Week 6 - Sitemap/User Journey (Final Presentation & Feedbacks)

The final presentation has helped me on improving the design of the prototypes. It gave me some ideas were I can tweak and push further the user journeys. Minor errors were also pointed out on our user testing---I think this was very helpful, as this are the details I did not notice while working on the project.

Week 5 - Updated Invision Prototypes

For Week 5, I kept on reworking/improving and testing my prototypes. More details were added to improve the look of the Mobile & Desktop prototype. 

I was also able to ask my peers to do a user testing for my Invision prototype. Their feedbacks were really helpful--- as it gives me ideas where my design/user journey can go wrong.

I had to reconsider (again), renaming my category links. I had to changed the news and local paper to "national & world" in order for the user journey to go smoothly. This decision was base on the user test my peers did.

One of my peers also suggested that my headlines for mobile prototype were too short.

Week 5 - Invision Prototypes (Desktop)

These are the early versions for the desktop prototype. The layout was improved base from the feedbacks I got from the interim presentation. I simplified some details but kept the side navigation feature.

Week 4 - Invision Prototypes (Mobile)

These are the early versions for the mobile prototype, the design is simple, but I am still working my way to achieve a better look. The links and layout needs more improvement. I also did a quick prototype test on invision to check if I am at the correct workframe.

Week 4 - Research: Other Website Layouts/Features

As part of research for this assignment, I looked up different news site such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Fox Sports, CNN & BBC websites. While working on own my design, I tried looking at some features these sites offers and check if I can incorporate this on the redesigned Dominion Post site. 

For mobile, i referred to The Guardian & CNN site. I did notice that both sites are responsive to small & big screen.

Week 4 - Interim Presentation

Feedbacks from my peers and lecturers. The interims have helped me to reconsider details to improve and change. It was also helpful that I got feedback from peers who hasn't seen my work.

• The design layout of my current website still looks complicated. It also appears like I only re-arrange the grid layout but have not fully simplify the website.
• It was also recommended I should take off the secondary navigation bar at the bottom of the page.
• The task for Persona 02 (Hemi) was too simple. I should look at getting him to accomplish more than just browsing an article.
• Another recommendation was for me to look at Persona 04 (Sarah) journey, she's a news junkie who thinks not a lot of NZ news is being told from Dominion post. The current journey ask her to find an event article and share it on facebook----maybe I can get her to do something about the event instead of just sharing it on facebook.
• I should also need to start considering the Mobile prototypes and which user journey will work best

Week 3 - Homework: Storyboards for Interim Presentation

Below are user journey maps for each persona to be presented for the first interim presentation

Week 3 - Homework: Digital Wireframes

As part of the homework for Week 3, I began creating digital wireframes using Photoshop. I am also yet to decide how will the design will look. Also at this point, I think I am established with the layout of the website, but expecting to do more tweakings in the next few days.

 

Week 3 - Homework: User journey per persona (updated)

The user journey for each persona has been established for this week's homework. I intend to do more user test and take note which functions/elements i need to change or re-work.

• Persona 01 (Haiyan) 
• Base on her profile, she would expect a simple task such as looking for an article that interest her. But it was also noted that at work she's encourage to explore more online. The task I set for this persona is simply finding an article, but have to navigate a couple of categories.

• Persona 02 (Hemi)
• Hemi is a multitasker. The impression i got from his profile is he would like to have things done as quick as possible. I gave this persona the simplest task (from the group) by simply asking him to read the most recent headline. I am also looking at the overall interface of the website & user journeys, where one can have a two step task while the other will have a more complex journey.

 

• Persona 03 (Mike)
• The impression I got from this persona is his attention towards news and what is happening around the world. I assumed since he always reads the dominion post, he's a member of the website. I set the task of Log In for this persona, saving the article which he will read later and the next part of the task is to go outside of Dominion Post website.
• The stuff.co.nz is shown on this task to still be available to users. But you can only find the links at the footer. My idea is to separate dominion post like a stand-alone-site without fully eliminating the links back to stuff. On the real website, dominion & stuff are mixed together which makes it a little confusing.

• Persona 04 (Sarah)
• Sarah prefers to be more involve on what's happening in her area. The task I set to this persona is to find an event article and share it on facebook. The user still needs to use the Log In function but not necessarily as a member of the Dominion Post website, but this task uses her facebook account for her to be able to share the article.

• Persona 05 (Andrea)
• The task is to simply look for the latest Netball scores. It is almost similar to Persona 01's task but explores another category.

• Persona 06 (Barry)
• Barry's task was to browse one 'top commented' article and leave his own comment. This task is almost similar to Persona 03's task by using the Log In function. But the journey differs by letting the user browse an article first, then will be required to log in in order to  complete the task.

Week 2 - Homework: HTML/CSS Exercise & User Journey task (continued)

For this week's homework, I tried completing the html/css exercise as possible as I can ready for the responsive design lecture on Tuesday. Also, I began working with my user journeys, planning and improving the task for each persona. 

HTML/CSS Exercise

Below are screencaps for HTML/CSS exercise was continued from last class ready for Responsive website lecture on tuesday.

 

User Journey Prototype (Updated)

• Drawing a small storyboard helped me in visualising individual task for all 6 persona.
• I also improved the task journey for each by re-evaluating the qualities of the persona.
• I also began re-designing the The Dominion Post website, with the homepage as my starting point, categories, function buttons, ad placements, etc. were all re-considered.

Persona story board

Homepage

Week 2 - Class 2: User Test

Class 2: Studio

For today's class, we all tried completing at least one user journey test. I was able to get our lecturer Tim to test one user journey. My activity partner Katie Deller, took notes and performed as the observant. 

Task:  Look for an upcoming Wellington event and share it on facebook

• The test was successful but the design aspect of the wireframe caused a little confusion during the test.
• The main feedback from Tim is to make sure to clarify the page breaks and links on the wireframes.
• I also performed another test with some of my peers with the same task, and we were able to share ideas. (eg. consideration of categories)

Week 2 - Homework: Paper Prototypes (Revised)

Below are revised wireframes for this week's home work, more elements has been considered esp. working towards the assignment.

Homepage:

• 'The Dominion Post' & 'Stuff.co.nz' position has been altered. I wanted the 'The Dominion Post' to be first in the hierarchy were user would first recognise it and followed by 'stuff'. 
• On the actual website, 'stuff.co.nz' was on the top-left corner, which makes it the first on hierarchy.
• I also began to identify the categories on the website. I only took 7/10 categories --- to make the navigation simpler. 
• But over the next few days, I would like to go over the categories again and make sure which ones I think will be needed and which ones can be taken out.
• I'm also planning to rename some categories (eg. 'Capital Life')

Homepage

Wireframe A:

• The header section and navigation bar will remain on every page.
• I also intend to keep right side of the page interactive. Offering different navigation options for the user.

Wireframe A

Wireframe B:

• The article page will have the share links on top body copy of the article.
• I still yet to consider what are the information that will be included in the article page. (eg. author, time posted, etc.)
• On the right side section, I want to have the links for the articles from the homepage.
• The article page is normally the end page of a task. I was thinking that the links that should be next to this are the articles that you will find at the start of homepage. (Something like a 'full circle' journey)

Wireframe B

Wireframe C:

• The sub-categories will pop-up on the right section. (eg. rugby, netball)

Wireframe C

Wireframe D:

• The sub category name will be displayed on top right corner of the page --- but this still needs tweaking. I am not sure at this point, if this will only cause confusion as the position seems not distinct enough.
• Again on the right side section, I am thinking of navigation options for every category. Something that is unique to each.

Wireframe D

extra pages for this homework