Staying in the Loop

Every day, people around the world turn to NPR for news and cultural content that they can't get anywhere else. Increasingly, people are using their mobile devices to access this content. The Digital Media Design team at NPR HQ in Washington, D.C. is working to hone these digital tools, making them easy to use and ensuring that information comes first. As the Digital Media Design intern, I had the honor of working on the team for several months, redesigning the NPR News App - namely through experience design and user testing.

It turns out that NPR app users have well-established patterns and opinions, and this helped us to make crucial decisions in organizing content and creating hierarchy.

Because the primary use of the NPR app is reading, the function of the Home screen is to keep users abreast of the latest news and other stories. Available in the app is the ability to listen to live streams of audio news stories, as well as NPR and NPR-affiliated shows.

Crucial to the redesign of the app was more clearly integrating and featuring member stations. Users can choose their favorite station and listen to a live stream.