Aller Media

VALUE-ADDING USABILITY

Workshop and prototyping with Aller

Aller Media wanted to improve the re-use of photographs across their many publications. Mjølner was called in to carry out user tests of a developed prototype, conduct innovation workshops with key stakeholders, and explore requirements for the application.

Industry:

Media

We delivered:

Software consultants, Digitalization advice

Technology:

Digital transformation, User experience, Design thinking workshop

Aller Media wanted to improve the re-use of photographs across their many publications.

Mjølner was called in to carry out user tests of a developed prototype, conduct innovation workshops with key stakeholders, and explore requirements for the application.

More than 3,000,000 Aller magazines are sold each week and they need attractive pictures. The pictures in the magazines are chosen out of thousands of pictures taken by Aller’s own photographers or bought from stock photo services.

This means that Aller spends significant resources on buying and choosing the right pictures for the right occasions.

Because of this, Aller started an in-house project to decrease expenses by increasing the re-use of pictures across different magazines, as well as prioritizing the use of free pictures over priced pictures. Mjølner helped validate user requirements for a photo administration application and facilitate stakeholder inclusion. The goal was to ensure organizational backing and explore limitations and potential improvements.

CREATING OWNERSHIP IN A LARGE ORGANIZATION

Aller is a large and exciting organization with many employees of very different backgrounds. By involving many different user types in the user testing, we detected a series of potential design challenges, which Mjølner addressed in a usability analysis. With a vantage point in the feedback, Mjølner carried out an innovation workshop and delivered a report that pointed out specific user needs and requirements.

The purpose of the overall process was twofold. On the one hand, the activities served to address a discussion of the concrete design challenges and to explore potential solutions and improvements to the prototype.

On the other hand, it helped create organizationally-based ownership of the project and ensure backing for changes to workflows the applications would potentially entail.

The participants were very positive and engaged, which created an excellent foundation for thinking outside the box and exploring new ways of value creation and cross-organizational collaboration.

THE CLIENT

Aller Media is the leading publisher of magazines and newspapers in the Nordic region with a weekly circulation of approx. 3.2 million copies. In Denmark Aller Media has a weekly circulation of approx. 700.000 copies. More than 2 million out of 5 million Danes read one of Allers publications every week. Aller Media is a modern innovative media house located at “Havneholmen” in Copenhagen very close to the city center.