We begin by looking at the existing Cheezburger.com content card. What I like about it is the predominant role the user-uploaded imagery plays in the card. Let’s be honest, users are here for the content. So, let’s see if we can get them to engage even more in the site.
I start by making the faint gray outline, once only framing the user’s imagery/gif/video, to encapsulate the entire “card”. I felt this added a sense of inclusion, and would help the user understand what features are related to the content, and, by extension, understand what they could do with the content.
I removed the “post to” feature, the reasons for which will be covered in a subsequent post. I also integrated the idea of user comments alongside the content, which currently only exists once you delve deeper into what is referred to as a “single-post page”. I felt this change removed, what I felt to be, an unnecessary step which was previously required to comment.
The “Share” feature has also been changed to de-emphasize the use of Facebook and encourage the idea of sharing through a wider range of social media outlets.
Next, I took a quick look at Cheezburger.com’s existing navigation. The navigation works if you’re a seasoned veteran of the Cheezburger.com family of sites. A newcomer, on the other hand, may face a steep learning curve, and likely miss out on some great content.
With this in mind, I designed an alternate navigation flow; one that features recently created preview cards in the category currently being hovered over by the user. The premise behind this was to provide a link scent, or context, for the user.
The ideas presented here represent a useful exercise in thinking about short term solutions for larger UI design alternatives. These types of exercises are invaluable opportunities for us to step back and ask, “is there anything we could be doing better?”
