Project: CHIP Channels

Julia Maehner

New channels, who dis?

Goal:

Finish a concept for the migration of a channel to another server by the end of June 2021. We wanted to clean up the structure and the architecture for improved usability. The new concept includes:

a new channel hierarchy
tweaking of the global and local navigation
new information architecture for the channel layouts

Team:

UX Design, content, development/product, SEO, brand management, analytics, sales, CMS management

Mission:

We’ve working on the migration of the channel pages for the CHIP „Test und Kaufberatung“ to a new server. Since we weren‘t able to migrate all the elements from the old pages, we‘ve come up with a concept not only to restructure the articles but also give the channels a new look.

Challenge:

CHIP has grown to a platform with different sub-brands such as Praxistipps or CHIP365 over the years. Though this growth has been successful in many ways, the seamless integration of these sub-brands into the website hasn‘t been addressed so far.

Process:

Audit & Analysis: We‘ve started with a content audit of all the articles and sub-channels within chip.de/tests – which was a lot. After sifting through 18K+ articles, product reviews and news, we’ve analyzed their performance as well as the performance of their channel-pages. Afterwards, we were able to cut down the categories by half.
Test & Learn: Of course, we‘ve tested the results of this audit as well as the current channel pages of the „Test und Kaufberatung“. We‘ve learned that the information architecture of CHIP is unclear and confusing. Users aren‘t able to find what they‘re looking for – even by using the internal search.
Reduce & Rename: Reducing the sub-channels is the first step in giving the users a clear path. We‘ve also given the product categories new names to guide the user to their desired review more quickly. The final step was giving the site a new layout.
Reuse & Reimagine: Since resources are scarce, we‘ve decided to reuse most of our current elements and only add a single new component – the channel header including a new hero image.

We‘ve rearranged the rest of the elements and decided to give them space to breathe. This declutters the screen and helps the users navigate.

The results speak for themselves: With CHIP’s „Test und Kaufberatung“, we‘ve set a new standard on how editorial product review teams can arrange their content for better relevancy and usability. Why don’t you check it out over at CHIP.