Interaction Design » RSS ThumbReader

Project Specifications

We propose a Mozilla browser RSS reader that provides context in a human-centered, transparent, and computer imaginative way. The proposed solution focuses on the transparency of the reader by providing "context in a click."

Our reader is a plug-in which brings the user to the feed source, rather than act as an aggregator, to encourage a feeling of community. The spiral shape and style of the ThumbReader icon is playful, encouraging exploration. The spiral design, inspired by decorative paper clips, is simple and unobtrusive.

Because people often "thumb" through files, cards, and pages, we decided to call our reader the "ThumbReader." The idea is that the user is "thumbing" through their feeds. We chose to make the reader orange to provide a mental connection to the commonly used RSS feed icon.

Testing

Our testing procedures followed Kuniavsky's Observing the User Interaction. We created a list of questions that addressed our concerns about the design, and then created an outline/script for the usability test. To summarize our findings...

• The meta-navigation confused users inexperienced with RSS readers.
• It was confusing to have both icons visible, one in the address bar and one docked in the screen.
• Those used to the Mac OSX flyout menus for documents were very comfortable with the plug-in's internal organization of the feeds.
• Expert RSS reader users would use this as a "smart bookmarking system," nothing more.

Team ( September 2008 photo)

Binaebi Akah, Rachel Bolton, Robert Kariuki
Mentored by Jason de Ruña

Responsibilities

Project lead, secondary research, concept generation, sketching, paper prototype, usability testing