The Pittsburgh Tribune is a reputable news website covering Pittsburgh and its surrounding area. They have a number of different sites but this project focuses on the redesign of their local website.
Timeline
6 months
The Team
2 UI/UX Designers
4 Developers
1 Project Manager
My Role
UX Research
UI Design
Tools
Figma
Useberry
Chatgpt
Microsoft 365
Identify
Problem
As a local news website we cannot provide the most exciting and updated news at all times, leading to a decline in user interest. Many have forgotten the vital role that local journalism plays in the community.
Solution
Redesign the local news platform to drive engagement and foster a strong sense of community. With personalized content and actionable features, create a platform where neighbors can share and stay informed on relevant news.
Research
Before designing and ideating we conducted research to learn more about the project. We conducted academic research, user research and competitive analysis. Some tools we used include Google Analytics, Chat Gpt, and Useberry.
Takeaways
Give users a purpose!
Simplify
To increase user input, create clear calls to action of varying intensity.
Free up space and allow users to populate it. Reduce clutter and focus on the content.
Ideate and Test
Test Findings
Changes
Test Findings
Changes
Build
After working closely with developers I was really happy with how the final product came out. Throughout the next couple months we continued to test and bug fix to make sure the site ran smoothly.
Learnings
Don’t be afraid to let go
We wasted a lot of time testing and rethinking potential solutions that we should have already ruled out and moved on from. An example of this is we tried to reinvent an article pop-up feature even after we tested and received feedback that users found pop-ups very disruptive.
Streamline presentations.
When presenting I learned that the more concise the presentation the better. Similar to in design, giving too many options can cause the room to go on too many tangents, which slows up critical decision making.
Collaboration is key.
Working with developers was a major part of this project. After we ran into some obstacles caused by miscommunication, I learned to keep them involved in every bit of the decision making.
Reiterate more.
Along this journey there were times of misunderstanding and following poor leads. More reiteration would allow us to get rapid resolutions to mistakes and help us stay on track.
I would love to connect, reach out to mcglynnc22@gmail.com