Notifications and Alerts
Problem Statement: Existing CNBC alerts are often generic or require constant manual checks, leading to information overload and missed opportunities. This forces users to stay disengaged, uninformed, or make suboptimal decisions due to a lack of timely, personalized data.
In-Person Brainstorming
The initial direction for personalized notifications was crucially defined by an in-person brainstorming session. Members of product, design, and engineering were brought together, with the dynamic energy of face-to-face interaction being leveraged. Concepts were rapidly generated and refined using rapid-fire ideation and mind mapping directly on whiteboards. This immediate, collaborative environment fostered significant breakthroughs that had not emerged from remote discussions. A clear, shared vision for the project was ultimately reached, thereby laying a strong foundation for development.
Competitive Analysis
A foundational step in the project was competitive analysis, which was used to understand how different platforms handle information overload. By examining various information-dense products, established patterns and best practices were identified for prioritizing what is important to users. A high-level comparison helped deconstruct their core strategies, providing a clear framework for the design of an effective and intuitive prioritization system. The insights directly informed a signature offering for our specific user base.
“It has less general notifications, they’re all very personalized…it’s very useful…you don’t have to look at everything individually especially if you have many watchlists…you can also look at them while reading articles on the website or watching videos.”
Initial Designs and User Testing
Initial designs for personalized notifications based on a users’ watchlist were user tested using low-fidelity designs to assess comprehension and usefulness. The goal was to determine if users understood the intended hierarchy of the notifications and found the content valuable enough to engage with. This testing confirmed that the icons as visual cues were effective, as users could easily differentiate between various types of alerts. However, a critical need to address timing and frequency was also revealed, as even relevant stock notifications that were too frequent could be an annoyance. This feedback was essential for moving beyond visual design to a more holistic strategy for delivering news.