In the fall of 2010, Shift Global, was asked to develop an iPad prototype for Evri. The goal was to imagine how Evri’s powerful semantic search engine could be combined with social feeds to create a content discovery and consumption experience as a clickable prototype in less than three weeks.
During the early user experience concepts we focused on the idea of a user being able to create and discover their own‘zines.These would be ultra niche magazines that used the Evri semantic engine to find related content about any topic imaginable, and they would be shown contextually with relevant content from your social feed.
At sign-in you’re invited to authenticate with your Twitter and Facebook accounts. After analyzing your profiles the app recommends'zinescreated by Evri and users. While browsing a'zineyou are also able to pivot to other related'zinesby viewing the tags used to assemble the articles. One tap closes the‘zineyou’re in and opens the next.
Creation was done from the home screen. By tapping the add button a user can start a'zineusing one of Evri’s topics or search for their own. Additionally any two'zinescan be combined via drag and drop to create a third'zinebased on the topics from it’s parents. These two simple functions, along with the ability for the author to have contextual control over how much of any contributor to include, ensure an agile creation process for users.
The consumption experience is based on page swiping and button taps. The user interface patterns used in the app are primarily modeled after early iOS native elements. Extended content is displayed modally or by flipping the view to display the source content in a web browser. The pinch gesture was utilized to close a‘zineand return back to the home screen.
The final design accomplishes a balance of content focus and brand personality. Akzidenz-Grotesk was chosen as the typeface for it’s readability and flexibility. An shade of off-white and warm grays were used as the foundation colors to prevent eye strain and conjure the feel of newsprint. This palette was augmented with pops of color from the Evri brand and textures chosen based on Evri keyword themes.