Project Timeline
How might we update Real College Podcast's webpage navigation experience to increase its engagement?
Investigate
1. Investigate
Pain points
Research
2. Research
Stakeholder meetings & user interviews
UI/UX Design
3. UI/UX Design
User persona, Journey Map, Moodboard
Final Design
4. Final Design
Explaining design decisions
Client Background:
Real College Podcast by RadioK
Real College Podcast (RCP) is a Minneapolis-themed arts and cultural podcast hosted by the University of Minnesota’s college radio station, RadioK.
Project Scope
The Real College Podcast receives significantly less user engagement than RadioK itself, despite it being hosted by the same team.
Goals
- Redirect RadioK listeners to Real College Podcast
- Keep to the podcast's current branding identity
- Minimize technical changes
#1
Research Hypothesis
Given that RadioK itself has a high viewership but the podcast does not, I suspected the following:
- poor access pathways between the two
- an unfriendly podcast user experience
so I set off to investigate.
Issue 1
Current Access Pathways
📌 Can be improved
The podcast may have lowered discoverability due to broken links, usage of an unfamiliar "RCP" acronym, and its unintuitive location under the Explore tab on the website.
Issue 2
Current Navigation Experience
📌 Can be improved
The podcast may have lowered user retention due to the difficulty of navigating between podcasts and viewing the description of each episode.
#2
User Research
With a good starting ground for investigation, I conducted in-person user interviews and secondary market research to uncover more insights.
Insight 1
Users expect more previews and descriptions of each episode.
"I expected snippets of episodes, new episode alerts, behind the scenes. I think that getting to know the personalities of hosts is also important."
Popular podcast channels such as “SmartLess” often post snippets of each episode on Instagram.— Instagram @smartless
Instagram @smartlessInsight 2
Users are confused by the podcast's lack of theme.
"It seems like a mix of everything for things surrounding college. Kind of confused about the theme."
"There's a lot of different things going on. The content is very confusing and not cohesive."
Insight 3
Users prefer listening on apps rather than browsers.
Podcast apps have significantly higher audience engagement and retention rate than web browsers.— Pacific Content, 2019
50% of users prefer finding new podcasts within the podcast app they listen to.— The Podcast Host, 2024
#3
UI/UX Design
At this point, my team and I split to work on marketing and podcast website redesign respectively. To identify potential improvements, I decided to use user personas and journey maps.
User Group – University Students
- Tech-savvy
- Likes relatable or cool things
- Busy
- Open-minded
- Budget-conscious
User Persona – Alex
- 21 years old
- Senior in the University of Minnesota
- Majoring in IT & UX Design
Alex is busy with school and a job. He doesn't listen to many podcasts, but he's willing to try. Alex primarily discovers new things through social media, especially Instagram.
Wants
A free entertainment option that allows him to both relax and learn, and that he'll feel good supporting.
Frustrations
No time to evaluate available entertainment options to find a suitable one.
Alex's Journey Map in RadioK's Website
Key Design Opportunities To Include
- Overview of topics
- Highlight past podcasts
- Easily viewable podcast description
- Search function
- Information about the hosts
- Suggest related podcasts/subtopics
#3.1
UI Mood Board
Focuses on
- RadioK's branding
- Other podcast/music players
- Best practices for related design components
Current Branding
Component design
Other podcast designs#3.2
Rapid Prototyping
Quick sketches and testing of prototypes with club members
User testing feedbackFinal Design
Each design decision is backed by user research and user journey insights (as labeled on the image).
#4
Moving forward
The podcast website navigation is only one part of the podcast experience.
- Improve integration between platforms
Potential to find a better ‘home’ in the larger RadioK website, and a better call-to-action from social media platforms.
- Prioritize marketing
E.g. shoutouts from @radioK770 instagram or during radio shows.
- Include advanced features (lower priority)
E.g. favorites playlist, queue system on website.
Me presenting the project at DesignU's end of semester Portfolio event
Jiaxi Tang