Verizon Appfinder

Verizon Wireless partnered with us to design the user experience for a new web-based App recommendation engine they were creating in late 2014. We partnered with their business development, data & analytics, and content teams to concept and design the Verizon Wireless AppFinder.

Objective:

The AppFinder is a simple solution to a well-known problem. Most new, and many experienced, smart phone users have a really difficult time finding high quality, trustworthy apps that actually help them in real life. Navigating through thousands of new and questionable apps on both the iOS and Android App stores is a time consuming and overwhelming process. Most users stick to built-in apps plus a handful of well-known standards like Facebook and Netflix. Verizon underst

ands that it has access to troves of data that can help identify good, useful, and trustworthy apps that users will love.

Mobile by Design:

AppFinder initially launched as a proof-of-concept without mobile/responsive enabled. We took great care in designing the desktop experience to work well in tablet format using some clever sizing and spacing techniques to ensure all text, links, and touch targets would be touch and swipe friendly from the outset. Then, when given the opportunity to complete the responsive mobile experience, we were able to adapt the design to seamlessly transition between sizes and allow for a very friendly mobile site.

The Experience:

In close collaboration with the client team and other agency partners, we developed a simple user experience that allows a new user to identify some categories of apps they are interested in and then serve up handfuls (not truckloads) of apps that they will likely find helpful. In addition, users can navigate through the entire curated collection of apps, or explore more lifestyle-focused sets of apps designed to work together. Even as we speak, more apps and data are being analyzed, so the entire collection can continue to be updated and we can enable new functionality.