I don’t know if anyone else can…” ABOUT US She didn’t think there was enough information provided about the organization itself. The “About Us” page was so hidden that she had never accessed it. NEWSOURCE LIVESTREAM She’s never navigated to the livestream from the website, usually just googles it.
- 17. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S F I N D I N G S Chris Shumway Grady Faculty ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES Photojournalism sections get lost because of poor placement. FACULTY COMMUNICATION He believes that the faculty involved have to be plugged into Newsource. There are so many classes that can showcase their work here. NEEDS BETTER TAGGING There are articles in the headlines section that are weeks old.
- 18. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S F I N D I N G S Ivanka Pjesivac Grady Faculty SITE PURPOSE “In terms of a news organization, you have to think what you want to be.” POOR DESIGN The site is outdated. TWITTER A specific recommendation Dr. Pjesivac brought up was removing the Twitter bar and adding other social media accounts. “Why tweets?”
- 19. D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: I N T E R V I E W S J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A INSIGHT GRADY NEWSOURCE IS IN THE MIDST OF AN ONLINE IDENTITY CRISIS.
- 20. USABILITY TEST PHASE 3 J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N
- 21. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: U S A B I L I T Y T E S T M E T H O D S USABILITY TESTS METHODS SCENARIOS: TYPICAL NEWS CONSUMER Tasks 1-3 focused on how current students might use the website to consume news. INTERESTED STUDENT Tasks 4-6 focused on how current students find specific information on the website. POTENTIAL EMPLOYER Tasks 7-9 targeted parts of the website that employers might be interested in.
- 22. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: U S A B I L I T Y T E S T F I N D I N G S FINDINGS TASK SUCCESS
- 23. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: U S A B I L I T Y T E S T F I N D I N G S FINDINGS TASK TIME
- 24. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: U S A B I L I T Y T E S T F I N D I N G S USABILITY TEST FINDINGS ● ● ● ● ● ● — ●
- 25. D A T A C O L L E C T I O N: U S A B I L I T Y T E S T J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A INSIGHT EVEN SIMPLE TASKS BECOME COMPLICATED WITH A SITE STRUCTURE THAT IS COUNTER-INTUITIVE.
- 26. RECOMMENDATIONS PHASE 3 J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S
- 27. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S DEFINE TARGET AUDIENCE IDENTIFY PURPOSE Stakeholders need to agree on a primary purpose, whether that is to provide news to the local community or showcase student work. The new design must clearly and immediately reflect this purpose. BALANCING ACT Grady Newsource keeps its current purposes, the redesign should better balance weekly news, capstone work, and special projects, to serve as a dual portfolio and news site.
- 28. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S RETHINK SITE STRUCTURE NAVIGATION The sections are the top are unclear, inefficient and not clicked. We suggest recategorizing these tabs, especially the “About” one. SIDE BAR Remove from homepage. FOOTER Create a footer that contains social media icons and contact information; many users expected to find this in a footer.
- 29. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S REFRESH OVERALL AESTHETIC MODERN HEADER Replace the current contained slider with an embedded full width video slider similar to Grady’s new website. UTILIZE WHITE SPACE The site is too cluttered and information is presented without hierarchy. CREATE VISUAL FLOW Place important content on the left side of the page. Content should be arranged in a standard layout such as a Z-Pattern or F-Pattern.
- 30. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S CREATE CONNECTION STAFF PROFILE Create a prominent page for staff profiles that contains bios & contact information. Users expected to find this information on a page, not a PDF. SOCIAL MEDIA Although the organization has social media, the only account linked to the site is Twitter. We recommend updating the site to include all relevant and up-to-date social media accounts.
- 31. J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A L I M I T A T I O N S LIMITATIONS Interviews: Usability testing:
- 32. C O N C L U S I O N J R M C 8 0 1 6 | U N I V E R S I T Y O F G E O R G I A LOOKING AHEAD GRADY NEWSOURCE