Insights iOS App
Feb 17, 2018
Knowledge that travels with you—even offline.
Goals
Leverage the newly created Insights API (see Insight Library project) to meet the use case of reading Insights publications on mobile. The goal was to create an iPhone app—aligned with the corporate standard device—that would allow offline access to publications for users frequently traveling in areas with limited connectivity.
The app was also designed to extend to Android via an HTML wrapper for future client rollout.
Key features included:
💬 Comments — enabling in-app discussion on publications
❤️ Likes — allowing user feedback and improving personalization in search results
🔔 Push notifications — reducing internal email traffic around new publications
⭐ Personalized subscriptions — enabling users to follow specific topics and channels
📊 Metrics tracking — measuring publication popularity, engagement, and app usage
Discovery
The information architecture mirrored the Insights Library to maintain familiarity, but internal use cases demanded new considerations.
Offline storage posed a challenge—full publication downloads were too large for default caching. We worked with engineering to define storage thresholds based on publication recency and user activity.
Other discoveries included:
Exhibit handling: users needed easier access to embedded charts and exhibits. We designed a sliding panel experience for in-app browsing, improving flow over the inline model used in the web Library.
New engagement features: suggestions included tweet-ready blurbs, author following, and a guided app tour to introduce the app’s unique value propositions.
Implementation
We developed a set of wireframes and interaction flows to define the overall navigation model and home screen experience. The app was built around three core discovery modes:
Popular: driven by likes and engagement metrics
Recent: a chronological feed of the newest publications
Discover: an editorially curated list promoting high-value insights
The visual theme drew inspiration from mountain landscapes—a nod to frequent travelers and the concept of staying connected even while “above the clouds.”
Results & Metrics
📈 Key outcomes after internal rollout:
🔹 65% of early adopters accessed content offline within the first month
🔹 40% reduction in internal “new publication” emails due to push notifications
🔹 3× increase in publication likes and engagement after launch
🔹 New internal authorship requests increased by 25%, indicating rising contributor enthusiasm
iOS App design:
