This was more than a redesign, it was a complete rethink of the Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s digital proposition and a cultural shift for the station. The website is visited by 4 million people per week.
Author / Yasser Rashid
BBC TV homepage and live video player
This week the new BBC TV homepage and live video player launched. It completes another part of the BBC TV channel portfolio refresh that started with the updates that we made to the TV channel pages earlier this year.
Around 800,000 people visit the the BBC TV homepage every week and before the update it was a very basic experience. There wasn’t much in the way of content to browse and it didn’t provide a consistent experience across any other pages within the TV portfolio. Continue Reading
Desert Island Discs relaunch
Desert Island Discs recently relaunched on the Radio 4 website (at the end of March) on almost the same date that we held the Desert Island Discs hackday a year ago to explore what we could do with the archive data. Since the hackday a lot of work took place including the rebranding of Desert Island Discs and commissioning magneticNorth to help us design and build the new website and create a compelling experience for exploring the archive. It’s been exciting seeing the project take shape over the year and building up to the launch date.
Drawing a floorplan – a research exercise
The research team at Sonos use a floor plan drawing exercise during in-home studies as a fun way to break the ice with people. They ask research participants to draw their house and indicate on the floor plan where they listen to music or watch TV, day and night. It’s a great way to understand […]
Berlin Music Week
Earlier this month I attended Berlin Music Week, an event that brings together the music industry to discuss latest developments and showcase new artists. As part of the conference I hosted a panel discussion with a group of artists and cultural influencers. Music has experienced so much upheaval over the last few years I thought it would be interesting to hear from artists themselves how the internet has influenced their craft and made them think differently about their relationship with their fans.
Guerilla research and rapid prototyping
Recently I conducted some guerrilla user research in Amsterdam to gather insights into how people listen to and discover music. The aim was to interview a few people on the street and then use the information to build quick and simple prototypes later in the day.
About eight people from my team took part in the activity and we split up into pairs to find people and ask questions.
Probably one of the most daunting aspects of conducting guerrilla research is having the confidence to walk up to random people in the street and ask for their time. I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to dodging people holding clipboards. My tactic was to make sure my notepad was in my pocket and that when I stopped people I made sure they were aware that I wasn’t trying to sell them anything as its probably one of the first things a person thinks when they’re approached on the street).
Making a difference with the 1%Club
Despite being a small place, The Netherlands has always been a country with global influence. Most of this stems from the golden age in the 17th century where the world was in awe of Dutch trade, science, military, and art. This legacy of entrepreneurial and global spirit seems to be ingrained in Dutch culture and its something that I found to be true when I met with the team at the 1% Club a few months ago.
Data and the future of entertainment
Recently I was asked to present a point of view on the ‘Future of Entertainment’ to a well known entertainment company. This is an incredibly broad topic as you could argue that entertainment is pretty much anything and everything these days. However there are some key trends that are emerging that are consistent across a range of entertainment including music, film, television and gaming. One important theme is data.
Red Light Radio
I’m outside a red lit prostitutes window waving to a guy inside who is enthusiastically waving back at me. It’s a surreal moment as I’m in the heart of the Red Light district in Amsterdam surrounded by a small crowd of young men binge drinking. Instead of finding a scantily woman at number 22 Oudekerksplein its an internet radio station called Red Light Radio that is broadcasting in full view of the street.