Vio: Mobile Content Platform
Project Overview
Brief
Through this engagement, the client, a popular media house, wanted to create translated interfaces for their mobile video application in order to improve the UX for Indian regional audiences who do not understand English.
Research and Outcomes
I conducted a field study to understand the needs of regional audiences. The study provided insight into their mental models, behaviors and constraints, which were important to consider.
The app was modified in accordance with design guidelines that emerged from the findings.
Methods
• Literature Review and Competitor analysis to understand existing research and designs
• Field study (User Interviews + Cognitive tasks) in 27 towns with 185 users
• Thematic analysis and descriptive statistical analysis of qualitative + quantitative data
• Personas, storyboards, and empathy mapping to communicate findings
Team Size
6 (2 UX Researchers, 3 UX/UI designers, 1 Digital Illustrator)
My Role
Lead researcher responsible for planning, conducting field studies, data analysis, and reporting
Project Duration
~ 14 weeks
Introduction
With the decreasing cost of Internet and smartphones in India, there is a rise in the number of regional mobile users who do not speak or understand English.
The client, a popular media house, wanted to create translated interfaces in 7 Indian languages for their video-on-demand platform Vio (name changed to protect confidentiality) in order to improve the user experience for these users.
About Vio
Vio is a video-on-demand mobile platform housing TV serials, reality shows and movies produced by the client.
Research Planning
As the lead researcher on this project, I was responsible for planning research activities under the guidance of the UX Research Head.
I started by performing a literature review to familiarize with existing research on this topic. I then conducted a quick competitor review to understand what steps similar apps have taken to appeal to regional audiences.
Literature Review
Excerpts from Competitor Analysis Report
This initial desk research helped me identify areas to explore in the field study, such as user needs, content watching behaviors, vocabulary, and familiarity with interface elements such as icons and menus
Then, I defined the research questions and identified the best methods to answer these questions.
1
What are the needs and goals
of regional users of
mobile video applications?
User Interviews
to gain in-depth understanding
2
What are common behaviors while watching content on phone?
Observation of app usage
3
Are they comfortable with interface elements such as menus and icons?
Observation of app usage
+
Cognitive Task to understand familiarity with icons
4
Do regional users really want / need a translated interface?
Cognitive Task to understand interface language needs/preferences
Research Methods
1. User Interviews
I created a discussion guide containing questions that covered areas such as technology usage, video watching behaviors, and social behaviors in content consumption. A major part of the interviews would involve an "app walkthrough", where participants would be asked to demonstrate how they use their favorite app to watch content.
As participants would not be pre-scheduled, I also paid special attention to conversation starters, as they would be essential in establishing trust and rapport.
Excerpt: Discussion Guide
2. Cognitive Tasks
I designed two cognitive tasks that would help the team understand more about users' language preferences and familiarity with icons:
Task 1
To understand preference for language and script, participants would be shown 3 versions of common interface words such as "Download" and asked to pick what they understood best.
Task 2
To understand familiarity with icons, participants would be shown icon cards and asked to explain what they mean when seen in a video application.
The team chose field study locations by considering factors such as number of regional content watchers, cultural diversity, likelihood of finding multilingual people and client goals.
Due to a lack of recruitment agencies in these regions, I decided to adopt a guerilla approach to participant recruitment. I decided to interview 5 - 8 people in each town, aiming for a sample size of 150.
User Criteria and Recruitment
Field Study Locations
Proposed Timeline
Research Execution
For the next 9 weeks, my team and I travelled across India and interacted with 185 people.
Scenes from Field Studies
Data Analysis & Synthesis
I performed basic descriptive statistical analysis on the data from cognitive tasks. From interviews, I first compiled all the data into a spreadsheet to compare across participants, regions and languages. This led to a set of findings organized into themes.
Analysis Spreadsheets
In order to best convey the findings and pain points of regional users, we created personas and storyboards. I also facilitated an empathy mapping workshop to help the designers understand their user better.
Note: As this was an industry project, the content in persona and storyboard images has been edited / blurred to protect confidentiality.
I am happy to discuss this project in detail in a private forum.
Two personas developed from research
Excerpts from storyboards
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Empathy Mapping
Outcome & Impact
This study provided major insight into the needs of regional users. We learned that although it was important to provide Indian language options, it was even more important to introduce elements that aligned with regional users' behaviors and mental models. This led to the creation of design guidelines such as:
!
Design for
Technical Constraints such as connectivity and storage issues
Optimize for Browsing behavior, rather
than Search
!
Ensure users feel
in control by clearly
conveying errors
Many of the app screens were modified to align with our insights and design directions.
Contact me to learn more about the findings and outcomes from this study
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I love talking about my work and am very open to feedback.
Please contact me to learn more about this project or tell me what you think.