“TV network ABC has released a custom ABC News iPad app that’s interesting for two reasons—its clever use of HTML5 and the amazing rotating Globe of News.” —Gizmodo

“A lot of people have just ported over iPhone applications, but this actually, is the first time I’ve seen a news site that’s actually taking advantage of the whole interface [of the iPad]..”—Nick Bilton from the NYTimes

“ABC News Puts A Different Spin On Its iPad App” —Paid Content

And my favorite critique from Twitter: “Glad to see the ABC iPad app has really taken key learnings from hip-hop music videos and brought the fish-eye lens to news UI.” —@rdesign

This week we launched some small improvements to the ABC News homepage. This iteration of the homepage is by no means a large step forward. For one, it does not address many of the numerous and fundamental navigational, design, or user experience challenges across the site.

That said, this update is intended as a small step to simplify the presentation of the content on the homepage itself, and to give each of the ABC News programs a permanent spot above the fold on the homepage. While this was a relatively quick project, it was truly a team effort with stakeholders from across the organization involved, and it’s just the beginning of what we have cooking.

So what’s different with these small tweaks?

All Programs Above the Fold

For one, the area devoted to programs is consolidated from disparate elements scattered across the homepage into a single accordion component at the top of the c-column. The hope is that our users will learn to look to the top of the right column for the latest and greatest from the programs.

Depending on what time of day you visit the abcnews.com homepage, the accordion will open by default to a different program (Good Morning America in the morning, World News in the afternoon and early evening, Nightline overnight, etc.). If full episodes of the program are available, there’s a link next to the program logo. Special features like Diane’s Question of the Day and George’s Bottom Line blog are touted within the respective program spaces in the accordion.

Less is More

Secondly, the presentation of latest headlines has been simplified so the headlines are easier to scan and there is a clearer hierarchy to the top of the page. A new area in the a-col is devoted to stories, slideshows, and videos that shouldn’t be missed.

In the a/b-cols below the fold, the display of content in each section (politics, health, etc.) has been simplified so that it is easier to scan and digest the headlines on the page.

Include Differentiators

Local news, weather, and special features from local ABC television stations are now much higher on the page. Below the fold, we’ve added a new section to the c-col, “This Day in History” that highlights newsworthy events from the ABC News video archives. One video from today covers the Blackout from July 14, 1977, a “massive blackout lasting 25 hours result[ing] in looting and fires in New York City.”

All and all, the homepage is much shorter, and better organized. While the changes are not as large a step forward as many of us would like, they are a small iteration in the right direction.

Next Steps

Next steps: we will test how these updates perform, continue to tweak, and use the learnings to inform more comprehensive updates to the design and user experience of the product.

I realize there are a lot of variables that factor into this question (brand, salary, title, personality of coworkers, company vision and leadership) and that we all value different things. But I’m interested in other perspectives from designers working in the industry.

What do you value most: the work itself, the salary, the team, the awards and industry recognition, or work-life balance? What are the best companies to work for as an interactive designer in NYC?

Yesterday I launched a redesign of Song Isabel Hee’s portfolio. Her work is so strong and the photography so compelling that I wanted to keep the design as simple and clean as possible. A grid with a flexible layout shifts to match the browser width. Built on WordPress for easy maintenance and updating, the custom theme includes a peppering of jquery.cycle to power the slideshows within each project. It was really refreshing to complete a project in a few days (a welcome change from the day job).

I designed the cover for Domer’s latest work, The Flaming Clipse, a mashup album “combining the dirty south raps of Virginia natives Clipse with the epic sonic wash of indie-rock innovators The Flaming Lips.”

True to form the design itself is a mashup of the iconic album covers from Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips and Clipse’s Lord Willin’.

Domer is the man behind the production of The Bohemian Rap CD. The Flaming Clipse album is a free download on freeicecream.net.

But the meaning of “the web” itself is blurring — when you use an app on your iPhone, or get a DVD from Netflix (or view a streaming NetFlix movie via your DVR), or read a book on a Kindle, are you not, to some degree, interacting with the web? My point is that “interactive systems” are bigger than just the web even if the web is a big part of them: that they involve so much more in terms of physical processes (Netflix had to invent a warehousing system), business models (should Kindle books cost the same, less, or more than physical books?), and that they’re always incorporating new technologies (touchscreen UIs fundamentally change how web design is done, and imagine how Apple’s tablet will shake up “web” design). Interaction design is influenced by entertainment, games… and global concerns like sustainability and digital accessibility.

In my class, we’ve worked on web sites, mobile apps, physical devices, and even just social system design (for example, how does a taxi driver “work” as a planned interactive system?). I think I am typical of SVA’s faculty in my attitude that great web design is just a flavor of great interaction design, which in turn is a flavor of experience design. So we don’t teach web design specifically, but students who want to focus on web design are absolutely free to do so, and we are happy to evaluate, guide, and teach ideas and concepts that advance web-based experiences. But I’d be lying if I told you that the web as we know it now is going to be the dominant interaction design paradigm of 2020. The fundamentals of interaction design aren’t about HTML and CSS, nor even about hard drives and keyboards. It’s about human beings, our relationships with each other (socially, business, culturally), with media, and with technology.

Well said.

A little over a year ago in December of 2008, while I was Creative Director at Newsweek Digital, I worked on Newsweek’s first iPhone Application with HUGE, a user-centered design and development shop. HUGE did a tremendous job turning around the project from concept to working build in a matter of weeks, but the launch of the app was held up for various reasons until two days ago when it hit the iTunes store.

The product description:

For more than 75 years, NEWSWEEK has captured the most important moments in history through award-winning photography and journalism. For the first time ever, you can enjoy the covers that have captivated the world for generations.

Flashback by NEWSWEEK gives you access to the magazine’s cover archive and with images dating back to the 1930s.

You can browse covers by a specific date / year / decade, save and download your favorites, and shake your phone to find a random cover. Some screenshots:

The core project team on the Newsweek side was:
Creative Director: Mark Forscher
Art Director: Lisa Ortiz
Product Director: Kevin Stuart, Hila Dar
Technical Lead: Jeremy Freedman, Nehal Shah

I can’t speak highly enough of working with HUGE on this project. Download Newsweek’s first iPhone App “Flashback” here.

More: Newsweek iPhone Site Launches