Heise Project
Redesign and gamification of the Heise IT news platform.
This was a comprehensive web design project. Our project group was tasked with redesigning the user interface of Heise's IT news platform, as well as adding new UI elements to boost user engagement and retention.
Duration
1 Year
Technologies
Overview
The aim of this project was to create a more engaging experience by planning and prototyping new features and content formats. Several concepts were presented to the client and two were selected for prototyping. The first concept was a redesign of the way users interact with articles, called the Reading Bar. This provides features that readers may find useful when reading lengthy professional articles. The second concept was a design for short-form content called 'Heise Short', which is a more casual format for news that is less time-sensitive than regular articles but still benefits from a more engaging presentation.
Objectives
The objective was to create and implement new engagement concepts, testing them in multiple rounds of user studies to determine which were the most promising and should be developed further for eventual implementation on the live platform.
Challenges
The most pressing challenge we faced was creating engaging content for a trade magazine. Trade magazines generally have a more professional tone and cover high-level topics that are not easily adapted for a shorter, more casual format. Additionally, the target readership is ageing and less likely to engage with modern short-form content than a younger audience. To address these challenges, we created concepts that provided real value to readers. Examples include the Readen Bar, which offers useful features for readers of long articles, and the Heise Short format, which presents news in a more engaging way while maintaining a professional tone.
Results
After multiple rounds of user testing, the results of this project showed promise, with the Readen Bar concept significantly increasing user engagement and retention, as well as enabling a more focused experience and shortening the time it took users to access their desired content. The Heise Shorts format received a more mixed response from clients and users alike, as it would require editors to do much more work, and the target audience did not show a strong preference for the new format. However, it did show some potential in broadening the platform's audience, as it received positive feedback from younger users.