The New Yorker (Condé Nast)
Project Overview
The New Yorker product design team designed a new cartoon gallery modal to be imbedded in their web and mobile app articles. This unmoderated usability test study aimed to verify whether these new designs would increase cartoon user engagement.
Company Overview
Condé Nast (The New Yorker), Global Product, Data & Technology
My Role
UX Research Intern
-- Collaborated with Product Manager, Product Design Director, Digital Director, TNY Product Design Team
*Full research deliverable can be found HERE
🔎️
01. The Opportunity
What is at the heart of the problem at hand?
The previous cartoons survey that was conducted earlier in the year showed that digital readers across audiences of The New Yorker would engage with more cartoons, more often, if given the opportunity – whether that meant sharing cartoons or exploring more of them. Based on respondents’ feedback on the cartoon viewing experience, The New Yorker product design team designed a new user flow that connected the cartoons embedded within The New Yorker articles to a cartoons ‘gallery’ experience, hoping to encourage exploration and whet users appetite’s for more cartoons.
Thus, the purpose of this usability test was to: Verify that the interaction design in the new flow will optimize cartoon engagement while making cartoon viewing more enjoyable for our users
🧸
02. The Prototype
All credits go to Sara De Lira, Product Designer at The New Yorker.
This Figma prototype maps out the user flow of the cartoon gallery and was used for the various usability tasks I had designed to test users with.
1. We asked users where they would go to find more cartoons like the one shown in the article.
In order to test different visual designs, we wanted to learn whether the “Open cartoon gallery” CTA was obvious for users to notice and likely users would be to click on it. Additionally, we hoped to learn what users would expect when clicking on the CTA.
In order to test different visual designs, we wanted to learn whether the “Open cartoon gallery” CTA was obvious for users to notice and likely users would be to click on it. Additionally, we hoped to learn what users would expect when clicking on the CTA.
2. We asked participants to evaluate the three (save/share/shop) icons and share what they expected each one to do
We wanted to understand how clear the iconography is and to see whether users would be able to easily save, share, or purchase the cartoons if they wanted to.
3. We asked users to identify the end of the gallery.
We wanted to see whether users would be able to successfully identify the end of the gallery or whether they would experience a ‘false-end,’ incorrectly identifying the recirculation units and the newsletter sign-up card as the end of the gallery.
4. We asked participants to reflect on the entire cartoon gallery experience after completing the tasks and exploring the modal.
We wanted to see how users felt about the gallery navigation as a whole and how likely they would explore more cartoons in the future using this setup.
We wanted to see how users felt about the gallery navigation as a whole and how likely they would explore more cartoons in the future using this setup.
📊
04. Details, Data, and Discoveries
The juicy stuff!
Check out my slide deck HERE or click the image below to read more in-depth about:
1. Specific tasks/questions I designed for participants
2. Important insights and findings I analyzed and synthesized
3. Design recommendations and next steps I suggested
🌟
05. Reflection
My main takeaways!
Broadly speaking, this opportunity to conduct proper user research on a professional scale alongside product designers and stakeholders not only allowed me to gain a wealth of knowledge about UX Research as a field on a micro level, but also how user research is integrated into the UX Design practice on a more macro level.
More specifically, I learned...
I have grown very fond of this platform because it streamlines the recruiting process by giving the option to include customizable screener questions and demographic criteria, and it also allows for seamless integration of the Figma prototype to be used for all the tasks.
2. How to analyze a lot of data and synthesize relevant information into big ideas
Bottom-up thinking is important in a data-centered process such as user research. However, I also learned the importance of a top-down approach in order to inform which pieces of data may be most relevant.
3. How to communicate and work with stakeholders
Being the only intern in a large group of superiors can be intimidating! But this experience helped me hone my presentation skills and gave me exposure to what it’s like working with real stakeholders on a big project like this.