Crime Junkie Fan Club App
We've launched a Crime Junkie fan app designed to help listeners easily discover, organize, and engage with their favorite podcast episodes while fostering a sense of community. It empowers users to accomplish their goals of efficient episode management, personalized curation, and active engagement within the Crime Junkie community.
View in App Store
Studio Science, Design
UX & UI designer
Project Timeline
Jan-Apr 2020
Podcast Fan App Design
Background
Being part of the Digital Product Design & Development team at Studio Science, our goal was to create a unique and engaging community experience, curate podcast content effectively, and provide exclusive features and announcements within a dedicated Crime Junkie app.
Crime Junkie
Crime Junkie is a true crime podcast hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. It covers various true crime cases, providing in-depth information and analysis on unsolved mysteries, missing persons, and murders. With a growing fan base it was important to empower fans to have an elevated listening experience and contribute to the content creation process.
Hypothesis
Upon joining the group, I discovered valuable UX research findings and insights. However, our product lacked a well-defined direction. To tackle this issue, I spearheaded a Design Sprint involving our multidisciplinary team and dedicated three days to activities that focused on developing a vision. After the sprint, I gathered all the ideas produced and devised an initial product vision and roadmap, highlighting 3 essential aspects to concentrate on. I shared this with our executive team, who showed great enthusiasm and support. This roadmap remains the backbone for project planning and prioritization.
Process
Research & Analysis: To validate our preliminary hypothesis, we conducted interviews and surveys with Crime Junkie listeners and artists to understand their preferences, pain points, and expectations. We also reviewed Crime Junkie's podcast episodes comments, overall reviews and website reviews to identify key elements that could enhance user engagement. With an initial ideation, we decided to conduct an analysis how the other apps in the same field are doing.
Competitive Analysis & Information Architecture:
Based on our initial research, we conducted a competitive analysis across three categories: Crime Podcast Applications, General Podcast Applications, and Music Streaming Applications. This analysis helped us identify industry trends, best practices, and areas where we could differentiate the Crime Junkie app.
1. Same field (Crime Podcast Applications)
True Crime: This popular crime podcast app offers a lively community forum where listeners can discuss episodes and share their own true crime stories. The app also provides episode transcripts, enhancing accessibility.
Real Life Real Crime focuses on immersive storytelling, featuring detailed episode descriptions and an option to view crime scene photos. It emphasizes deep dives into cases, catering to enthusiasts seeking comprehensive content.
Key Takeaways:
Community engagement features such as forums and discussions are valuable for crime podcast enthusiasts.
Detailed episode descriptions and additional media content contribute to a more engaging experience.
2. General Podcast Applications:
Apple Podcasts: Apple Podcasts provides a vast library of podcasts, but its social features are limited. User reviews and ratings help with content discovery to some extent.
Key Takeaways:
Personalization and content recommendations are strong points in general podcast applications.
Social and community features are often less prominent or lacking.
3. Music Streaming Applications:
Spotify: As mentioned earlier, Spotify offers both music and podcast content. It excels in music discovery through playlists and algorithms but does not provide deep podcast community engagement features.Spotify also offers podcast integration. It excels in personalized playlists and algorithm-driven recommendations. However, podcast-specific features are somewhat limited compared to dedicated podcast apps.
Apple Music: While primarily a music streaming platform, Apple Music has started to integrate podcasts. It focuses on seamless content transition between music and podcasts.
Key Takeaways:
Music streaming apps prioritize seamless integration between music and podcasts.
Podcast-specific community and engagement features are typically limited.
Overall Insights:
Community Engagement: Crime podcast apps like My Favorite Murder and Casefile excel in fostering community engagement through forums and discussions. This indicates a strong desire among listeners to interact and discuss content.
Content Discovery: General podcast apps like Spotify emphasize personalization and algorithm-driven content recommendations. This approach helps users discover new podcasts and episodes tailored to their interests.
Multimedia and Deep Dives: Some crime podcast apps, like Casefile, provide additional multimedia content such as crime scene photos and detailed episode descriptions, catering to users who want in-depth information.
Seamless Integration: Music streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music focus on creating a seamless transition between music and podcasts, recognizing that many users enjoy both forms of audio content.
From the key insights, we decided to divide the app experience into 3 main buckets-
1. Enhanced listening experience:
Ashley & Brit's podcast not only offered audio but also included photos and additional content on their website, creating a more immersive experience. They aimed to blend these elements seamlessly to set themselves apart from other platforms without the need for additional video content.
Foster community interaction:
Crime Junkie fans expressed a desire to engage with the team and fellow listeners. While some streaming platforms allowed comments, the ability to react and reply was missing, limiting interaction.
Content discoverability:
Users struggled to find specific episodes or topics of interest, as content was often listed chronologically. To enhance the overall fan experience, there was a need for better episode discovery and curation based on location or case preference.
Based on research, we decided to draft fan-base Jobs to be accomplished through the app:
How might we elevate the immersive content experiences of the Crime Junkie app to maintain its uniqueness in the market?
