WBEZ App Refresh - Anna Gingle

Problems with WBEZ Version 8.0.0

Chicago Public Media hired a consulting firm to create this verison. This caused major problems because we do not own the applications code. If things got buggy there was no way to fix it. We had to start from scratch.

Goals for WBEZ 9.0

How might we create a better listening experience?

How might we make it easier to listen to a trustworthy news source in the era of fake news?

How might we expand our audience to better reflect the demographic composition of Chicago and increase audience size, diversity, and loyalty?
40% of Chicagoland is Black/Latinx as compared to 31% of WBEZ listeners, similarly 11% of Chicagoland is 18 in this age group, whereas only 7% of WBEZ listeners are.

Prototype Test 1

Click here to view the clickable prototype. For the scope of this test we focused primarily on the 'Recent Highlights' section to determine understanding and if WBEZ super fans even wanted the feature.

Beta 9.0.7 Design Review

Check out my design review. My proposals were successful. I attribute it to my "lo-fi" suggestions. Instead of working on a mock up, I just drew on the beta release screenshots and used sticky notes. This made the development team more open to suggestions.

After the meeting, I created cards in our project management tool. I divided up the changes into global and by screen. In every card I ordered the tasks starting with the changes that will make the most impact with the least effort.