Bringing CSA and Hadopi services together on the Arcom portal

To prepare for upcoming projects, we build a UX Design System in Figma. It makes use of responsive components and simplifies exchanges between the partner agencies. Its first task is to map the components already in production, with their states and their desktop and mobile versions.

The Design System serves project managers, UI designers and developers, and we sort its components into categories so that everyone can find their way around. The Buttons section, for example, groups primary, secondary and tertiary buttons, links and pagination. The palette is deliberately restricted, with an electric blue already present in production and reserved for actions.

We document each state (default, hover, focus, disabled) with its variants on light and dark backgrounds. Red comments are addressed to the UI designers and blue ones to the developers.

Figma’s component properties make it possible to merge components of the same kind without detaching them from their main component. Desktop and mobile versions thus fit into a single component, as do the card variants (news, decisions, press).

The legal offer search tool from the former Hadopi site has to find its place on the Arcom portal. We build it around filters rather than a search bar, because users search by one or more precise criteria. The filters only apply when a “Search” button is clicked. This choice avoids a request at every selection and lightens the site’s footprint.

The biggest trade-off concerns the breadcrumb and pagination, especially on mobile. The links between pages must let search engines reach every listing in a few clicks, while remaining accessible and easy to use.

The portal automatically archives the old CSA and Hadopi content, but the archiving of Arcom’s future articles also has to be planned. A researcher or a student must be able to find them, even when search engines no longer show them.

So we plan 2 entry points. The first adds the archives to the site’s global search. A search on an old period no longer returns zero results, and a checkbox lets users who don’t need the archives hide them. The second is an Archives section, reached from the footer. Its search engine is limited to archived content and its filters distinguish articles from Arcom, the CSA and Hadopi. Each archived article carries a tag and a box that gives the archiving date and explains the merger of the two platforms, for people who land directly on these pages.

It is the service internet users rely on most, but the existing form has usability and comprehension problems. The list of choices that qualify the alert is long and hard to understand. Yet it matches predefined database fields and the legal terms used by the staff who process requests in the back office. So we cannot change it, but after many interviews with the business teams and the legal departments, we improve the order of the questions, simplify the language used and give users more guidance throughout the form.

To rework the order, we lay out every branch of the form and measure its real length. We then move sections to give better context to the questions that follow. The form moves forward step by step, and an introduction screen placed before the funnel tells users what they will need to fill in. A first idea is to start from the TV schedule, so that users pick from a list instead of recalling the date, the channel, the name and the time from memory. The form tool does not allow it, and we go for fields that appear progressively as the selection is made.

In guerrilla tests, most participants find the form easier to read thanks to the step-by-step layout and the contextual help. Some would like to be able to send the video or audio sequence that caught their attention directly. The technical base does not allow every solution considered to be kept, but they feed the thinking for what comes next.

These services inherited from the CSA meet professionals’ needs very well. Yet radio is split into 2 tools (FM and DAB+), and DTT puts technical information before practical needs. Analysing usage brings out 3 audiences. The general public mostly wants to know which channels and radio stations they can receive at their address, and the reception quality. More knowledgeable users want to optimise their reception easily without going into all the technical data. Professionals need precise data on channels, national transmitters, the associated technical settings and broadcast directions.

So we present the information in levels: first the essentials for everyone, then the technical data and finally the tools for professionals. We bring FM and DAB+ together in a single interface. It lets users find all the radio stations received at an address, whatever the broadcast mode, or follow one station across the whole country. For DTT, the list of channels is the entry point. The transmitter map becomes optional and only loads if the user turns it on, which is also a matter of eco-design.

Arcom’s business teams confirm that this redesign makes their work easier, with simpler maintenance and interfaces ready to take in changes in broadcasting technologies.

With the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the CSA’s directory of operators becomes the “Media ownership register”. It gathers information on the owners of audiovisual media. This information comes from a declaration form, so the register has to display it automatically.

We split the search into 3 entry points (by media outlet, by legal entity, by natural person) to answer 2 questions: who owns a given media outlet, and what does a given person or company own. The listings change with the type (media outlet, publisher, legal entity, natural person), but they keep the same sequence and only their content blocks vary. The rest of the journey reuses the components of the UX Design System and the page structures of the applications already redesigned. The effort is thus focused on these listings.

The main challenge is to represent the web of owners, which links media outlets to publishers and then to all their direct or indirect owners. The representation has to be highly visual so that users grasp how complex these links are. It also has to be dynamic, to stay accessible and responsive and to include links to the other listings.

During elections as outside them, Arcom must remain neutral and cannot interpret the speaking time it publishes. This requirement weighs directly on the design and rules out any data visualisation, which would suggest a reading of the data. Arcom positions itself as a provider of raw data and leaves the analysis to journalists and other professionals. The records during elections and outside elections form 2 services. We design them together to keep consistent journeys, even though their audiences and access differ.

During elections, the data must reach a wide audience. Previously, you had to go through many pages to consult it. The journey now fits into 3 pages. The first explains Arcom’s role during the election. The second presents the records by television channel and by radio station, and also by candidate depending on the election. The third details each speaking time.

Outside elections, the audience is mostly professional. Speaking time only existed as files to download by period. We add a preview before download and filters by year, month, media outlet and political figure, a new feature requested by professionals. A section also gathers the source files for those who want to use the data freely. The thinking goes as far as a researcher area, which does not yet exist on the portal.

Since its creation, Arcom has brought all the content of csa.fr and Hadopi.fr onto arcom.fr. The site is now stable, and Arcom wants to put it in front of its audiences to prepare its roadmap. Its editorial strategy is mainly aimed at the general public and leaves a smaller share to media professionals. The question is whether the real experience reflects this intention without penalising either audience.

We combine methods and profiles. Participants in the qualitative tests browse according to scenarios while thinking aloud, remotely or in person, on mobile or on a computer. A panel provider recruits citizens (parents, teachers, students, retired people active in associations) and professionals (journalists, content creators, people from institutions, academic researchers). We meet people with cognitive disorders in person. An online questionnaire completes these observations. The site and a newsletter share it to collect responses.

We present the results in a report illustrated with verbatim quotes and annotated screenshots. A summary deck goes with it, with excerpts from test sequences where you can hear the users. We also draw general public and professional usage profiles from it, which describe who comes back to the site, for what purpose and what stops them today. The lines of work that come out of it concern the communication strategy, segmentation by user profile and functional aspects of the site.