top of page
Introduction
Shades
A new feature to Shades that encourages users to engage more socially with other users, another feature that personalizes the home feed by showing local news, and a redesign of content and organization for the home feed/for you page.
Duration: January 2025 - February 2025
Timeline: 4 Weeks
Company: Shades
Tools: Figma
My Role: Product Designer
Skills: User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, UI Design, Usability Testing, Design Journaling
Background
Shades is an app that presents a new way of engaging with the news by offering multiple points of view about a topic through various credible sources. The goal of the app is to "know more, scroll less". News stories are presented in quick, bite-sized summaries to keep users informed without being too overwhelming. Topics range from politics, sports, TikTok trends, and pop culture that are tailored for users through a personalized feed to match their interests. Users are also encouraged to engage with others on the app through interactive polls, sharing reactions, and leaving takes about a story. Due to the app being in its beginning stages of development, the stakeholder is looking to add more features on the app and create a better overall user experience. The main goal of my cohort was to focus on UX design, while another cohort was responsible for UX research.
Objective
Design a feature that encourages social engagement with other users and redesign the content and organization of the home feed/for you page, while still adhering to the brand's design guidelines.
Scope
Create an MVP within a time constraint of 4 weeks. Reflect each week in design journal to track personal progress. Include a case study presentation and high-fidelity prototype to hand off to developers.
Devices
Mobile
Ideate
Ideate
Why
-
Brainstorm ideas and develop solutions to increase user retention, increase time spent in the app, encourage social engagement with other users, and improve the overall user experience
How
-
Task flows
Solution
-
Based on my own observations while using the app:
-
The app was lacking a feature that:
-
connects users in real time
-
makes users feel like they are contributing to something more
-
encourages social interaction with others
-
-
The overall content and organization of the app:
-
lacked curation based on location
-
required multiple steps before a user could fully interact with a news topic
-
appeared chaotic with 2 vertical columns of content while scrolling the home feed/for you page
-
-
-
The "Local News" feature will be displayed on the home feed and will provide the user with a more personalized news feed based on their location.
-
The "Share Your POV" feature will be displayed on the tab bar and will allow the user to share their point of view about a news topic though a photo or video post.
-
A POV is displayed on their user profile and is available for 24 hours.
-
Once a user shares their POV, it will prompt them to create a caption that includes a brief summary of what's happening, the hashtag related to the news topic they're posting about, and their location.
-
When a user clicks on a hashtag about a news topic, they will be shown other users' POV's in a scrollable feed.
-
The idea is that this feature will help users connect with each other in real time, further contribute to the news topic by sharing their POV, and encourage healthy conversations with one another.
-
-
The home feed will be redesigned to 1 vertical column of content while scrolling, while the for you page will have a mix of 1 vertical column and 2 vertical columns of content.
-
This difference in layout is to help users differentiate between what page of the feed they are viewing.
-
Task Flows
-
Followed a user's journey through 7 specific tasks.
-
Task #1: Change location from Chicago to New York City.
-
Task #2: Access article from "For You" page called "The Swift Reporter".
-
Task #3: Send an article called "The Swift Reporter" to your friend Jane Smith via text message.
-
Task #4: Like/dislike article called "World's Oldest Dog".
-
Task #5: Participate in an interactive poll by voting for your opinion about the article called "Trump's Tariffs Take Off".
-
Task #6: Share your take about an article called "World's Oldest Dog" with the comment: "This is awesome!" as user @mj23 or anonymously.
-
Task #7: Share your POV by capturing a photo or video and view #TrumpsTariffsTakeOff feed.
Design
Design
Why
-
Establish structure and determine flow of design for the "Share Your POV" feature and "Local News" feature and redesign the content and organization of the home feed/for you page to improve the overall user experience, while adhering to the brand's design guidelines
How
-
Low-fi Wireframes
-
High-fi Wireframes
Low-fi Wireframes
-
After developing my task flows, I sketched out key screens for each flow using my iPad.
Prototype
Prototype
Why
-
Create a model that simulates how a user will experience the product
How
-
High-fi Wireframes
High-fi Wireframes
-
I adhered to the brand's design guidelines when developing my low-fi wireframes into high-fi.
-
I created a mobile prototype using my high-fi wireframes that will be used for usability testing.
Mobile:
iPhone Mockup - 1A
iPhone Mockup - 2A
iPhone Mockup - 8A
iPhone Mockup - 1A
1/8
iPhone Mockup - 1
iPhone Mockup - 2
iPhone Mockup - 14
iPhone Mockup - 1
1/14
Local News Feature
Share Your POV Feature
Home Feed Redesign
iPhone Mockup - 1B
iPhone Mockup - 2B
iPhone Mockup - 12B
iPhone Mockup - 1B
1/12
Test
Test
Why
-
Validate product by testing the high-fi prototype on potential users and refine based on any feedback that was received
How
-
Usability Testing
-
Priority Revisions
-
Final Prototype
Usability Testing
-
I tested my high-fi prototype on 4 users within the age group of 25 - 40 years old.
