Insight into designing a personalized, curated listening experience for National Public Radio. Originally given by Dan Newman at HOW Design Live 2015 and adapted for a talk at Etsy in Brooklyn.
NB: There was audio in the original presentation—that isn't reflected here, but there are captions on the slides that use audio.
1. Designing the
Listening Experience
Kaytee Nesmith
Sr. Visual Product Designer
@kayteenesmith
Photo by Emil Kabanov
Dan Newman
Deputy Creative Director
@creativenewman
2. Designing the Listening Experience
@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
What do you think of
when you hear the phrase
“Public Radio”?
Photo by Ricky Montalvo
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Public radio may cause extreme drowsiness.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Before listening to public radio,
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
make sure your doctor says that
you’re healthy enough to have sex,
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Now it’s time for jazz plus jazz equals jazz.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Today, we have a recording of Benny Goodman
played over a separate recording of Miles Davis.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Research shows that our listeners love jazz.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Public radio may be easy to parody,
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Public radio may be easy to parody,
but we think of it like this…
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
National Public Radio will serve the individual;
it will promote personal growth;
it will regard the individual differences with
respect and joy rather than derision and hate;
it will celebrate the human experience as
infinitely varied rather than vacuous and banal;
it will encourage a sense of active constructive
participation, rather than apathetic helplessness.
Bill Siemering
Founding Board Member, NPR
18. Designing the Listening Experience
@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
“Broadcast radio is the cockroach of media.
You can’t kill it. You can’t make it go away,
it just gets stronger and more resilient.
That doesn’t mean that I see digital radio as a
passing fad. It’s for real. I’m a huge Spotify
user. I think it’s a great service, but I use
broadcast too.”
Jarl Mohn
CEO, NPR
19. Designing the Listening Experience
@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
NPR has long been at the digital forefront
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Stories
Lead
Break
Core
Invest
Collections
Newscast
Local Newscast
Lead
Core
Break
Local Story
Break
Invest
etc…
Flow Listener
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Promos
Promoted Show
or Segment
Promo
Hey NPR One fans!
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Promos
Promoted Show
or Segment
Promo
Did you know that coming close to winning but not quite
reaching your goal can actually be a great motivator?
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Promos
Promoted Show
or Segment
Promo
I’m Shankar Vedantam. Be sure to tap the button
on your screen to hear my podcast, Hidden Brain.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Promos
Promoted Show
or Segment
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This week, it’s all about near-misses.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Promos
Promoted Show
or Segment
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So… If you missed that the button the first time, don’t
worry. I’ll give you another chance.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Promos
Promoted Show
or Segment
Promo
Tap that button on your screen now.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
Hi. I’m NPR’s Guy Raz, and you’re listening
to NPR One. Public radio made personal.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
Your local news plus the stories we know
you will love from all over the world.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
Things you’ve already listened to? They’re over here.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
You can search for podcasts you know you like, and we
have tons of new ones for you to check out, as well.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
But before we get started, a couple quick things:
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
Just let us use the mic on your
phone so you can talk back to us.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
And you have to log in, so we can make sure
we’ll never play you the same story twice.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Audio-First
Here we go! This is NPR One. Public radio made personal.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Agile
Our core philosophy of how we work.
Scrum
The vehicle inside which we get things done.
Lean
How we know we’re working on the right stuff.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
75% of all searches can be attributed
to the name of a show or podcast
57% of show searches
are for NPR shows or podcasts
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
National Public Radio will serve the individual;
it will promote personal growth;
it will regard the individual differences with
respect and joy rather than derision and hate;
it will celebrate the human experience as
infinitely varied rather than vacuous and banal;
it will encourage a sense of active constructive
participation, rather than apathetic helplessness.
Bill Siemering
Founding Board Member, NPR
103. Designing the Listening Experience
@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
People aren’t binary;
personalization shouldn’t be, either.
104. Designing the Listening Experience
@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Listeners find great content
through trusted companions.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Build frameworks, not features.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Practice data-informed design.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Don’t reinvent the wheel.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
Work on a tightly-integrated team
but maintain a big tent.
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@kayteenesmith @creativenewman
What do you think of
when you hear the phrase
“Public Radio”?
Photo by Ricky Montalvo