SF CHronicle CASE STUDY

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & NATIVE MOBILE APP DESIGN
Client: SF Chronicle | Duration: 2 weeks | Partners: Melissa Hong & Kelly Chiu

RESEARCH   |   PROBLEM STATEMENT   |   PART 1 : STRATEGY    |   PART 2: MOBILE APP DESIGN

RESEARCH: BRAND EXPLORATION 

We started by learning all we could about The San Francisco Chronicle, reading about its historical milestones and the story of how its personality and performance has evolved. 

We combined all our research on the company, its history, its products, and its users in one big concept/affinity map to develop a more structured perspective on the problem. 

Emerging from this chaos - we found that their two digital websites, SFchronicle.com and SFgate.com, had the same news content, but very different personalities, brands and performances among its users. 

We explored how these two brands compared both qualitatively and quantitatively. We also conducted a web-based survey to understand how people interact with the news. 

USER RESEARCH

Interviews and contextual inquiry revealed that many San Francisco locals, particularly millennials, were unfamiliar with the SF Chronicle and SFGate - and even fewer understood how the two brands were related. (Notably, the SF Chronicle representative that we talked to on the phone also did not know what the difference was). 

In terms of news reading behavior, many cited that they only read the news while during a commute or "on-the-go." Few readers said that they carved out dedicated time reading the newspaper or even on a computer. 

We conducted a Typeform survey to gain more insight into the news consumption behavior and needs of San Francisco locals. Our 45 survey results revealed that FREE & QUALITY news was a top priority: "Why should I ever pay for news, if I can get it elsewhere for free?" A majority of readers accessed the news from their mobile device - suggesting that mobile access is essential. 

Based on our research and contextual inquiry, we created three personas to reflect the different types of news readers:

PROBLEM Statement & Solution strategies

Based on our research, we refined the initial problem of "reader engagement" into 2 components: Discovery & Access.

The two components require separate strategies and solutions, but ultimately complement and require each other initiate and retain user engagement.

The main idea is that - even the greatest mobile news app will not be used if people don't know about it. So, in order for people to engage with the SF Chronicle, they need to 1) Know about it, and 2) Have easy access to its content - and love it. 

Solution PArt 1: DISCOVERY

The first part of the problem is that there is a lack of exposure. When asked about the SF Chronicle, many potential users say they just "never come across it."

BRANDING

One factor that influences awareness, is the confusion about SF Chronicle and SF Gate. We think that the company should strongly consider unifying their internet presence to appeal to its entire audience through one interface. Positioning the mobile app as a merging of the brands "SF Gate - powered by the SF Chronicle"  (while leaving the web-based brands the same) would be a small step in that direction. 

We understand that one reason for the separation is that SFChronicle.com is the exclusive webpage for paper subscribers. However, since all of the content from SFChronicle.com is available for free on SFGate.com, paper subscribers are not actually getting more for their money on the internet, besides the "official" look and feel of the SFchronicle.com design. 

COMMUNITY

We also imagine a community leaders program to engage community members in curating content and local events, to organizing meetups and narrating audio stories. 

We describe three different types of community leaders that have varying levels of responsibility and involvement that might appeal to each of our personas. 

Solution Part 2: Mobile News app design

The second part of our solution for increasing reader engagement is to build a native mobile app to increase "on-the-go" accessibility. We think that a native mobile app is critical for keeping up with the increasingly mobile lifestyles of young working professionals.

We created a paper prototype using POP app and were able to get great feedback and suggestions from user testing. The prototype was particularly useful for streamlining the menu, making the navigation consistent, and ensuring that swipe and navigation were intuitive - ensuring that the user is able to easily return to where they expected to be upon pressing the "back button." The paper cut-outs of the prototype made it easy to iterate quickly.

FEATURE DESIGN & INSPIRATION

SUMMARY

The two components of our solution (Discovery and Access) work together in an integrated strategy of engagement. Both pieces of the solution need to be in place for the cycle to work. A really great mobile news app cannot increase readership on its own. Gaining brand attention is only sustainable if there is an accessible and seamless news experience to support it.

RESEARCH   |   PROBLEM STATEMENT   |   PART 1 : STRATEGY    |   PART 2: MOBILE APP DESIGN