News app with day-parted editions and live video
A news app for an Indonesian news broadcaster, with a home that changes by time of day, local news and weather, alerts on followed stories and live video.
- SECTOR
- Media
- LOCATION
- Indonesia
- YEAR
- 2018
- DELIVERED AS
Names and sensitive information are blurred under NDA.
The problem
An Indonesian news broadcaster wanted a news app that engages readers without flashy gimmicks. Breaking news, quick news bites, long features, local news and clips from its news programmes all had to fit in one app, sorted on more than one level. The client stressed three things: video streaming, push alerts targeted by location and easy movement from one story to the next.
What we built
We built a mobile news app for an Indonesian news broadcaster, with a home that changes with the time of day: a morning edition with an audio briefing, one-minute reads at midday, and long reads and video in the evening. Breaking news takes a banner at the top, and tabs for top stories, quick bites and in-depth features sort the rest. Readers follow a running story for an alert on every update, get news and weather for where they are, share articles and switch between live streams in one player.
Screen by screen
What we were asked to solve
01 / 08
Morning edition with a 4-minute briefing
- What we built
- Early in the day the home opens as the morning edition: the weather where the reader is, the day’s traffic rule, a 4-minute audio briefing of four overnight stories and the top story.
02 / 08
Breaking news pinned above everything
- What we built
- A breaking story takes a banner above the home, with the time it broke. New stories wait behind a “3 new stories” button and the page stays where it is. Underneath, the midday Quick Bites are one-minute reads.
03 / 08
Evening edition for long reads and video
- What we built
- After dark the home leads with an In-Depth feature, followed by the clips to watch tonight, under the same tabs.
04 / 08
Local news, weather and road alerts
- What we built
- The Local tab follows the phone’s location: the weather by the hour, official alerts such as the odd-even plate rule during the Asian Games, and nearby news with its distance.
05 / 08
Listen to any In-Depth article
- What we built
- Each In-Depth article has a “Listen to this article” bar under the byline that plays the whole piece, with its length and speed. A line under the toolbar shows how far the reader has got, Aa sets the text size, the share button sends the story on, and the next In-Depth story is a swipe away.
06 / 08
Follow a running story
- What we built
- Following a story keeps every update on one timeline, newest first, with an alert for each development. A live stream keeps playing in a small player while the reader scrolls.
07 / 08
Several live streams in one player
- The problem
- Video streaming was one of the client’s main asks.
- What we built
- Readers switch streams from the list under the player, from Asian Games events to the broadcaster’s evening bulletin, and the picture quality follows the connection.
08 / 08
Push alerts by place and by story
- The problem
- The client also asked for push alerts targeted by location and personalised to each reader.
- What we built
- Three alerts wait on this lock screen: the odd-even rule on a road near the reader today, overnight aftershocks in the Lombok story they follow, and the morning briefing, ready to play.
How the 8-week build went
Listen & prototype
Requirements with the broadcaster’s team, then a clickable prototype of the morning, midday and evening home, revised in week 3 before the build.
Core build
Built the day-parted home, the sections for top stories, quick bites and in-depth features, story following with push alerts, local news and weather by location, audio briefings and articles, sharing and the player for several live streams.
Live & handover
Launched the app and handed over source code, documentation and admin access.
