Researching all the research at CCN, I found as CNN audience was so big the quantitive data lent itself more towards the mega and macro end of the research spectrum. At the other end of the scale all the testing of products CNN generated a lot of micro and nano data and insights.
Large trend reports from the Pew Research Center or Reuters I think of as ‘mega’ or ‘macro’ data sets. Internally CNN uses extensive web data analytics with omniture, so the sample set will be in the millions. As will its comScore data sets. So CNN has a wealth of mega quantitative data audience data. Pew by contrast use for their surveys their ‘American Trends Panel (ATP)’, which has a sample of 5,000 or so respondents. Pew uses these to generate general observations about the behaviour of American news consumers. These will be demographic (the structure of populations) in their nature.
Research at a more detailed individual or group level can have more qualitative results and I think of these being more ‘meso’ (middle), micro and nano. So for a meso insight CNN might use Applause to get feedback on a new product. Also CNN will test different interaction design within that feature with users. So breaking a feature down to its components. Occasionally CNN will even test the styling of those components, so working at an atomic level as Brad Frost might put it, or as I think of it a ‘nano’ scale.
But as a designer I wanted to be able to deliver human-centered outcomes, I wanted to be able to synthesise the data to generate insights in the middle of the research scale. This I hoped would allow design to be able explain itself in a strategic way to the business. This would show design the opportunities to go after.
For example
Mega
‘Younger adults are far more likely than their elders to often get news on a mobile device. About seven-in-ten (72%) adults ages 18 to 29 often get news this way, compared with 38% among those ages 65 and older.’
Pew Research Center :- Americans favour mobile devices over desktops and laptops for getting news – 19 Nov 2019
Macro
‘CNN reaches 40% of Millennials on digital and over 60% in total, comparing favorably to a typical Millennial-focused news publisher.’
Millennial (P18-34) Cross-Media Reach % Source: comScore Xmedia, U.S., December 2015, Live +7 TV CNN_Cross_Media_Report
Meso
Ross Day of News : Morning: Checking phone, Google News, iPhone, Apple News alerts. Checks news first thing in the morning in bed and while having morning coffee. Checking news consistently throughout the day, every hour refreshing the news, searching news in safari to get the latest news updates. Uses mobile apps on mobile phone, but does not use any news apps on his mobile phone.
Micro
“ BBC news have a similar feature dedicated to keeping you up to date on the latest topics and news stories. Unlike some other news sources, the BBC News app isn’t afraid to offer a bit more fun with its articles, and it also comes with a live-streaming news channel that’s baked directly into the app. If you opt-in, you’ll be alerted any time the app deems breaking news to be urgent enough to warrant your attention, making it a fantastic way to keep up-to-date.”
CNN Mobile Event coverage module March 21, 2018. Test Results Event Coverage Module Conceptual Test #1 w/Remote Audience
Nano
“Bianca – She scrolled and swiped the package carousel in the homepage feed She said she liked the dot indicators, like Insta”
Product Concepts Notes Feb 2019
So in thinking about, ‘How to improve CNN’s mobile experience for Millennials?’ I could take an almost random slice through a collection of internal and external reports. Showing that CNN millennial audience want a richer article experience on mobile, but not app based. Is there an opportunity to move from the simple scaling responsive layouts to a richer adaptive layout?
But the point I am trying to make is that despite the huge amount of research being conducted I felt there was a real opportunity for a design researcher/strategist to pull it all together for the design team. Making sense of the ‘meso’ middle. So the design team could identify their own design opportunities, confident that they would improve the user experience and as a result benefit the business. The wealth of knowledge being generated is wonderful, but could it be pulled together. Maybe after the design system, CNN could create a Design Research framework. IBM have a fun Design Research system and of course IDEO are renowned for their design research based approach.