Case at Danmarks Radio

Two expert interviews at DR, twenty-five with its users

We interviewed DR’s Product Manager, who described login as underused and often experienced as annoying, and later DR’s Media Analyst, who explained how little DR knows about users who are not logged in — and how carefully DR has to handle data as a non-commercial institution.

In parallel we ran semi-structured interviews with 25 people aged 18–30, DR’s stated target group, about their media habits and their view of the login. The dominant response to logging in was irritation: DR had always been freely available, so why the gate?

The second finding was the one that redirected the project. Users did not want personalisation from DR at all.

From Min Side to Vores Side

Our early concepts had circled around Min Side — my page — because that is the shape personalisation usually takes. The interviews made that direction untenable: people were explicitly asking DR not to behave like Netflix.

So the concept became collective rather than individual. Vores Side — our page — is a shared space reached through login, where content is organised around a weekly theme that users vote on, and where the same space appears inside all three apps.

Five parts, one shared page

Weekly theme

The top of the page carries the current theme and one featured piece of content that anchors it — for example a climate theme drawing together articles, documentaries and podcasts.

Voting

Users vote on next week’s theme from several proposals. The most-voted theme guides the following week’s supplementary content across the three platforms.

Quiz

A short quiz on the theme — a low-stakes way in, and a focal point that makes the theme something to talk about.

Cross-platform teasers

“Det sker på vores andre platforme”: visual previews that link straight into the relevant article, documentary or podcast on DR’s other services.

Feedback

Emoji reactions, yes/no polls and comment fields — available to logged-in users only, which is where the value of logging in becomes concrete. It answers DR’s own wish for qualitative feedback.

One footer, three identities

To make the three apps feel like one service we unified the footer across DRTV, DR LYD and DR Nyheder, with Vores Side reachable from the same place in each. The layout of Vores Side is identical on all three; only the platform colour changes, so the apps stay recognisable without flattening into one another.

Four sessions, and a pitch to DR

The prototype was tested with four users aged 18–30: task-based usability first, then a short interview about motivation and perceived value. Navigation held up — the interface relies only on scrolling and tapping, and participants found the voting mechanism immediately.

The concept landed as intended. Participants described logging in as taking part rather than being counted, and said the experience would make them more likely to return. We then presented Vores Side to DR with a walkthrough of the prototype.

The organisational condition we could not design away

Vores Side only works if DR acts on what users send back. Login currently sits with product and data teams; weekly themes, voting and feedback need editorial ownership as well, and a definition of engagement that is not clicks. We said so in the report rather than presenting the concept as self-sufficient — participation that is never answered is decoration.