<p>Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/redesigning-the-onboarding-process-for-reddit-ddc0899e5baa?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Aaditya Ailawadhi </p>
<p>for more on this project and others, visit my website, <a href="http://www.aadityaailawadhi.com/">here</a></p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*sqEWTWxXYUALyNu33AH4_w.png"></p>
<p>Through this project, I aimed to redesign theonboarding process to Reddit, the popularcontent-sharing website. I believe with it’s enormous user base, It’s collective knowledge, ability to affect change, and provide people with resources in numbers, Reddit has the potential to be an extremely valuable platform for people. The more people it can reach, the more value it brings, and the more valuable it is to each user.</p>
<p>Currently, the onboarding process is complicated, and unappealing to new users. The inherant value of joining a community, and discovering relatable, relevant content is not self-explanatory. It is understandable that Reddit wants people to explore the site, and its content, and in doing so self-learn the intricacies of the site.</p>
<p>While this method might have been acceptable in the past, people have so many options for where to consume media online, that Reddit cannot risk losing new users to old habits.</p>
<p>In attempting to redesign the onboarding process, I first had to understand elements that users interact with on Reddit, currently. I broke the pages up into 3 categories:</p>
<ul>
<li>Landing Page</li>
<li>Subreddit</li>
<li>Discussion</li>
</ul>
<h3>Annotated Breakdowns</h3>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*mK7eSnNbQiaKrYsGnKmT9w.png">An annotated breakdown of the Reddit Landing Page.<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Q0vRuYe9MDTAGa4xTCVz7A.png">An annotated breakdown of a Subreddit (R/Showerthoughts)<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*22W3yCQGBWsfbSVALxOtTQ.png">An annotated breakdown of a comment/discussion section</p>
<p>As seen in the annotated screenshots, Reddit is cluttered, and does not have any clear navigation directions. These are massive issues for new users. Once deconstructed, the Landing Page, Subreddit, and Discussion section a few clear elements make themselves apparent. In analyzing these for their hierarchal importance, I was able to construct a navigational flowchart which most accurately represents Reddit’s current iteration.</p>
<h3>Black and White Wireframes</h3>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Dz61GHK31tEC7zONNw949A.png">A black and white wireframe breakdown of the Reddit Landing Page.<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*522Zkss3RxC7gH3HpLc-2w.png">A black and white wireframe breakdown of a Subreddit (R/Showethoughts)<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*mJ3LTshdgSELXpnff8IaWg.png">A black and white wireframe breakdown of a comments/discussion section.</p>
<h3>Business Goals</h3>
<p>Reddit has done an excellent job of maintaining it’s existing user base (customers), but is failing to adapt its platform to acquire new customers. The primary reason for this is the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” thinking. In not changing anything, Reddit is keeping its existing customer base satisfied.</p>
<p>Reddit is not effective at generating profits. While operation revenue has stayed relatively stable, Reddit is not generating a large bottom line. It is sustainable, but nothing more. To grow, acquire new customers, and create diversified revenue streams, Reddit needs to consider adapting its onboarding process.</p>
<h3>Brand Identity</h3>
<p>Reddit already has a distinctive place in the minds of its existing users. A directory for all the content on the internet, personalized for its customers, and archived for discovery and exploration. This identity has served Reddit well for phase one of its implementation and operation, my proposal for a conceptual phase two is to adapt. Adaptation is discernible from pivoting.</p>
<p>Reddit will continue to thrive as the “home page of the internet”, but do so in a way ready for the next generation of its platform’s users.</p>
<p>Creating a revised visual identity, while maintaining its core functionality will help Reddit serve its core customers while seamlessly and efficiently building a new demographic of users. Increasing website navigational efficiency will also continue to encourage exploration on the site, and will serve as an additional way to monetize its unique users, and create an additional revenue stream for reddit, facilitating the redesign in an efficient and sustainable way.</p>
<h3>Success Metrics</h3>
<p>Success is slightly different from company to company and product to product. In Reddit’s case, I would imagine success would being able to monetize its massive customer base. The startups of today, and even long time established organizations often struggle accruing that scale of customer base. A customer base is the most effective method of monetizing a product, and leveraging that resource could be monumental for a single-product company such as Reddit.</p>
<p>Daily active users are also a very useful success metric — Reddit has already built-in a rudimentary tool to allow people to see their “daily reddit gold goal”, translating this basic metric into meaningful, quantifiable data could be a first step in making the exploratory process for users better, and more efficient.</p>
<h3>Personas — Ashley</h3>
<p>Ashley is a 24 year old graphic designer at a design consultancy in Massachusetts. She enjoys creating intuitive web layouts, and Tumblr themes. She is relatively new to Reddit, and finds it “cumbersome” to use. The senior graphic designer at her company loves Reddit, and recommended Ashley try it out, he claims it’s a great resource for graphic designers, and an excellent source for user feedback. Ashley just can’t seem to wrap her head around how to find all these “amazing” resources, all she sees are links.</p>
<h3>Journey Map — Ashley</h3>
<p>Ashley lands on Reddit’s home page and is overwhelmed with the amount of links she’s shown. She looks around for a bit, intimidated by the sheer volume of content. Eventually she comes across a search bar, and types in “Graphic Design” — Reddit brings her a number of search results, and shows her posts tagged with her search term, as well as relevant subreddits. She sees a subreddit that looks like the right one, she clicks on the link, but instead of taking her to a subreddit, it takes her to a post. Eventually she finds her way to a subreddit, and is able to access the resources she was told about. This was a frustrating process for her, but she’s glad she was able to get where she was going.</p>
