The Economist

New homepage and a vision for reader experience

How do you help a global readership get abreast of what’s happening in the world today? Editors at the Economist felt hindered by their homepage experiences across web and apps. They needed a better way to give prominence to big stories whilst balancing the need to keep people updated with the latest developments.

Our approach married extensive audience research and cross-functional collaboration between product and editorial teams to create a vision for the future of reader experience that balanced editorial control with reader preferences.

The new homepage introduced several new features including: The “Discover Rail”, a thin strip above the top stories designed to promote other formats such as podcasts; and “The World in Brief”, short snippets, allowing editors to respond more quickly to breaking events.

The new homepage was launched in June 2021. It contributed to a 32% increase in website traffic within a year since launch. The design remains unchanged for over three years.

The previous homepage suffered from a chaotic layout, with unclear hierachy. Readers often misunderstood which image related to which text.

The previous homepage suffered from a chaotic layout, with unclear hierachy. Readers often misunderstood which image related to which text.

The previous homepage suffered from a chaotic layout, with unclear hierachy. Readers often misunderstood which image related to which text.

We asked readers to create their ideal app in this co-design exercise. It helped us understand user preferences and shaped ideas around personalisation.

We asked readers to create their ideal app in this co-design exercise. It helped us understand user preferences and shaped ideas around personalisation.

We asked readers to create their ideal app in this co-design exercise. It helped us understand user preferences and shaped ideas around personalisation.

Our research led to a vision that spanned homepages for web and mobile apps. We presented ideas that would push the boudaries of The Economist’s visual language.

Our research led to a vision that spanned homepages for web and mobile apps. We presented ideas that would push the boudaries of The Economist’s visual language.

Our research led to a vision that spanned homepages for web and mobile apps. We presented ideas that would push the boudaries of The Economist’s visual language.

A closer look at ‘The World in Brief’ a new addition to the homepage designed to enable editors to respond to breaking stories more quickly.

A closer look at ‘The World in Brief’ a new addition to the homepage designed to enable editors to respond to breaking stories more quickly.

A closer look at ‘The World in Brief’ a new addition to the homepage designed to enable editors to respond to breaking stories more quickly.

Homepage with “Takeover” layout. Reserved for large stories, this module is capable of containing several related articles. It pushes down the regular daily content for the duration of the takeover.

Homepage with “Takeover” layout. Reserved for large stories, this module is capable of containing several related articles. It pushes down the regular daily content for the duration of the takeover.

Homepage with “Takeover” layout. Reserved for large stories, this module is capable of containing several related articles. It pushes down the regular daily content for the duration of the takeover.

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