How might we boost community engagement in the Crime Junkie app to create a stronger bond among crime podcast enthusiasts?
How might we refine content discovery in the Crime Junkie app to enhance the user experience?
To achieve the JTBD, I started to think big — how can we deliver value of entertaining podcasts that are live today, while positioning it to grow with the fan-base in the future. I consulted with multiple teams within Studio Science to help identify new use cases that we might have missed if we had focused solely on short-term gains. This way of thinking allowed us to design a product that not only solved current problems but also had the potential to evolve and adapt as technology and user needs continue to change.
Wireframing & Prototyping
Crime Junkie is a true crime podcast hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. It covers various true crime cases, providing in-depth information and analysis on unsolved mysteries, missing persons, and murders. With a growing fan base it was important to empower fans to have an elevated listening experience and contribute to the content creation process.
Design Iterations
We used white-boarding sessions and team brainstorms to generate several concepts. I subsequently turned those into high-fidelity UI mocks to test with real customers.
During user testing, we found that customers were thrilled with the addition of image library to every podcast and ability to engage with other fans. They found it engaging and interactive. But they also had concerns about privacy and quality which we addressed in the next iteration.
Interactive Episode Experience:
Dynamic Visuals: To enhance immersion, we introduced a feature that automatically rotates relevant photos based on the content of the episode. This keeps users visually engaged with the story.
Episode Insights: Users can access additional information and sources related to the episode's content directly within the app, providing a deeper understanding of the cases discussed.
Community Engagement:
Comments and Reactions: We introduced a comment system to allow listeners to discuss episodes, share theories, and engage with other fans. Emoji reactions were added to express feelings about specific moments.
Polls: Users can participate in polls to suggest future podcast topics, providing a sense of involvement in the content creation process.
Content Curation:
Sort & Filter: We implemented a sorting and filtering feature to help users find episodes based on specific criteria such as topic, guest, or release date.
Personalized Recommendations: The app uses machine learning to recommend episodes based on user preferences and listening history.
Visual Design Elevation:
Sleek and Modern Interface: We modernized the app's visual design with a dark theme, clean typography, and high-quality images to elevate the overall user experience.
Branding Consistency: The app's design was aligned with the Crime Junkie brand to provide a cohesive and recognizable experience.
78%
users enjoyed the slideshow
82%
users navigated properly
69.3%
users completed each task in less than 2 minutes
Development & Testing Details
Our development process included iterative design and user testing phases. We conducted usability tests with real Crime Junkie fans to gather feedback and make improvements throughout the development cycle.
Usability Hub A/B Test: Grid vs. Horizontal Scroll
Hypothesis:
Our hypothesis was to check whether customers prefer to check any content during listening or have the images change/transition while the content is being played.
Metrics:
78% of users preferred images transitioning while the content is being played.
Customer Quotes:
"I prefer viewing images with context, I'd definitely go back and check them all if I have already listened to the episode."
"Viewing the images helps me to be more involved with the podcast as it takes me to the place where that case happened. It is like having another suspense revealed."
Beta Testing and User Feedback Integration:
We released a beta version of the app to a select group of Crime Junkie fans and encouraged them to provide feedback.
Insights:
New listeners found the app's onboarding process intuitive and were able to quickly engage with comments and polls, indicating that the user interface was user-friendly.
Dedicated fans praised the dynamic visuals feature, noting that it enhanced their immersion in the episodes.
A few users provided feedback on the need for more robust content reporting options to maintain a respectful and safe community environment. User feedback led to the addition of a "Report Content" feature, addressing concerns about inappropriate comments or content within the app.
Beta testers reported minor issues related to emoji rendering inconsistencies on certain devices, which were promptly addressed in subsequent updates.
Outcomes
Increased Community Engagement: The addition of comments, reactions, and polls led to a significant increase in user interactions within the app. The growing fan base is
Improved Content Discovery: The sort and filter options, along with personalized recommendations, made it easier for users to find and enjoy episodes tailored to their interests.
Enhanced Listening Experience: Users praised the dynamic visuals and episode insights for providing a more immersive and informative listening experience.
Learnings
1. User-Centric Design is Vital:
- Prioritizing users means understanding their needs, preferences, and pain points. User-centered design ensures that the final product resonates with Crime Junkie fans, fostering loyalty and satisfaction.
2. Community Engagement Enhances Loyalty:
- Creating a sense of community and emotional connection through features like comments and polls boosts user loyalty. Adaptability, including content reporting tools, maintains a respectful environment.
3. Functionality and Immersion Must Be Balanced:
- Aligning visuals with content enhances engagement without overwhelming users. Striking the right balance between functionality and immersion is key for an enjoyable app.
4. Continuous Feedback and Accessibility Are Essential:
- User feedback drives iterative improvements, and designing with accessibility in mind ensures inclusivity and an equitable user experience.
5. Collaboration Drives Project Success:
- Effective teamwork among designers, developers, and content strategists ensures the app meets its objectives and aligns with the overall user experience vision.