Stampen Media

  • Client: Stampen Media
  • My role: Graphic designer
  • Designteam size: 5 People
  • Timeframe: 4 Weeks

Brief

In collaboration with Stampen Media, a service design project was created. The aim of the project was to better undstand Stampen Medias target audience, aswell as map and document the target audience.

Summery

In collaboration with Stampen Media, a service design project was created. The aim of the project was to better undstand Stampen Medias target audience (People age 35-55), aswell as map and document the target audience. The project resulted in a few maps of the target audience aswell as a few design ideas for their mobile application

Key takeaways

This was my first project that was mostly focused on service design. This resulted in me learning alot more about service design as a whole, its perks and its weaknesses. I gained a broader understanding of the different types of maps, such as customer journey map, and how these can be used in different situations.

Desktop research

The project started by doing desktop research. The aim of the research was to get a better understanding for the context that Stampen Media operates in, but also to learn a bit more about the company as a whole, aswell as about their competitors. During the desktop research we also got recommended a report by Internetstiftelsen, who had some data on how people takes part in the news.

The desktop research resulting in four main takeaways:

  • Stampen Media mostley report local news, and have 13 different newspapers, deping on where you as a reader is based.
  • A subscription is required to read the majority of the material that Stampen Media publishes.
  • People are less likely to buy a subscription for news papers (According to Internetstiftelsen).
  • Their have been a shift, where people now a more likley to read the news digital, rather than to buy a physical copy of the news paper.

With these takeaways, the designteam have created a better understanding for the context, and our next step was to step into it. Since we wanted to understand how the target audience better, our next step was to create an interview guide.

Interviews

We wanted to get a better understanding for how and when people takes part in news. However, the most intresting detail that we wanted to understand was "Why". Why do they read the news, why do they do it at specific times, why do they use digital papers over physical papers etc. To understand the "why", we choose to conduct interviews, instead of posting a survey. To find people to interview, the designteam got help from the UX-Lead at Stampen Media, who posted a short survey at hn.se. This was alot of help, since the designteam only had a limited number of people in our contact network who matched our criteria. However, the criteria was very simple, being between 35-55 years old and live in either Varberg Kommun or Falkenberg Kommun.

In total, the designteam interviewed 10 people. This is lower than we firsted hoped. However, the team felt that a empirical saturation was achived, since the last three interviews didn't add new perspectives, and only confirmed perspectives from earlier interviews. In hindsight, I think it would have been valueable to conduct atleast two or three more interviews, to ensure that an empirical saturation have been achived. All people being interviewd is anonymous, but have been compiled into an table.

Findings

After conducting the interviews, aswell as analyzing them, the designteam found a common trend that during weekday, the target audience have a routine of reading the news. Most of the time, the news intake takes place while eating breakfast or during the transport to their workplace. The target audience argue that it is important to know what is going on around the world, and don't want to be the uninformed person at the workplace.

However, during the weekend, the target audience don't have a set routine, and the news intake isn't as prioritized as during the weekdays. Instead, they argue that during the weekends they want to focus more on their family and friends, and do some activites that they can't fit into their weekdays.

During the interviews, the designteam also found out that a majority of the target audience get news through social media. However, they also raised a concern about credability, and that they always try to be source critical. They also stated that Stampen Media was regarded a trustworthy source, and that they rarely questions Stampen Medias sources.

Touchpoints (Current state)

Before the designteam started to map out the target audiences behaviour, a touchpoint map was created. The goal of the map was to gain a better understanding of how and when the target audience comes in contact with Stampen Media. If you click the image, you can get a better view over the design teams identified touchpoints for Stampen Media.

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Experience Map

Based on the research, combined with a graph of the number of readers that Stampen Media provided, the designteam created a Experience Map. The experience map helped the designteam visualize how the target audience today take part of the news. The map present the active number of users (The blue line), tasks, need and feelings (The boxes with text) and the touchpoint they interact with (The icons).

Customer Journey Map - Weekdays

To further understand when and where the target audience takes part in news, we created a Customer Journey Map. In the interviews, the designteam found out that the news routine is very different during weekdays and weekends. Therefore, we created two customer journey maps, one for weekdays and one for weekends.

In the map for weekdays, we had two different routes. One for the people who prioritize reading the news (top route) and the ones that prioritize it less (bottom route). The ones that prioritize it have an set routine to read the news before they get ready for work, for example when eating breakfast. These people wants to know what happens around the world and want to stay updated. The ones who doesn't prioritize news as much try to stay updated when possible, but the time often is spent on something else, for example getting the kids ready for school. These people are more prone to take part of the news in the car or on the bus, either by news applications or radio.

However, these routes connect again when they arrive to work. At work people try to listen to some news on the radio, since the news is a common discussion topics at breaks, according to our target audience. Trying to stay updated help the target audience to easier be a part of different discussion at the breaks on their job.

After the workshift is done, the two routes splits again. Most people, no matter route, try to get updated on their way home. However, when at home, the people the doesn't prioritize the news as much feel that the time isn't enough, since they have a home and family to take care of. In contrast, the people who prioritize news more try to combine both at the same time. This could for example be to discuss the news with their kids while cooking.

