Background

Editorji Technologies Pvt Ltd, started by former NDTV CEO Vikram Chandra, in 2018 launched a multi-lingual video news app called Editorji. Supported by an AI algorithm to help curate news basis the users’ interests, the app also allows users to add their opinion to a story and share with their contacts. With the app idea in the nascent stages, Editorji approached us to design the identity and the app.

Identity design

The name Editorji compels personification. By allowing users to curate their own newslists, the app invites users to be the ‘Editor ji’. Drawing from this, the app is given a friendly personality with a technological face. This face of ‘Editorji’ can subliminally be seen in the app’s icon which is made up of video and AI machine learning symbols. These symbols— play, record, playlist— become the app’s visual vocabulary and its identity at once. The design seeks to own the ‘play’ symbol, extending it through repetition across the app.

The colour palette brings out the technological capabilities of the app. We also extended the identity to a tightly defined brand guideline for various applications. Static and moving backdrops, signature typographic palettes, and well exploited colour and graphic palettes make way for a new age video news app— an Indian first.

The signature tune for the brand, (composed by ICD’s Niloy Kundu (in his capacity as a musician) evokes digital, fast paced news for the new gen, while recalling the familiar sounds of TV news. TV news gets an upgrade,

UX design

For the everyday news consumer, the value proposition of the app is instant gratification—come, click, watch and leave. This immediacy with no barriers paves the way for news that matters— without an anchor’s opinion or having to sit through a screaming match.

On the home page users can choose from various, pre selected, news categories to sample a video preview of any story (on mute). An ultra simple UX— that can serve both experienced and digitally naive viewers— lets the users click on a master playlist with the top news stories of the hour. Using the settings, users can create a 5, 10 or 15 minute news round up. They can consume these news stories in video, audio or text views to suit their temporal context (eg slow bandwidth, or while driving). Users can also assume the mantle of ‘editorji’ and choose to share this curated playlist, along with their comments, with their contacts. The app is consistently intuitive across formats —mobile app, website, fire TV app and PWA (progressive web application)

UI design

We designed animations for interactions in the app (loading, transition, background) to bring a TV news feel to the product. Two-viewing modes were added for better visibility and access— a dark app mode to view videos and audio, and a black on white text mode.

Since Editorji was dependent on partner channels for content, we also gave these partner channels distinctive visual treatments for prominence, better placement and to encourage other content partners to come on board.

Due to the dynamic nature of news and the promptness with which it needs to be conveyed, we designed a ‘live’ section to promote important updates while highlighting social media shares for more social interactions. This was utilised to great effect during the 2019 Cricket World Cup and Lok Sabha Elections.

Impact

Following its launch, Editorji topped the charts at the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. It remains one of the most popular news apps with over 1 million installs. Enjoying a rating of 4.2/5 on the Google Play Store and 4.9/5 on the iOS Appstore. Editorji garners over 70,000 video views a day and has over 120000 active monthly users.

The app received a warm response from its media peers like Livemint, Hindustan Times, NDTV, and an appreciative tweet from Amitabh Bachchan (“…I’m enjoying it”). The app also won the Bronze medal in ‘Best UI/UX App’ category at 2019 Digies Awards.

www.editorji.com