Associated Press, the most authoritative media collection on the planet, hired us to create a unique new video platform. Working with AP’s top clients like BBC led us to create a fundamentally new way to find, compare and purchase videos. And helped AP make the transition to become a UX-centered powerhouse.
Associated Press Video Archive
Through intensive hands-on workshops, followed by our Rapid Iterative Testing and Design (RITE) process, we redesigned the IA, search and navigation for Associated Press’ Video Archive and AP Images. So the world could find the stories that needed to be told.
Assessing Existing UX
Before tackling the new design we performed a complete technical and UX assessment and competitive analysis of the old site:
We found the following issues:
1) Lots of popups and frames which slowed the customers down and led to inefficient pogo-sticking (jumping back and forth between details and gallery view).
2) Complex, un-approachable interface had many more features, modes and doodads than most customers could understand or could use.
3) Most importantly, media search was text-based, relying on expensive transcription service and text-matching, not the video itself.
“Greg brings fresh out-of-the-box thinking to the UX design process and truly understands what it means to put the customer first. The wealth of experience he brings to the table from designing successful search and e-commerce systems is invaluable. He’s a pleasure to work with and comes highly recommended.†– Dante Moore, Sr. Director, Product Design, Associated Press (Currently CEO, Paragoni.com)
The New Touch-Friendly Design
Even when we do not design specifically for mobile, we make the effort to create clean, touch-friendly interfaces that delight the customer by letting technology do the heavy lifting:
1) The new AP is streamlined with only the essential features organized around common use patterns, with advanced features hidden, yet accessible. Combined with the simpler pricing structure, the new interface makes finding and licensing videos enjoyable by anyone.
2) We completely redesigned the Information Architecture (IA) of the categories and flattening low-value filters and removing popups through detailed query analysis and customer interviews. All-in-one search is simple and immediately familiar, reminiscent of the faceted search interfaces found on popular sites well-loved by consumers.
3) Most critically, we created a genuine video search.
Genuine Video Search
Each video segment is divided on the back-end using AP’s proprietary technology. And for every sub-segment, a thumbnail appears in the carousel, making it easy to see the entire contents of a complex news reel at a glance. Clicking the small thumbnail starts the preview video playing from the beginning of that segment.
Along the way we paid special attention to the “eye-meat”: slick, modern controls, clean typography, crisp icons, creative visualizations and intuitive transitions — all of “the big little things” that make the experience really come together.
The result is a unique video search experience, that is at once simple and intuitive, yet empowering and resourceful. See for yourself: http://www.aparchive.com/
“Greg was hired by Associated Press to help make sense of AP’s product search methodologies and practices. Greg produced fantastic results by delivering timely user-centered design solutions, absorbed input from users’ and business needs and quickly refined his solutions accordingly. His work has advanced AP’s product development across the enterprise.†– John Barrow, Director, Product Design, Associated Press
We help you get the search UX right
If you are designing for mobile or web, you can’t afford to ignore search. Search is more than mere technology. It is an experience. A moment of flow, of meaning. A quiet conversation with your customer. That is why I wrote Designing Search: UX Strategies for eCommerce Success (Wiley, 2011) and 3 other UX books.