<h3>Personas — Andrew</h3>
<p>Andrew is a 36 year old software engineer in Illinois, he works at a security company part time, and is a freelance software developer in his free time. He has been using Reddit for about 7 years, and enjoys visiting some of his favorite subreddits multiple times a day. Reddit is also his primary news source. He loves staying up to date on current events, and finds Reddit is the quickest way to access relevant information. He recommends Reddit to all of his friends, but a lot of them just don’t see it the way he does.</p>
<h3>Journey Map — Andrew</h3>
<p>Andrew navigates straight to the subreddit he was most interested in. After spending some time perusing this subreddit, interacting with a couple users, and upvoting some of his favorite posts, Andrew decides to check out the latest news. He clicks the reddit icon, and the page reloads to the subreddit. Even though he uses this subreddit multiple times a day, his inherent understanding of how websites works takes over, and makes him click the logo, forgetting that the subreddit is essentially a separate page, not just a navigational tab on the website. He goes directly to the URL bar, and backspaces through the subreddit “/r/”. He’s now on the Reddit landing page, and is able to look up the latest updates. He remembers he wanted to look at the news, instead of clicking the tiny news button at the top, Andrew types in the “/r/news” into the URL bar — the button was just too small for him to notice.</p>
<h3>Conceptual Models</h3>
<p>Reddit is a predominantly text-based site. Leveraging what people already know about interacting with text, inside of text editors, (Microsoft Word, Google Docs etc.) such as the ability to search/resize/bookmark etc, might be a good way to make people feel comfortable using Reddit. Incorporating features, or similarities from other text-heavy websites, (Wikipedia) without necessarily “copying” them, could make for a functionally easier website to navigate for new users.</p>
<h3>Error Handling</h3>
<p>In sending people exploring an interface they never have before, special care must be taken to avoid mishaps. Often websites like Reddit will hide features it doesn’t necessarily want newcomers to use in plain sight, so that more experienced Redditors can access them, this could lead to accidental clickthroughs by users for which the features were not designed, leading to a continued cycle of confusion. Reddit is also not extremely consistent in the way it handles return-to-home. Addressing these concerns can help alleviate these issues, and make for a better user experience early-on in a new Redditor’s journey through the site.</p>
<h3>Information Architecture</h3>
<p>Currently Reddit has a plethora of options on landing. From my research, people who consider themselves “Redditors” have accounts so they can interact with other users in discussions. People who are casual visitors to Reddit, are often only on the main page, looking for interesting, front-page style content. Some go straight to subreddits they know of. I am considering splitting Reddit’s landing page into a two-option setup. Where you can go either to the main page, or to a directory of subreddits. I also want to create a more prominent sign-up area, with a better indication of the features exclusive to users who have signed up, such as the ability to comment etc. Creating a simple, yet directional system architecture will help streamline users’ experiences on Reddit, while keeping established Redditors satisfied.</p>
<h3>Redesigned Wireframes</h3>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*ueC_5Pz3DA5ZwPC4XRzzJA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*rxVUCL2GlSz7_8IAE5ByWA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*vgXL44xMqRXgkFsTkFMSHQ.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*DME8LMVsHw6kXm-iTqGdaQ.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*4pcAZcqfOoRe389Lz1m_lA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*D71t42LKykmmjySFIY0wzA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*vCunU3hOHIpW-ByHFDdJ4Q.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*VbiY3WReWWJM9Wqvw6LlAw.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*camgXkSz730T87tc3N8Jhg.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*C0csGvfC1gopKbpXDklOzA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*jGcwO05N_Qoel_XdB2k3EQ.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*T6CxUDfcDwDL2ZOqVgY-bA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*_l-2K1_SwrDqYFEfgXwIrA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*wWF7IKjv5GOdipcferWx6Q.png"></p>
<h3>Workflow</h3>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*66uEfJK2qj_m2jzEdjQN9Q.png"></p>
<h3>Final Redesign</h3>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*kF_Kf-L_B3V-nxDTe9OfjQ.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*YPusbPLgqAIydR9OKmVm9g.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Z3LaEW4MDTix45rMJmZWwQ.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*tRFICC_goZfEF4LWWjujrw.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*2hbdIOv2MF-DszIL_tUTbA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*8GM0QMopJ5hxQQGCcQNOTw.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*FREzcQqKiRJ2q1UISzKJPA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*KXHuPvSXDZQU8EA1e5-Vlw.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*FREzcQqKiRJ2q1UISzKJPA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*pih9SZW-aO4g44ZpiP_8zg.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*jiixJIsG25LK6C8s3UFwCg.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Tc1X1wenp4SRd8xLbAfZng.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*IFiupaKES-O8uBlt6KxbTA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*v_aEXFBdu4S6rKG9Fx4_Sg.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Z74vzVEcP_YB1X2MfSuRJA.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*M9BOeloDWxbiXPZlkODfOg.png"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*MGDsR-klMkB9D4gE7y2ZCg.png"><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=ddc0899e5baa" width="1" height="1" alt="stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSou"></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/redesigning-the-onboarding-process-for-reddit-ddc0899e5baa">Redesigning the Onboarding Process for Reddit</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">Prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>


Redesigning the Onboarding Process for Reddit

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