Bringing them online: Using design research to identify online opportunities
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Presented at Oz-IA 2009, this presentation discusses the use of user research to inform the design of SuperRacing, a cross website horse racing content vertical.
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Bringing them online: Using design research to identify online opportunities
- 1. Bringing them online Using design research to identify online opportunities Alun Machin Senior Experience Architect Patrick Kennedy Design Research Lead Oz-IA09 - Friday 2 nd October 2009 Image sourced from www.flickr.com/photos/rogerbarker/2881764517/
- 2. Introduction The 5,000 foot view Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney - Image courtesy of Google Maps
- 5. Secondary research Literature review and competitor review
- 7. User research Interviews and diary study
- 9. Analysis Bringing it all together
- 11. Racing is a predominantly social activity User research findings Ascot Racecourse, UK - Image sourced from http://www.flickr.com/photos/russelljsmith/2485323167/
- 13. We are facing a complex existing ecosystem User research findings Horse racing enthusiast Specialist publications TV Newspaper form guide Tipsters Racetrack Friends and family Betting agency Specialist websites Radio ?
- 16. Information overload is a problem There are over 2,600 race meetings comprising over 19,500 races conducted at over 350 race tracks in Australia each year, making Australia the second largest thoroughbred industry in the world based on the number of races. User research findings - Source: Racing Information Services Australia (RISA)
- 18. Audience modeling Segmentation and identifying opportunities The Princess The Apprentice Life-long Punter The Serious Bettor
- 20. Say hi to Sally The Princess “ I missed the first race, because I couldn’t decide what to wear!” SALLY
- 22. Dave says g’day The Apprentice “ I try to know the form, but sometimes I just take a punt!” DAVE
- 24. This is John The Life-Long Punter “ Saturday racing is my relaxation; a few drinks and a bet” JOHN
- 26. Meet Carl The Serious Bettor “ If I’m chasing I keep going till I get up, I don’t like to lose” CARL
- 28. Further analysis Mental models and requirements ranking
- 30. Conceptualisation Where to now? Galaxy 3C 305 - located about 600 million light years away from Earth Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/F. Massaro et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/C.P. O'Dea et al.; Radio: NSF/VLA/CfA/F. Massaro, E. Liuzzo, A. Bonafede et al.
- 32. Conceptualisation Stop. Rewind a moment… image sourced from: www.flickr.com/photos/mrdannywilliams/2998437883/
- 36. Conceptualisation Challenge… Race Card in Print…
- 38. Conceptualisation Thinking, collaborating, sketching, thinking…
- 40. Conceptualisation From sketches to Visio
- 42. Concept testing Eyetracking wireframes and design mocks
- 44. Detailed design Site map
- 48. Detailed design Visual design
- 50. Innovations Twitter integration for ‘Trackside Live’ Journalist at racetrack Backend processing
- 52. The finished product http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/racing/
- 53. Any questions? Patrick Kennedy [email_address] @patrickkennedy Alun Machin [email_address] @alunmac (note these slides will be placed on slideshare: www.slideshare.net/PatrickKennedy/ ) Sam Houston Racetrack, Texas - Image sourced from http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/2636452277/
Editor's Notes
- Building the SuperRacing brand to be the most recognised online racing website within the Australian market Providing the greatest depth of quality and editorial content – the most in-depth analysis, comprehensive reporting and valued opinion within racing in Australia Increasing NDM’s market share in terms of unique browsers in the Australian market
- Literature review Previous research, including our team but also other business units and external parties Among other things, this gave us a basic audience model Competitor review content and functionality across Australian and international Google Trends
- Individual interviews “ online racing diary” more detail than 1 hour Exercises capture specific information
- Interview notes Diaries transcribed establish themes Secondary research included Lots discussion and sketching!
