Case study: Redesigning Koo

Published in

Bootcamp

6 min readJul 27, 2021

Disclaimer

I would like to clarify that I have no affiliation with Koo in any capacity. All the observations shared in this case study are based on my personal experience and testing as a user. I undertook this case study with the aim of enhancing my learning experience and challenging myself to redesign the app.

About Koo

Koo is a microblogging platform originating from India that serves as an alternative to Twitter. With its own set of unique features, Koo distinguishes itself by offering support for various regional Indian languages. Presently, the platform is available for users in India and Nigeria.

Why Redesign?

I believe Koo demonstrates significant innovation; however, there are opportunities for improvement in terms of visual aesthetics. The user interface exhibits a somewhat outdated design and lacks a modern feel. Furthermore, I encountered inconsistencies in the overall design and experienced several usability issues while using the app. Additionally, I believe there is room for improvement in the choice of color schemes. For instance, although the logo’s yellow color is appealing, using yellow for buttons and text on a white screen may negatively impact readability. Overall, there are areas where the user interface and user experience could be enhanced. Considering these aspects, I have contemplated redesigning the Koo App.

Goals

The primary goal is to revamp the user interface, giving it a sleek and minimalist appearance, while simultaneously improving the user experience from the user’s standpoint.

Problems

Problem with Color scheme

The Koo app currently features yellow as its primary color. After carefully considering the findings of a study, which indicate that over 35% of women and more than 57% of men have a favorable opinion of the color blue, whereas only 3% of women and 1% of men prefer yellow, I strongly believe that incorporating blue as the primary color for a social app would be a wise decision. Furthermore, it is worth noting that blue is known to evoke a sense of trust. Taking all these factors into account, I am inclined to propose blue as the ideal primary color for the app.

Problem with the logo

While the current logo appears visually appealing, I believe there is an opportunity to enhance its impact by utilizing a white color with a black border on a yellow background. This combination not only adds attractiveness but also ensures visibility and captures the user’s attention effectively across various backgrounds. I invite you to take a look at the proposed design.

Home/Feed Screen

Problems

The presence of an additional trending button on the top right of the screen, featuring a different icon, may cause some users to experience confusion, considering that there is already a trending button available in the navigation menu.

Due to the limited space provided by the vertical card-like design for the popular profile, it becomes challenging to display a substantial bio beneath the profile picture.

The displayed date for a Koo post could benefit from further clarity, as it currently only shows the date and month.

The presence of both a share to WhatsApp button and a general share button raises the question of having two buttons serving the same purpose.

Solutions

The trending section will be integrated within the search section, allowing for optimal use of space on the top right of the screen, which can then accommodate the exploring people button.

By implementing a horizontal view of popular profiles, it becomes possible to showcase both a concise and a more extensive bio. This provides users with a quick overview of the personality, enabling them to make informed decisions about whether to follow them or not.

The time of a Koo posted will be presented in a progressive manner, starting with seconds, then transitioning to minutes after 60 seconds, hours after 60 minutes, days after 24 hours, and finally, the actual date of posting after 7 days.

‘s’ for seconds, ‘m’ for minutes, ‘hr’ for hours, ‘d’ for days and ‘dd/mm/yy’ for an actual date.

The share button serves as the means to share any Koo through various methods, including direct messaging, WhatsApp, and more.

Search and Trending screen

Problem

The search screen currently lacks substantial significance within the app and offers limited value to users, primarily serving the purpose of conducting specific searches. More than 80% of the search screen remains unutilized, resulting in significant blank space.

Solution

I have contemplated the integration of the search screen with the trending screen, enabling us to make use of the vacant space on the search screen. This merging will not only optimize the utilization of the interface but also enhance user-friendliness, allowing users to conduct searches for specific topics, individuals, and related content.

Create a new Koo screen

Problems

There are redundant buttons for sharing voice clips, both serving the same purpose.

There are three distinct buttons available: a video camera button, a video button, and a button specifically designed for accessing images stored on the phone.

The presence of an emoji button offers limited utility since users can already access and use emojis directly through their keyboard.

The inclusion of a button for adding links serves little purpose, as users can easily paste or manually type the link directly into the text input area, as shown in the provided screenshot.

Although there is a settings button available for modifying post privacy settings, its functionality may not be immediately clear or intuitive to users.

Currently, there is a lack of a dedicated button for sharing the user’s location.

Solutions

I have implemented a microphone icon to facilitate voice recording and posting.

I have incorporated a camera icon that enables capturing images with a single press of the shutter button and recording videos by pressing and holding the shutter button.

To provide convenient access to recent images and videos on the phone, they can be displayed immediately after the camera icon, with the video icon utilized to differentiate between images and videos. This arrangement eliminates the necessity for additional buttons dedicated to accessing images on the phone.

The emoji button and the link button have become obsolete, resulting in a significantly cleaner and more meaningful user interface.

The settings button has been obsoleted and a button just below the input area is introduced to control the privacy of the post, making the purpose clearer and easily understandable.

Sharing location button has been introduced.

Following/Followers screen

Problem

Users are currently unable to access their followers list from the following list and vice versa. The use of the term ‘Unfollow’ on the unfollow button may unintentionally prompt users to unfollow a profile, potentially triggering their subconscious inclination to do so. Moreover, the categorization of following, such as All, Mutual, and Latest, could be repositioned for improved user experience.

Solutions

I have consolidated the followings and followers sections onto the same page, utilizing separate tabs for each. The label for the unfollow button has been updated to ‘Following’. Additionally, the categories have been relocated to the ‘Sort by’ section for better organization.