Global Player.

iOS & Android

Goals and problem defining.

Upon joining the product team in the initial stages of the project, data received from our analytics team indicated users were not engaging at high levels with in-app advertising content, sitting around 3%. Even while Global owned a large market share of repeat app users, there was an increasing demand to develop more advertising opportunities through downloadable content and a roadmapped podcast feature—all of which needed to be considered going forward.

The approach.

Through initial testing, interviews and working alongside the internal analytics team, we found a high proportion of users would often start their session listening to a show but not necessarily continuing to engage with the brand content. This was partly due to the circumstance of the users' environment but a large factor was that the content was sectioned off and only available through a CTA which would often go unnoticed.

This surprising insight created the opportunity to take a fresh approach and define new ideas of how we might restructure the layout to make content more easily accessible. We identified key areas to target, such as reducing the size of the station picker and utilising unused space within the top level portal screens to accomodate features which could help increase user interaction and exploration.

As part of the research stage, I provided feature benchmarking against competitors within the same space and created a visual analysis to identify features used by similar products and additionally higlight UI design patterns. This was often a collaborative approach in which I’d share my findings in order to support evidence of best practices and form a base for our conceptual workshops.  

Ideation.

One of my favourite parts of the design process was a great opportunity for the wider team to collaborate and would often include engineering, product managers and available members of the leadership team. Through brainstorming and sketching multiple concepts we discovered several possible solutions which would form the basis of generating new flows and restructured layouts to be designed and tested.

UI components and iteration.

The solution.

Through an iterative process of testing and refinement, we implemented a one page hub—curating all content within a comprehensively structured layout which was easily accessible from the top level of each brand. 

Additionally, I introduced a refreshed interface with previous/next playing functionality, and a schedule & catch-up module which also served as a sign post for users to scroll and explore further.

The project also gave me the opportunity to discover new software for producing micro-interactions and helping annotate specific funcationality when working alongside engineering during development.

Ongoing.

Having a tested prototype allowed me to craft high fidelity designs which I needed to ensure were consistent across each of our individual brands. 

Working closely with engineering I scheduled regular meetings to check in and hand over approved designs through Zeplin although the process was somewhat restrictive and cumbersome. Having previous experience with Figma, I asked if we could demo a trial which led to a change of tools within the digital team which greatly increased the productivity of our workflow.

As a result, we doubled advertising engagement at 6% and the company reported a significant increase in connected radio listening, with daily reach up 15% and hours up 9%. In addition, Global’s data insights reported listening to the radio via smart devices climbed to its highest ever level — up 11%.

Extended Player.

Responsive desktop

chrisrayson.

Design

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