The National, an English-language newspaper for readers around Dubai, Abu Dahbi and the Gulf region, came to UX Connections for help with their existing news website.
They were looking to expand internationally, and therefore the goal was to position The National as the leading Middle Eastern news website by improving its usability and appearance. Meanwhile, an engaging experience was required so that readers could enjoy the stories to the fullest extent.
How we approached this case can be split into two parts – expert review and usability research. The expert review assessed the UX and UI of the website, providing recommendations around the pain points as well as opportunities. In the next phase, our consultants then created a prototype that brought those recommendations alive, and conducted usability research on it alongside the website.
In line with The National’s objective of global expansion, the usability research was carried out across multiple locations and user types.
To provide the recommendations that best capture users’ needs, our consultants conducted stakeholder interviews, competitor analysis, and integrated the findings with their review.
Based on those, they explored the visual in two possible styling directions, modern and traditional, and created navigation wireframes for mobile and desktop.
We also delivered detailed tactical personas. Our team created two groups of personas – one of the news industry in general, and the other of The National users.
We summarised the overall findings of these two groups and crafted twelve detailed personas in total. The personas were put into use as The National developed the digital product.
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