Domain
Timeline
Team
News apps force users to scan static headlines juggling between fragmented platforms, with no adaptation for different contexts or engagement levels.
I redesigned news as an adaptive AI experience that learns preferences and adjusts to context, making consumption social and genuinely engaging.
Aarav, 27
Digital Marketing Associate
Delhi
“I don’t get a lot of time to read news. I mostly scan through Inshorts and keep up with social media news bits.”
ABOUT:
Busy on-the-go individual
tech savvy
apps he uses
Tech comfort level: High
Early adopter of new technology (owns an AR-capable smartphone and uses wearables)
News Consumption Habits:
Frequently skims headlines during work breaks
Listens to news while commuting
Engages deeply with a few selected stories when free in the evening
Often shares or discusses news in group chats and social media
Users are confused about what they want to read - they cannot anticipate which article might be relevant for them
Users are frustrated with advertisement filled pages
The interaction pattern has remained age-old and haven't adapted to recent technological developments - long articles are tiresome to read with the busy lifestyle today and reducing attention span
Existing news apps optimised for either breadth (InShorts, Google News) or depth (DailyHunt, The Hindu). None optimised for context - switching modes between commute, work break, and bedtime. That gap became the core of Snapp.
HMW
I was captivated by AR+VR's immersive potential and started wireframing cinematic living-room experiences.
❌ The "Living Room Newsroom" Fixation
My earliest prototype imagined users in their living room with news stories unfolding across their coffee table in 3D - interactive timelines, character avatars, satellite maps, the whole cinematic treatment.
It worked. For that moment. But only for that moment.
⭐ Wins
AR overlays with live data
Gesture-based navigation (tap, pinch, zoom)
Smart feed filtering out the noise
❌ Fumbles
Users weren’t always looking to immerse themselves in news
🧠The Ideation
What if the news knew what I needed - before I did?
Can we let users deep-dive into a story - without locking them into a rigid mode?
Could the app surface just enough - a timeline, key points, a visual clue - to the story in under a minute?
What if AI could gather personalised headlines?
What the final solution became - Not just news, an experience
🎛 A context-aware news companion. It adjusts to your needs, your time, your mode - not the other way around.
Mapped emotional states to content types
Eventually, the ideation narrowed into three core experience pillars, derived from user context:
Keeping curiosity alive
How it would monetise:
If this were to be launched, monetisation would lean on:
Ethical personalised data collection and selling it
Run advertisements
Maintain subscription paywalls for some features
