IGN

A unique and personalized iOS app for passionate gamers and entertainment fans.

Role
Design Director
Product Manager
Product Design Lead

What I Did
Product Strategy
Design Leadership
Design Direction
Concept Design
Product Design

Contributors
Rudy Tcruz – Visual Design
Josh Schroeder – Development
Alex Ivlev – Development

IGN is the online destination for serious gamers and those seeking entertainment news and reviews. While they had carved out a niche audience and destination early on, others were now challenging them for attention. Reddit, Wikia, Machinima, Twitch, and Amazon quickly became direct competitors.

Leaning into IGN's company goals, which included growing owned & operated video revenue, discovering better ways to monetize mobile content, and growing / diversifying ad products across consumption surfaces, I led the product direction and design for a ground-up redesign of the IGN core native app for iPhone and iPad.

I worked across Product, Research, Editorial, Engineering, and Executive teams to inform the app strategy and direction. Focusing on two of four audience personas with unmet needs, we designed a native iOS experience with personalization built in from day one. We ditched poor-converting ad units and replaced them with fewer, higher-CPM units that feel at home on mobile devices, and leaned into design patterns and features to surface video content and enhance discoverability.

Impact

Top 10 –– The app release earned a spot in the Top 10 Most Popular App in the iOS app store.

4.5 Stars –– The app garnered over 1000 user reviews, and maintained a 4.5 star rating.

User Research

We focused tightly on "Influential Core" and "Prestige Gamers", who proudly identify as gamers who are reliable early adopters, and are multi-screen and multi-platform users.

Shaping the product vision

Personalize the IGN experience.

Allow users to tailor the IGN app to be THEIR IGN app. Our target audience carries strong opinions about which entertainment genres, gaming consoles, franchises, etc. they prefer. Prioritizing the content that they care most about will result in return use and high pageviews per session – a win for our users and for the business.

Prioritize video.

Establish design patterns and features to surface video and enhance discoverability. Encourage deeper engagement by giving users the ability to consume video content where, when, and how they wish.

Lean into core content.

Users visit IGN most often in search of gaming and entertainment articles and reviews. By prioritizing these core content types, we can focus our efforts on features that best benefit our audience.

Revise the ad mix.

Replace outdated, low-CPM ad units that undermind the user experience. Explore ad products, mix, and frequency that feel native to the app, and to the mobile context.

Leverage IGN to leverage IGN.

Utilize the desktop site, email newsletters, and IGN video series' such as "The Daily Fix" and "Up at Noon" to promote the new app. Additionally, take advantage of our mobile web article reach by utilizing iOS Smart App Banner promotion modules at the top of mobile pages to raise awareness of the app and encourage downloads.

App Design

I created a mood that was graphic and stylized, allowing the content to be the hero. Full color imagery against a backdrop of dark tones create a content-forward gallery, and modular content cards work seamlessly across surfaces.

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IGN

A unique and personalized iOS app for passionate gamers and entertainment fans.

User Research

Shaping the product vision

App Design

Let's work together.jameswitcherdesign@gmail.com+1 404-630-1135

Let's work together.
jameswitcherdesign@gmail.com
+1 404-630-1135