- Horse racing is a social thing Except for hard core betting Key elements are the social process of “turf talk” between friends/family And intellectual challenge part of their lifestyle family connection introduced by older generation, and “knowledge by association”
- many different sources Many are offline Each has its pros and cons “ competitors” not just media industry multiple sources, no “one stop shop” must try to fit into Rather than “everything to everyone” ecosystem good perspective assess useful
- amount of information -- overload is a problem Too many races, too many horses, too much data especially more serious limit what they follow Eg weekend only Eg certain tracks/cities only Eg types of content (video of starts)
- identified opportunities : Realistic needs and wants of the audience The competitive landscape Users’ information ecosystem (ie where they currently get into from) Playing to our strengths (eg expert editorial content) Minimising our weaknesses (eg resources, late market entry) Where website supplement existing, and offline, information sources We could then prioritise the audience (eg primary and secondary personas)
- Interested in fashion and glamour New to racing, very little knowledge Goes to the races quite often during carnival seasons, for the fashion/party
- Interested in the social side, but getting more serious about betting and racing Had an interest for a while but relatively little knowledge Relies heavily on tips and advice Learning more about racing all the time Enjoys sports in general
- It’s part of his social fabric Frequents the local club, pub and TAB (his Saturday ritual) Doesn’t go to the track anymore (too many Princesses!) Highly knowledgeable about horse racing Uses his own knowledge and intuition rather than listening to tips or advice Big sports fan in general Well known as the guru punter
- High income profession Takes racing, and betting, very seriously He bets big (ego bettor) Experienced, but hasn’t been around as long as John More data focussed; lots of research using all sources Uses a system, rather than intuition Heavy online user Keeps track of his betting and progress
- explored the needs, actions and use of information sources by users by producing mental models (ala Indi Young) gap analysis requirements prioritisation -- segmented and ranked by persona
- Where to now? The black hole moment…. We’ve got the insightful research in the bag. There’s lots of business requirements And plenty of editorial requirements So much to digest. The canvas is blank. Where do we start?
- Stop. Rewind a moment… So as a team we took a deep breath and got all retrospective…
- Don’t forget from a site design perspective to… How can we meet the user needs identified? How can our site can fit into the existing racing ecosystem? What are the touch points we can address and deliver on?
- Challenge… Race Card in Print One of the big Challenges: Bringing the Form Guide to the web. Cross referencing between tips, odds and horse form statistics is hard unless you are in the ‘know’. How do we translate this online? There’s no editorial context. Stories appear elsewhere (previous/next page) Another design challenge: ‘Don’t forget! We needed the detail but not the complexity’. ‘Good luck with that. A tough challenge’ - Herald Sun Racing Editor
- Thinking, Collaborating, Sketching, Thinking Time was spent brainstorming ideas for the website In particular how we could effectively fit into the audience’s ecosystem This was a joint process with both research and design disciplines taking part We delved down into a fair amount of detail for some specific aspects of the possible design solution in response to specific issues raised in the research Visualising the user requirements Visualising the editorial and business requirements We delved down into a fair amount of detail for some specific aspects of the possible design solution in response to specific issues raised in the research For example: The ‘My Race Picks’ idea which allows users to keep a list of bets they might place, similar to a shopping cart on a e-commerce website Contextualising the Race details. Matching statistics with form, editorial, expert opinion and live tweets.
- From Sketches to Visio Feed sketches and specific user requirements into concept As ideas for possible solutions started to solidify the sketches were transferred into Visio to form ‘conceptual wireframes’ These were used for usability testing and also as a basis for visual design mock-ups
- Eyetracking wireframes and design mocks To help validate our conceptual design decisions user testing was performed The testing was a very loose/open form of usability testing The emphasis was on exploring how well the concepts worked with real users Both wireframes and visual design mocks were used in the testing Eyetracking was performed to allow for extra depth of analysis for certain aspects of the design For example: Contextualisation of stories > Display Race Meeting name above story link Several iterations of design revisions and testing were undertaken
- Site map Design Philosophy…The race is the core of the site. Following on from the testing we entered the detailed product design phase Calendar/Race card/Race Details is the core of the site. A different design approach from the normally content driven media sites we produce
- Wireframes This involved finalising and fleshing out the conceptual deliverables Getting the business to sign off and making them usable from a site production perspective (developers, third parties, designers etc etc) Brings context to the subject by showing related content. For example: Tips, Track Data, Live updates, related expert opinion, stories
- Detailed Design Based on the detailed wireframes production grade visual designs were produced for all site pages
- Twitter integration for ‘Trackside Live’ There are a number of innovative elements incorporated into the site design One of these is the use of Twitter for the ‘Trackside live’ functionality Trackside live gives the user real-time coverage from particular racetracks at particular times For example: a major race meeting or a horse trial session It involved commentary from an expert journalist who is in the thick of the action This is invaluable information for many racing enthusiasts (particularly at the more serious end of the spectrum) Journalists currently attend many race meetings but have been unable to easily broadcast their thoughts or observations quickly Using Blackberry devices journalist can now tweet information that is picked up by the website CMS and contextually placed onto the website The processing includes expanding short-hand and turning keywords into contextual links For example: Horse Name links to Horse statistics page, Race number links to Race details page
- A la prochaine…