-
I performed moderated usability testing users in-person or over FaceTime for all 7 task flows.
-
Success metrics were determined by:
-
User successfully completed each task.
-
User was satisfied with interface of product and found it easy to use.
-
User had minimal to no errors while completing each task.
-
User was able to complete each task within 2 minutes.
-
-
Task flows:
-
Task #1: Change location from Chicago to New York City.
-
Task #2: Access article from "For You" page called "The Swift Reporter".
-
Task #3: Send an article called "The Swift Reporter" to your friend Jane Smith via text message.
-
Task #4: Like/dislike article called "World's Oldest Dog".
-
Task #5: Participate in an interactive poll by voting for your opinion about the article called "Trump's Tariffs Take Off".
-
Task #6: Share your take about an article called "World's Oldest Dog" with the comment: "This is awesome!" as user @mj23 or anonymously.
-
Task #7: Share your POV by capturing a photo or video and view #TrumpsTariffsTakeOff feed.
-
Task #1: Change location from Chicago to New York City.
Takeaways:
-
All users were able to compete each task successfully.
-
All users found that the interface was simple and easy to use.
-
All users completed tasks with minimal errors.
-
All users completed tasks quickly under 2 minutes.
-
All users were very satisfied with their overall use of the product to complete task.
-
Errors:
-
2/4 users were trying to search New York City before clicking "change" button to change their location.
-
Takeaways:
-
All users were able to compete each task successfully.
-
All users found that the interface was simple and easy to use.
-
All users completed tasks with minimal errors.
-
All users completed tasks quickly under 2 minutes.
-
All users were very satisfied with their overall use of the product to complete task.
Priority Revisions
-
After collecting feedback from users, I prioritized what was important to improve the usability and interface of my product then made iterations to my high-fi wireframes.
Before:
After:
Iterations:
-
For Task #1: Change location from Chicago to New York City:
-
I deleted the search bar that was present so that the user knows to click “change” automatically in order to change their location rather than searching up the city first and creating more steps for the user.
-
Final Prototype
Task #2: Access article from "For You" page called "The Swift Reporter".
Takeaways:
-
All users were able to compete each task successfully.
-
All users found that the interface was simple and easy to use.
-
All users completed tasks with minimal errors.
-
All users completed tasks quickly under 2 minutes.
-
All users were very satisfied with their overall use of the product to complete task.
Task #3: Send an article called "The Swift Reporter" to your friend Jane Smith via text message.
Takeaways:
-
All users were able to compete each task successfully.
-
All users found that the interface was simple and easy to use.
-
All users completed tasks with minimal errors.
-
All users completed tasks quickly under 2 minutes.
-
All users were very satisfied with their overall use of the product to complete task.
Task #4: Like/dislike article called "World's Oldest Dog".
Takeaways:
-
All users were able to compete each task successfully.
-
All users found that the interface was simple and easy to use.
-
All users completed tasks with minimal errors.
-
All users completed tasks quickly under 2 minutes.
-
All users were very satisfied with their overall use of the product to complete task.
Task #5: Participate in an interactive poll by voting for your opinion about the article called "Trump's Tariffs Take Off".
Takeaways:
-
All users were able to compete each task successfully.
-
All users found that the interface was simple and easy to use.
-
All users completed tasks with minimal errors.
-
All users completed tasks quickly under 2 minutes.
-
All users were very satisfied with their overall use of the product to complete task.
Task #6: Share your take about an article called "World's Oldest Dog" with the comment: "This is awesome!" as user @mj23 or anonymously.
Takeaways:
-
All users were able to compete each task successfully.
-
All users found that the interface was simple and easy to use.
-
All users completed tasks with minimal errors.
-
All users completed tasks quickly under 2 minutes.
-
All users were very satisfied with their overall use of the product to complete task.
-
Errors:
-
1/4 users were frustrated with having to fill out each part of the caption separately rather than being able to click through it all at once then submit.
-
Task #7: Share your POV by capturing a photo or video and view #TrumpsTariffsTakeOff feed.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Conclusion
-
Overall, I believe that this prototype was a success because 100% of users were able to successfully complete each task and found the navigation to be easy and familiar. I also learned a lot and was able to identify areas of improvement for further testing and development of my design.
Future Considerations
-
Due to the time constraint spread out over the course of 4 weeks, there were a few things I would do differently if given the time and resources:
-
Interviewing a larger and more diverse group of individuals so that I can gain more insight.
-
Conducting usability testing with more people to get more feedback.
-
Conducting un-moderated usability testing to gain insight, feedback, and different perspective if users didn't have my guidance and support.
-
Continuing to build out the remaining flows to simulate a full user experience when using Shades.
-
Continuing to iterate and improve the overall functionality and interface of both of the feature add-ons.
-
Working with a developer to finalize both of the feature add-ons and bring it to life.
-
bottom of page