For my news app, I wanted to combine an easy-to-use interface with quick readability and audience engagement. My design prioritizes growth in popularity of the app, with a handful of methods for immersing the audience and spreading it to their friends.
Introducing “The Breakdown”, a sleek and simple app designed to deliver news quickly.
The home page brings the user to 4 news options where they can select the type of news they’re interested in. It also includes an option to “See the quiz leaderboard” (more on quizzes later). It is a simple design that allows the user to easily access the news they care most about.
Upon selecting a news source, they are brought to another landing page where they can see the top 3 news stories of that category, as voted on by fellow users. The news is displayed by an image thumbnail such that the user can visually see what they want to learn more about, rather than relying on text.
After they select one of the three stories, they are brought to the Headline page, where a headline across the top accompanies the picture to give a quick look at what the story is about. Along the bottom of the page there are three options. The bottom two options allow the user to share the news with friends on Facebook or WhatsApp. This functionality integrates two of India’s more popular apps, allowing users to quickly pass along news through outlets they are already using. This helps spread the word about The Breakdown to increase user base. The other option is to “Get The Breakdown”, which will bring the user to a page with even more information about this news story.
After the user selects “Get The Breakdown”, they are brought to a page providing 4 quick facts about the news story. These are given in bulleted form and are designed to inform the user quickly and without bias about the issue. These are purely facts of the issue with no opinions attached. This format provides the news in the fastest manner with little reading necessary. Once done reading the breakdown, the user votes if they believe the story is important or not. This affects which news stories are displayed on the Top Stories page.
After they have voted on the importance of the story, the user is brought to a Quiz page where they can see how well they comprehended the story. This gives the user yet another chance to interact with the app, all in a fun game format. Quiz results are compiled and posted to a leaderboard where the user can see where they stand with regards to their friends (linked to Facebook and WhatsApp contacts). This provides incentive to read more stories, get friends to download the app, and adds a fun element app to expand the target audience beyond just those interested in the news.
Overall, The Breakdown emphasizes simplicity and interaction in its design. Its goal is to maximize views across articles and expand its audience base. It achieves this through an easy-to-read format and multiple interaction platforms including a voting system and a quiz with a leaderboard. By utilizing already popular apps in India, The Breakdown should be able to reach a widespread audience.
