New York Times Playlist
Experience Design - 2022
Role: UX Researcher + Interaction Researcher, Video Editor + Voice
Team: Joanna Lee, Karishma Sen, Jonathan Choi, Dennis Limbo
New York Times Playlists was a 6-week project for a senior year design project. The goal was to identify an opportunity for a design intervention within an existing company, with a focus on design principles, research and clear direction. The final deliverable provided both the user and the business value.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
PROBLEM SPACE
New York Times Playlists allow for occasional readers of the Times to consume news in an audio-based intervention. This solution helps occasional readers consume news at times that fit their busy schedules in order to retain existing subscribers who do not make the time to read.
In recent years, the NY Times has focused primarily on its digital subscription growth, with a goal of hitting 15 million subscribers by 2027. Although they have found success in maintaining their subscription growth, the increase in subscribers was mainly sourced from discounted promotional offerings for their subscriptions.
From further research and surveys, the NY Times proved to be the most cancelled digital news subscription. One of the leading factors causing people to cancel subscriptions was a reader's perceived lack of time for reading, causing readers to not recognize the value in renewing their subscriptions once the promotional offer returns to the regular rate.
CONTEXT
From a survey conducted by Nieman Lab (503 respondents), the team was able to uncover insight on why subscribers were unsubscribing from the NY Times - Respondents were cancelling because of information overload as they were not making enough time to read news.
Following our secondary research, insights and interviews, the team developed the scope and focus for our project:
