"Always on" mobile behavior is exponentially growing among American consumers. This is demonstrated by analytics and ethnographic research into Times customers’ mobile interactions, most of which are realized in “idle moments”: short intervals in between other tasks or actions throughout the day.
In an effort to maximize the efficiency of these idle moments, we proposed a streamlined interface that offered a small number of choices that helped the user quickly find something interesting or entertaining to read that they could easily finish in a short period of time. (An assumption in this case was that smaller numbers of choices are easier and more pleasurable for users to make.)
The articles presented were personalized and derived from recent, popular, trending, and recommended content, delivered in an lighthearted and casual way to add a layer of playful interaction. Given the limited real estate on mobile devices, this would offer a quicker way (than multiple lists/sections) to parse these multiple collections of content.
The intended benefits of this approach were to encourage sensations of volition (the freedom for users to make choices that they would have otherwise made), achievement (a sense of accomplishment through successfully making a choice) and relatedness (casual tone and feedback to acknowledge them as individuals) within the user.
