Manorama Online 2.5: Enhancing User Experience
Overview
Manorama Online is India’s largest Malayalam news platform, drawing over 2 million daily readers. As the digital face of Malayala Manorama, Kerala’s media giant since 1888, the website upholds a rich legacy of regional journalism. In 1998, it became a trailblazer as one of India’s first traditional newspapers to go digital.
An Opportunity to Level Up
As readership expanded, so did the complexity of maintaining a seamless digital experience. With a diverse audience spanning local readers in Kerala and Keralites worldwide, the site needed an overhaul to modernize its design, enhance discoverability, and optimize monetization strategies.
Research and discovery with recurrent testing and iterations, concluding with handover.
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More News, More Challenges
The growing platform faced several roadblocks:
Overwhelming Content
Too many stories, making it hard for users to find what they wanted.
Lack of Personalization
No tailored experience for users, resulting in disconnection from content.
Mobile Optimization Issues
An outdated design that didn’t provide a seamless mobile experience.
Ad Distractions
Excessive ads cluttered the interface, distracting users from the core content.
The Challenge
The challenge was to redefine Manorama Online’s user experience, balancing its rich journalistic legacy with modern digital needs. We aimed to streamline navigation, introduce personalized features, and enhance mobile responsiveness while maintaining revenue goals.
Competitor matrix
I conducted a deep-dive analysis of direct and indirect digital news competitors. Examining their content, engagement, and monetization strategies helped us identify opportunities for Manorama Online to innovate and stand out. Looking at both local and international news sites gave us a comprehensive view of the industry landscape and potential gaps we could fill.
Analyzed competitors to identify gaps in content delivery, user engagement, ad approach, and user experience for Manorama Online.
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Assumptive Personas
Through extensive stakeholder interviews and user research, we gained a deep understanding of Manorama Online's audience. A significant segment was the "Skeptical" users—primarily Keralites aged 35 to 55. This group displayed a cautious approach to adopting new technology, shaped by their reliance on familiar, straightforward interfaces and a preference for trustworthy, traditional news sources.
With 68% of user being skeptics, the challenge was to enhance their experience through modern design without overwhelming them.
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Designing for this audience required balancing modern aesthetics with usability. We focused on creating an intuitive, approachable experience that aligned with their expectations, while gently introducing innovative features like personalized recommendations and seamless navigation to build trust and engagement over time.
Design Principles
Scalable & Future-Ready
Develop a design framework that adapts to evolving content volumes, user needs, and emerging technologies.
Clarity Through Simplicity
Streamline the interface by presenting key information upfront while minimizing distractions and unnecessary complexity.
Consistency Across Touchpoints
Create a unified look and feel by adhering to established design patterns and ensuring visual and functional alignment across platforms.
Research and discovery with recurrent testing and iterations, concluding with handover.
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Growing Pains
When Manorama Online's content began to grow, the website's outdated structure failed to support the increased volume of stories. The homepage, which displayed all stories in a long, unorganized list, became cluttered and difficult to navigate.
Highlighting the cluttered and outdated layout, which caused user frustration.
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Pinpointed Issues
Limited Discoverability
The "all-news" model lacked categorized sections, making it difficult for users to explore relevant content.
Outdated Design
The interface needed modernization to match contemporary design standards and user expectations.
Mobile Optimization Issues
An outdated design that didn’t provide a seamless mobile experience.
Ad Distractions
Excessive ads cluttered the interface, distracting users from the core content.
Patching Things Up
We addressed these challenges by implementing categorized news sections, AI-driven personalization, and a fresh, contemporary design with improved accessibility features. These updates enhanced navigation, streamlined content discovery, and created a more inclusive experience.
Highlighting the cluttered and outdated layout, which caused user frustration.
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Prioritized Key Content
Featured "Day's Highlight," visual stories, and premium content on the homepage.
Enhanced Categorization
Clear categories and customizable templates for easier content discovery.
Optimized Advertising
Redesigned ads for better user engagement and conversion.
Personalized News Recommendations
The introduction of a personalized news recommendation system on Manorama Online enhanced user engagement and significantly reduced bounce rates. By providing tailored content suggestions based on reader preferences, we ensured users stayed longer, interacted more, and found content relevant to their interests.
This system not only improved content discoverability but also created a more personalized browsing experience, helping to retain users and boost overall engagement with the website.
Highlighting the cluttered and outdated layout, which caused user frustration.
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Contextual Article Suggestions
Relevant news displayed within articles for uninterrupted reading.
Tailored Sidebar Recommendations
AI-driven news suggestions on the article page's sidebar.
Targeted Advertising
Collaborations with Google and Taboola for personalized ad experiences.
Streamlined User Accounts and Management
To elevate user engagement and convenience, we redefined the user flow and introduced robust profile management features. The new system empowers readers to effortlessly manage their subscriptions, personalize their news preferences, and access bookmarks, while keeping track of other account activities. This streamlined approach ensures a seamless, user-first experience across devices.
Highlighting the cluttered and outdated layout, which caused user frustration.
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Desktop Redesign process
We took a methodical, user-centric approach to the desktop redesign, focused on simplifying content delivery and improving usability. This involved wireframing, collaborating with editors, and developing a robust design system supporting various viewing modes.
The website redesign for Manorama Online was a thorough process that gave us a fresh perspective, allowing us to introduce modern, forward-thinking ideas to improve the platform.
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Developing wireframes for key pages like channels and articles
Collaborating closely with news editors to optimize content placement
Refining the information architecture for better site navigation
Creating and testing detailed prototypes to validate the final design
Designing for light, dark, and reading modes
Continuous research and testing throughout the process
Mobile Redesign
Our modular design approach enabled efficient, seamless implementation of the mobile experience. Key improvements included optimized layout and ad placement to better align with user expectations, along with intuitive tab-based navigation.
We focused on mobile design to cater to the growing number of mobile readers, improving areas like topic pages, navigation, ad placements, and overall mobile experience.
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Project Handover and Performance Metrics
To ensure a seamless transition, we held meetings with stakeholders and our internal team to discuss the project handover. This involved collaborating with Adobe's AEM team on website development, outlining ad placements and strategies with our marketing, Google, and Taboola partners, and delivering key assets:
Outcomes from our design workshops
Comprehensive research findings and repository
Prototypes used for user testing
Final desktop and mobile screen designs
A robust Design System with detailed guidelines
The redesign resulted in significant performance improvements. We saw a 55% increase in average engagement time per session for direct traffic and a 16% rise in engaged sessions per user. By modernizing the design, we also boosted user satisfaction, increasing the NPS by 9 points. Additionally, we streamlined internal workflows, reducing time-to-task by 61%. This transformation not only elevated the user experience, but also set a new standard for efficiency and engagement at Manorama Online.