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2 phones with a redesigned user interface of an etnty in the Atlas ot Today's World project.
2023
UX/UI
Information architecture

Atlas of Today's World: A redesign. Popularizing academic content.

Context
Dramatic redesign
of UI of a one-of-a-kind
media platform.
Contribution
User Experience
User Interface
Information Architecture
Collaboration
Product owner
UX Researcher
Developer
Problem

How might we make academic content user friendly?

UX Research findings

Multiple steakholders and target groups experienced the same issue:

Navigating and consuming academic content through the original interface was very cognitively demanding.
Original UI
Old mobile layout of the Atlas of todays world website
Original UI
Old layout of the header of Atlas of todays world entry page.
Challenge

Catering for multiple stakeholders

Atlas of Today's world, being a non profit and a startup, relies on the fragile balance of Partners, Authors, Members, Donors and users. All have different needs and wants which have to be acknowledged.
Challenge

Academic content and existing database of entries.

There was a pre-existing format of content which, because of its academic nature, could not be changed.
Challenge

Designing for multiple user groups

Atlas of Today's World serves different users on different levels. It is a source of reference for other media, an education material for teachers and an "overview of the world" for general public.

Switching from sequential to hierarchical information architecture.

Some users come for a brief overview, some for teaching materials, some land through a reference. Hierarchical structure streamlines the path to users' goals and offers a clear picture of the content of the entry.
Testing different prototypes
Figma deck with experiment layouts of Atlas of todays world.
Final wireframe
UX Wireframe for Atlas of todays world platform for web and mobile.

Visual aspect of the redesign

The redesign was carried out on 3 levels, structural, visual and functional. On top of information architecture, a Visual overhaul was neccessary to make content more attractive. Familiar visual concepts from Netflix and Spotify were inhereted to achieve such change.
Before
The original design of a Header with the old information architecture.
After
The original design of a Chapter menu with the old information architecture.
Before
The original design of the Author and partner section with the old information architecture.
After
The original design of a Furter reading section with the old information architecture.
Features

Proposed 3 new functional features:

The functions of AI Chat, Translation and Audio Playback were presented to make content more accessible and user friendly.
Screenshot of a "discuss with AI" button
Screenshot of a button with "Translate entry" text
Screenshot of a play bar and button in the Atlas of today's world website

The redesign is tailored to the contents of an existing database of entries.

Atlas prototype in figma with interaction flows highlighted

Try Figma prototype yourself

Impact

Grant approval

This redesign was a subject to an Erasmus grant approval which financially propelled the project forward.

User experience increase

Despite the proposal not being fully implemented yet, the structural changes are already improving user retention.

Internal boost to motivation.

Atlas is run by many volunteers who need to see attractive vision to pull together. This design materialized what many had worked for for years.

Learnings

Importance of understanding stakeholders

This project lies at a crossroad of many stakeholders and user groups. Understanding the needs of all was a key.

Understand the technical limitations

Some of my proposals in the beginning were not feasible because I did not fully understand the limitations of the databse structure that had been set up.

Test, test, test and test.

There is never enough user feedback especially in such a stakeholder-heavy project.

More testing should have been done and is still needed.