Customer Journey Map - Weekends

During the weekends, there wasn't as much difference between the people who prioritize news and those who doesn't. The majority of the target audience all had a weekend routine to take a longer breakfast, and in peace reading the news. However, after the breakfast, the news intake wasn't prioritized. Instead the target audience prioritized activites with the family, that they might not have time with during the weekdays. This results in the news intake happens more sporadically during the days. In these cases, it was usually a short update on the phone between two activies.

Reader system

The penultimate map the designteam created was a "reader system". The map focuses on the reader at the center and describes routines, emotions, and activities in relation to them. The purpose of the map was to visualize the reader's connection to news as well as to define where news consumption takes place. The group identified four primary headings that were marked with a star on the map to clarify their relevance. These four areas were recurrent in the group's empirical data and were therefore considered particularly relevant for Hallands Nyheter. The star-marked headings were:

  • Routines:

    During the compilation of interview material, the designteam defined that routines are an important part of the reader's everyday life, and that their routines regarding news differ between different parts of the week (see Customer Journey Maps). Since the routines vary between contexts, it is of great importance for Hallands Nyheter to understand the difference and how they can become an integral part of the reader's various routines.

  • Evaluating news:

    The empirical data shows that evaluating news is challenging, primarily digital news. The designteam defined that there is also a general need for readers to consume news in an efficient manner. These insights combined create a challenge for the reader. By promoting the reader's news evaluation, Hallands Nyheter becomes the obvious choice for efficient news updates.

  • Discussions:

    Discussions about news vary depending on the context. It differs among colleagues, younger children and friends, and older children. However, there is a general interest in discussing news. How can Stampen Media be promoted by and contribute to discussions?

  • News consumption:

    The target group has a need to stay updated on the news, as they want to avoid the feeling of being uninformed. The reader wishes to be the one who knows what has happened, and this update happens sporadically throughout the day. Hallands Nyheter's goal should be to become the primary choice for news updates.

Based on the map, the designteam could identify where Stampen Media today doesn't have a connection with their target audience, and we had therefore also identified the areas that we could design for.

Design proposal

In total, the designteam came up with four different design solutions that would create new connections between Stampen Media and the target audience. These four was:

  • Taggar (Tags)
  • HN-Podden (Podcast)
  • Nyhetshändelser (Stories)
  • HN-Quizet (Weekly quiz)

All design proposal was created on Hallands Nyheters (hn.se) mobile application, but could be implemented into all of their news magazines.

Taggar (Tags)

The group's empirical data showed that the target audience finds it challenging to evaluate news. The evaluation may, for example, include relevance, personal interest, subject. The evaluation combined with the reader's desire to consume news in an efficient manner creates a conflict of interest. The target group's time investment in news updates varies but is prioritized, therefore, the group sees how the concept of Tags can be implemented and fulfill this need. The tags would be included over each article, so that the target audience quickly can evaluate if the article is relevant for them. In this example, you could see a small green box over the left image, with the tag fotboll (Football / Soccer). The right image shows the current state.

Statistics from Stampen Media show that the majority of news readers spend up to ten seconds on the newspaper's digital platforms. The concept contributes to clarity in the news feed and enables the reader to spend additional time on the platform as they can easily evaluate news.

HN-Podden (Podcast)

The empirical data showed that those who drive to work choose to consume news via radio and other audio services. Currently, Hallands Nyheter does not offer services adapted for use during activities such as driving in a safe manner, which leads the target group to turn to other news publishers.

To meet this need, the group designed the concept of HN-podden. HN-podden allows the reader to easily listen to relevant news events without shifting focus from, for example, driving. The goal of HN-podden is to make news consumption more efficient, and therefore the duration should be approximately five to ten minutes.

Nyhetshändelser (Stories)

The target group updates themselves on news during brief moments throughout their daily routine, for example, before the morning coffee break or lunch break at work. A significant need within the target group is not to be perceived as uninformed in relation to the news. Therefore, the concept of News Events is meant to help the reader continuously and efficiently update themselves throughout the day.

The prototype illustrates the story function implemented in the Hallands Nyheter mobile application. By clicking on a news event, a view is presented on the screen with a summarized news item. This summary contains a headline, a picture, and a brief text about the article. In connection with the reader accessing the event, they are also offered access to the original article in its entirety.

The concept caters to several different types of news readers. The stories can provide news in a quick format for those who visit Hallands Nyheter for just a few seconds. The concept can also offer the reader an efficient news update before discussions during the lunch break. The stories provide the reader with an intriguing introduction to the article that encourages further reading. In combination with tags, it would also be possible to follow specific news that the target audience find relevant.

HN-Quizet (Weekly quiz)

Unlike on weekdays, news consumption is less prioritized during the weekend. Instead, the target group spends more time with family and engaging in communal activities. The sporadic news updating is replaced with a clear routine of news consumption during breakfast. The group's empirical data also shows that the target group considers it important to have discussions with children about the news. Therefore, we wanted to combine the discussions with the already set routine, and the weekly quiz came to life.

The prototype illustrates how the HN-Quiz could be designed. The prototype shows three views:

  • 1) A quiz homepage where the number of players and the difficulty level are chosen.
  • 2) A visualization of a question and its answer options.
  • 3) The result page

When participating in the HN-Quiz, immediate feedback is given for correct or incorrect answers. In conjunction with the feedback, participants are offered access to relevant articles related to the question.