StoryFire is a video sharing & writing platform founded by Jesse Ridgway, also known as McJuggerNuggets on YouTube.
Just like other social media platforms, this one has flaws of its own.
So, join me as we try out this “legitimate YouTube competitor” app as people are calling it. We’re going to take a look at its design and features. This is the first time I’m installing their mobile app. I had used their site back when they were in beta i believe.
Disclaimer for Dummies:
I feel like I should disclose this beforehand for the dummies.
What you’re about to read are my personal opinions on the app. Take it for what it is. I’m just an enthusiast. I usually do this in form of Twitter threads but this one is more interesting to me, hence why I’m writing on Medium. I will also be joined by Lumiq Creative at the end where he will share his own thoughts on the app.
So, let's jump into it.
Good Design, Bad Execution
Logo:
Overall, the logo is ok. I may be biased here (because I’m more of a minimalist designer) but i feel like the logo has too much detail to the point where it looks weird, if you pay too much attention to it. The S is awkwardly placed and half cut out. Making it look like a 5 more than an S. It looks like the designer was forced to “keep the initials in the logo”, which is a common mistake clients make. They see negative space logos on Pinterest and immediately want their logo to look the same. Feels like this was a last-minute decision.
A logo like this does not work well for a social media app. For some reason it reminds me one of those “logo maker” apps on the play store. It simply does not fit the topic if that makes sense. Social media logos are usually over simplified. Mainly because of easy and quick recognition from afar. Take Facebook or Product Hunt for example. 2 different types of social sites but their logos are mainly just a single letter that are super easy to recognize no matter what it’s on.
I like their type though. A generic sans serif font. Nothing else to say about that.
Splash Screen:
Why does it say “start the fire” and “existing user” on the splash screen? Lol would’ve made more sense if both texts were related to each other? Idk I think I’m looking into this too much
Homepage
As the app starts, I immediately notice a lot of things going on. I would’ve liked it, if the app quickly walked me through the main UI so I know what does what. There is a fire button on posts that I have no idea what it does. YouTube doesn’t have startup tutorial either but that is because YouTube is extremely straight forward. Even a kid can get used to it pretty easily because you don’t have to learn 69 things to use it.
With an app that has so much functionality baked into it, it would’ve been much more helpful for elders or just people that aren’t very tech savvy. You don’t want people to need to figure things out themselves, you want them to enjoy the app/service right away.
User Experience
Here’s something I hate immediately. Comment button are always filled green. It indicates as if I have interacted with it somehow or left a comment. Which is very confusing at first, because the rest of the buttons get filled in with color after you interact with them. So natural instincts expect the same to happen for comments as well.
This button should not do that. It should only be filled with color, if a user leaves comment on a post.
Lack of Continuity
If you think that was bad UX. Oh, you haven’t seen nothin’ yet!
After you search for someone and subscribe to them, the button you tapped, doesn’t change to an unsubscribe button as it should. You know.. because continuity is a thing? The “Subscribed” message shows up above the username instead, where you least expect it to show up. That’s not where my attention was. It is very infuriating.
To top it all off, if you accidentally subscribe to someone, you have to go to their profile, tap the gear icon at the top right, then unsubscribe. What is this? It’s like me trying to cancel my Xbox live subscription or something. Why is this so deep into the UI if all this could have easily been avoided by just switching the subscribe button label to unsubscribe?
But wait...
There’s more. When you create a new “social post” the text is grey instead of white. Just weird. I don’t know who thought this was a good idea. Like I said in the screenshot, it looks as if I’m editing a disabled UI element.
When a post doesn’t have any “re-lits” (yes, shares are called relit) the button doesn’t center. The text element that is supposed to contain the text is not removed it seems. So, the fire icon doesn’t center the outer box like it should.
It keeps going…
Hmmm, whats this B thingy at the top. Let’s check it out. It seems some sort of currency. Not interested atm so imma go back. Wait... Where is the back button? Eh, just gonna hit back aaaaand I’ve exited the app.
In-App Currency in a Social App?
That B thingy is called Blaze. Its like an in-game currency but without a game so that makes it in-social currency or something idk. Its like CP in COD: Mobile. You can earn them by watching a video ad or do the things mentioned in this screenshot. Or you can buy them for actual money.
You can then use these blaze points to support creators on the platform or unlock content that require blaze points to be viewed. I see no point in this personally (pun intended). I’d have rather liked it more if this was optional and i could tip the creator with actual money instead. You know, so they can pay bills and support themselves. Or I would’ve liked it even more if you could then convert these blaze points into actual money. No?
If Twitter, Reddit & YouTube had a baby
This app is literally Twitter, Reddit and YouTube at the same time lmao. The post design is straight out of twitter. Even some of the UI is exactly copied. The blaze system is like giving gold in reddit. And there’s videos with posts like YouTube.
I’m not saying that’s bad. I like that all of these elements are fused into one. Its a unique idea. They’re all separated by this tab bar at the top which is perfect because that way you know what you’re exploring. Good job there.
Art isn’t worthy :(
There are categories when you go to search tab which is nice. But just like YouTube, no category for art :( there’s category for poetry though.
Bugs
These strange bugs can be found throughout the app.
Bad navigation
These weird UI navigations in this app are so common. You expect it to do something obvious but it takes you to a completely different page. Really bad UX choices throughout the app.
Uhhh…
I read their terms. Unless I missed it, nowhere does it say anything about sexual content on this app. No age warning or anything when signing up either.
A Confused Video Platform
Now let’s talk about the real reason why this app came to be in the first place. Video.
Some videos can only be played if you pay some amount of blaze points like i mentioned earlier but most of the videos are free to watch.
When you play a video on YouTube and plan to watch the whole thing, what's the first thing you do? Put it on full screen, right? On StoryFire, the video doesn’t rotate to landscape. It just hides all elements and puts the video on full screen IN PORTRAIT MODE. You have to enable auto-rotate to play it in full screen. How can they mess up such a basic video feature?
Here are some more basic features that are also missing such as:
- No seek controls. You have to use the progress bar at the bottom which is a nightmare to precisely control with a finger.
- No way to change video quality. This one is understandable as this would require a lot of encoding to be done but it’s a crucial feature nonetheless. I hope they add it in the near future.
- No minimized player. You can’t watch a video while also exploring the app.
I don’t understand how an app directed towards video sharing cannot have these basic features. I would have sympathized with them if the app was in Beta but nowhere does it say it is. I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually was.
There’s more to cover
Lumiq Creative has a series on his Medium profile called “By Design” (be sure to check it out) where he breaks down app designs in depth and in a much better grammar then mine. I thought it would be fun to share the app with him and see what he thinks. Here’s what he shared:
A host of design flaws irk me in StoryFire:
• More Options icons are troublesome to tap because their touch targets are undersized. Call me uncoordinated, but to open a comment action sheet took me five tries at my first attempt.
• Fullscreen presentations slide in from the bottom like modal views, but closing them requires extending your thumb half a mile to the very top edge of your phone.
• Signup is prerequisite to share posts and manage notification settings, which try as I may, I haven’t been able to unearth the rationale behind.
Conclusion:
StoryFire’s team really need to rethink the whole thing. The app has potential. I personally want it to succeed as YouTube competitor so the universe’s balance can be restored for once.
