Case Study.
The Challenge
Gen Z is far more likely than those in earlier generations to use social media and news aggregators instead of direct methods to access news, hurting both subscriptions and ad revenues, and posing challenges to the future profitability of The Washington Post.
What would it take for Gen Z to engage with and eventually subscribe to The Post?
My Role and Responsibility
As the sole UX Designer on this case study, the entire product design from research to conception to visualization and testing was my responsibility.
Timeline: 3 weeks
My Design Process
I set off on a journey to create an innovative solution to attract and convert this reluctant demographic, culminating in a presentation video to share my solution and Deliverables.
Getting to know The Post
The Washington Post enjoyed over a century of a solid reputation and financial support from robust ad revenue and steadfast subscribers. But times change, preferences shift and the rise of the internet has proven disastrous for the newspaper industry.
After years of declining revenue and relevance, Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post determined to regain its standing with a digital transformation to bring the publication into modern times and entice the rising tide of consumers: Generation Z.
EntI analyzed The Post and its efforts towards digitalization with research into its operations model under Jeff Bezos and its subscriber engagement tactics. I organized my research data points into a Mind Map to connect all the dots.er your text here...
Getting to know Gen Z
My next goal was to familiarize myself with Gen Z. I held interviews via Zoom with 5 Gen Zers and read the published studies from Pew Research and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Collecting my insights into an Empathy Map helped me identify common frustrations and insights on which to base my design solution.
I discovered an interesting point of contention: while Gen Z is the most politically progressive generation, reading the news induces their anxiety and feelings of helplessness.
Additional Gen Z takeaways:
They are socially-minded
Focussed on mental wellness
Primarily get their news from social media
Value trust and transparency in people, products and corporations
Defining Moments
Digging deep into the details and the ‘Why’ of the insights I gathered in my research, I crafted User Personas to represent the diverse users The Post needs to engage… and I needed to find a way to entice.
Meet Brandon and Lark Nichols.
Brandon personifies the upperclassmen of Gen Z. These subscribers are down to earth and carry a weight upon their shoulders. Unsatisfied with the world they’ve been given, he looks for opportunities to better the situation for himself and those around him.
Lark Nichols speaks for the younger portion of Gen Z. Social media is ingrained in her sense of self and daily life. She uses the platforms to share ideas and collaborate with her peers. Lark and her ilk see their tech as an opportunity to unify, inform and organize.
Conducting a Competitive Analysis made clear the state of engagement efforts geared toward Gen Z by news sites. I found users were able to share news articles to social media platforms and most outlets have integrated video clips of article summaries.
I discovered that none of the traditional news outlets are offering to meet Gen Z where they live and invite them to the table.
It became clear that The Post has an opportunity to offer something no other news outlet does: welcome Gen Z to not only Get Informed, but also to Get Involved.
My Solution
To engage and convert Gen Z, I recommend The Post integrate my new feature: GIGI.
GIGI empowers us to Get Informed & Get Involved – either in support of, or in opposition to the issues covered in The Post articles.
Brandon and Lark Nichols will be able to access action steps from within the articles they read for the immediate gratification of making a change.
GIGI will offer 4 manners of participation: Speak Up, Show Up, Donate and Discuss.
Developing the UI Design
So… I had this great idea to invite Brandon, Lark Nichols to participate and interact with the news but how was that going to look? And how was it going to work?
Sketches helped to identify UI requirements that needed to be met: introducing GIGI, explaining how it works and integrating this feature into the articles resulting in a seamless user flow.
As the most promising aspects of my sketches moved onto Lo-Fidelity Wireframes, I wanted GIGI to be attractive to Brandon and Lark Nichols and I also wanted to be mindful not to alienate older, more traditional users of The Post
From what I learned in my research on Gen Z, I had no expectation for Lark Nichols to venture onto a Learn More page, and provide them with an explanation for what these new icons meant.
Brandon and Lark Nichols need scannability, so I featured icons with bullet points explaining the gist of the action steps.
Delivering Results
My solution of Get Informed, Get Involved (GIGI) seeks to ease the anxiety and feelings of helplessness that Gen Z has expressed around reading the news by offering an immediate action steps for the issues and causes covered in The Post articles.
I’ve included a video tour of this new feature. Or, explore my prototype on your own here.
Speak Up user flow progression
Let your voice to be heard. The Post provides subscribers with whom and where to write letters, emails or postcards and connects users to petitions to sign.
Show Up user flow progression
Show up to events. The Post provides subscribers with information on upcoming protests, rallys and town halls to attend.
Show up to help. The Post connects subscribers to local organizations in need of volunteers.
Donate user flow progression
Give funding where it matters. The Post provides subscribers with established charities, funds, organizations & movements in need of financial support, and allows users to donate directly from the app.
Discuss user flow progression
Share your opinion. The Post spotlights insightful subscribers. Subscribers are invited to comment & share their thoughts on Tiktok and tag @WP to get noticed.
Start a conversation. The Post provides tips and talking points to start a discussion at school, in a community or at home.
User Testing
Through unmoderated testing with Maze.co, I wanted to observe how users interacted with the GIGI feature. I asked them to explore the app freely and and give feedback of their experience.
I tested age ranges from Gen Z to Boomers to to track the balance of attracting new users without alienating more traditional users with participants breakdown of:
6 testers: 13-29 years old
2 testers: 30-49 years old
3 testers: 50+ years old
I was surprised to find that 60% of testers visited and spent time on the Learn More page. I had expected the older participants to want to visit that screen but it was also visited by Gen Z and Millennials.
As expected, testing uncovered areas in need of iteration. There was a recurrent desire for simplification of what the GIGI feature does and how it is portrayed.
In terms of usability, GIGI had an 80% success rate in testers being able to find and sign a petition and 91% of testers said they would use GIGI, if it were offered.
Takeaways and Iterations
The main takeaway from user testing was that GIGI is a lot of information to process.
A possible iteration would be to simplify GIGI by distilling the 4 icons to 1 icon. This single icon would then lead to a screen with all of the GIGI action step options.
View my prototype here.
What I I Learned
Working on this solo challenge, I enjoyed my trademark accelerated pace — not having to wait on team members completing supplemental charts or items. Though, I did feel the lack of collaboration that comes from building off each other's work during team brainstorming sessions.
The Discovery phase on this project broadened my view of conducting research. Working alone and with a truncated timeline, I decided to pull from studies and published articles to learn more about The Post & Gen Z.
I discovered I don’t always have to do it all and can look to the work of published authors and researchers.
Thank You.
Thank you for your time today and adventuring through my design challenge for The Washington Post. I invite your thoughts and critique, so please feel free to contact me. Until then, have a great day!