Article Recirculation

Project Overview:

The goal of the Article Recirculation project was to increase user engagement by encouraging readers to explore more content on the platform. This involved designing a system that would strategically surface relevant articles at key points in a user’s reading journey. I was responsible for conducting research on this feature using Ballpark for initial testing and analysis on Dovetail. The aim was to derive statistical results, contextual insights, and actionable ideas to improve article recirculation, ensuring its alignment with user needs.

Role:

Product Designer

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Users would often exit the site after reading a single article, limiting their engagement with other available content. We needed a solution that would keep users engaged by presenting them with related articles in a way that felt organic and valuable to their reading experience.

I designed a mobile-only article with recirculation feed for the "VICE NextGen" platform, ensuring the feed immediately follows truncation.

The content types includes: Carousel Story, Video Story, Video Artice Card, Shortform and Longform Article card

We've also conducted user testing for the "Carousel Story Card" with Ballpark, a platform to capture high-quality feedback on product questions, marketing copy, designs and Figma prototypes

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Research Plan

To start, we conducted quantitative and qualitative research, focusing on understanding how users interacted with recirculated content across similar platforms. I led the research phase using Ballpark to gather user feedback on various designs and article recommendation models. We then used Dovetail to analyze the data, extracting insights that would guide our design decisions.

In an attempt to convert users to more content to increase retention we conducted user testing for the "Carousel Story Card".

Key insights from the research included:

User Preferences: Readers appreciated article recommendations that were highly relevant to the content they were already consuming, especially if related to the same topic or by the same author.

Placement Matters: Users responded best to article suggestions placed mid-article or at the end, rather than being bombarded with recommendations too early in their reading journey.

Minimal Disruption: Recommendations needed to be seamlessly integrated without interrupting the reading experience.

Design Approach:

Using the research findings, we worked on several design iterations to improve the placement, style, and relevance of article recommendations. The core elements we focused on included:

Dynamic Content Recommendations: We implemented an algorithm to recommend content based on the reader’s current and previous reading habits, ensuring the suggestions felt personalized.

Subtle Design Integration: The recommendation modules were designed to blend into the reading flow, with card-based layouts and minimalistic visuals to avoid disrupting the user experience.

Multiple Formats: We explored different formats, such as horizontal scrolls and grid-based layouts, allowing users to easily discover more articles without leaving their current page.

Testing & Validation:

Once initial designs were in place, we conducted A/B testing to compare different layouts and article recommendation strategies. Through continuous feedback loops and user sessions, we refined our approach. The testing phase also highlighted the importance of mobile optimization, so we ensured that our designs were fully responsive across devices.

Contextual Insights: Users felt that the recommendations added value to their experience without overwhelming them, making it easier to continue exploring content without feeling lost or distracted.

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‍Learning approach‍

- Unmoderated testing via Ballpark (VICE Audience users) including a mix of tasks (to test prototype usability) and questions (to test assumptions). 

Participant requirements

- Aged 20 - 60 or older
- 49 of 104 participants completed the test 

Summary Report:

This report summarizes the findings from our user testing on the recirculation unit for Carousel Story on VICE.com. The research aimed to understand users' experiences, gather insights for improving the overall unit. The research involved testing Figma prototypes and collecting feedback from 49 participants that completed the test out of 104.

Key Results

- 61.8% of participants, Clear that this unit is identifiable as a carousel of stories
- 11.8% , the function appears unclear
- 11.8%, appears as an advertisement
- 10.5%, single article
-4%, other

Upon interacting with the unit - Generally positive

Users were inclined to click through the carousel and read the articles or compelled to just read the headlines/each card

Users found the unit to easy to navigate through the stories
- 55.1% of participants were able to open and close the modal as expected while 44.9% could not
- Majority could see a way to open it, the icon to find more info wasn't clear or that the icon didn't function as intended

Overall participants felt that interactions with the other icons were splitsome text
- 59.2% found it easy
- 40.8% found it difficult - unclear to users that most of the components in the modal were inactive and the icons didn't feel intuitive either
- Overall participants felt neutral with the modal "More Information" as well as the overall design

Implementation & Next Steps:

With the approved designs, I expect the article recirculation feature would be rolled out across the platform. To ensured that the feature was scalable and left room for future enhancements. For example, we identified opportunities to incorporate more advanced machine learning algorithms for even smarter recommendations and to experiment with user-driven customization options.

In the future, we plan to:

Explore the inclusion of multimedia recommendations (videos, podcasts) alongside articles.

Introduce user preferences for recommendation types (e.g., content type or topic-based).

Continue conducting usability tests to monitor the feature’s effectiveness and evolve it based on user feedback.

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Final Outcome:

We hope that the Article Recirculation feature will successfully enhance user engagement by offering relevant, unobtrusive content suggestions. By implementing this feature we expect It to improve content discovery while maintaining a smooth reading experience, aligning with the overall goal of keeping users on the platform longer and increasing the depth of their engagement.

In summary, this project demonstrated the power of user-centered research and iterative design in solving complex content engagement problems. This feature was a direct result of our data-driven approach and our ability to blend technical and design expertise to meet both business and user needs.

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The other content types:

Long/Shortform Article Cards, Video Story/Article Cards