PROJECT OBJECTIVE

My team was tasked to create a CNN mobile app. The scope was to achieve a more ACTIVE, ENGAGED, and EDUCATED public on all levels of civic involvement with the Government. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

MY ROLE

User Researcher & User Interface Designer on a team of four. 

my first task was to create a Screener Survey.  

 
 

My PROCESS

 
 

  •  Focus on competitive and comparative analysis of news sources/web based organization and other social media outlets. 

  • Develop a screener survey. Several iterations of the document resulted in almost 200 participants in under three days.

 
 
 

To understand what the people want, I conducted a a three front approach to gather as much insight as I could.

 

  • Formal in-person interviews 

  • Informal phone interviews

  • Web based open questionnaire interviews 

 
 
 
 

Within 4 days over 30 interviews were conducted.

 
 
 

The interviews were then used for an extensive affinity diagram to flush out user based personas.

 
 
 
 

Bring the Personas to life

I used three personas for the development of a User Centered Design prototype.

 
 
 

The prototype was then tested, going through several iterations each time based on user testing and observations.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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LESSONS LEARNED

Seek Input, and seek it often.

A strategy will get you through the hard times, but nothing is a stronger tool than always seeking for more input.

By developing a plan before having done any design work, my team was able to navigate through frustration, hard work and failure.

But through testing and iterations, we were able to create CNN Engage. Empowered with a strategy, trust, communication, and data, our team created a pathway to a great user experience. 

 
 

IN CLOSING 

My ability to bring simplicity to the complex, to recognize the importance of good data and keep an energetic positive attitude facilitated a very productive team and allowed for the creation of an excellent product.

 Our app was able to become a strong possibility to the CNN mobile family only because of a constant communication, a trust in one another's strengths, and a facilitation of the growth mindset of everyone on the team.

Without the help of Andrew Clementi, Annie O'Neill, and Joy Jin, CNN Engage would have never become as great of a product as it is today.