A monthly interactive app for subscribers in the tech industry

About the product

Wired.co.uk is the UK's favourite idea, business, design and tech platform which brings together content for 27.1m digital readers.

Wired required an app built for iPad and iPhone that housed it's monthly editorial content. The app demanded a balance of enhanced interactive content for tech-savvy readers, matched with a smart and simple UI that ensured a seamless user experience and strong reader engagement.

This project was an intense digital build, with a team of 3 digital designers working over 15 months.

UX challenges

The main challenge with the product was to bring static content to life in a digital context, whilst ensuring app performance was nimble and of a quality experience for user. Once the look and feel of the overall app was established, a broad range of techniques were then deployed to enhance the editorial within the app.

Techniques included stop frame animation, video, custom audio and classic long-form stories laid out in a graphic manner to suit the theme of each individual article. Our favourite enhancement was the use of html overlays to enable parallax scrolling, with the external support of the Dwell Agency. This was unexplored territory for editorial app content and quickly adopted across the industry.

UX solutions

The project was ambitious, as an editorial app had rarely been seen to reconstruct content from static into digital in such an extensive manner. Obviously, certain strategies each month proved more successful than others. The user experience discoveries were plentiful and the product proved a benchmark in the market.

The key take-outs were: Exhaustively test and optimise app assets; frequently check performance across all destined devices and keep an eye of iOS updates; assess analytics after each issue to gauge what worked best and how to improve the next release and continually look to the market to analyse competitors.

Summary

The project was ever-evolving and a huge digital learning curve for team and contributors. The proof of its success culminating in increased readership, brand loyalty and several awards.

Social presence

The Instagram account was a side gig the digital team undertook, a brand new launch, which swiftly grew from zero to almost 60k followers. This social product proved an integral addition to the Wired UK brand and remains so today.

A new digital product from Facebook and Vanity Fair featuring a ten-episode podcast

About the product

A new digital product concept was created for the B2B marketing team at Facebook. The product was titled "The Making Of..." and the idea was to interview ten influential people who are defining the modern world and find out the moments that made them. Notable names including Jimmy Wales, Eva Chen and Adrianna Huffington.

UX challenges

As an experience for the user, the project needed to convey a reputable, serious tone balanced with an approachable vibe. The target audience was a crowd who interacted with great brands and influencers daily. So the project needed to attract these new users/listeners in a quietly confident manner.

The product's identity needed to be adaptable across multiple interfaces as well as print. The id also had to work in harmony with the project partners, who had strict brand guidelines to adhere to.

UX solutions

Kyle Bean, one of London's favourite stop-frame animators, was commissioned to create the hero lock-up. A model was created by Kyle and shot in his studio. This looping stop-frame animation was a solution that was incredibly adaptable across both animated UI's and static formats such as print. It had a Wes Anderson flavour, which was perfect for the readership.

The extremely adaptable visual could operate as a social media video for readers to click, a looping gif on the website, a succinct thumbnail-sized ident on Spotify and a larger static element in a print feature.

To support the chief animated solution, a secondary batch of assets was generated in the form of a portrait series, which was shot on various locations in the UK by photographer Nick Wilson.

Summary

Facebook were delighted with the product, receiving positive feedback from their users and generous traffic. They plan to commission a second season, due out in 2021.

Apple News digital launch for Vogue, GQ and Wired

About the product

Apple News launched their new digital project and Condé Nast required their top brands to evolve and accommodate the latest Apple offering. The chosen brands to be built and uploaded with daily offerings for readers were British Vogue, British GQ and Wired UK.

UX challenges and solutions

Apple required each app to be built using JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) which is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate.

Each app needed to feel part of the existing digital suite for each brand, and required liaison between several partners including Apple and editors of each publication.

Overall the product delivered and met it's goals, proven through the healthy traffic numbers which continue today.

A London-focused website and newsletter launch for Vanity Fair UK

About the product

VF London required a website to be created with content refreshed weekly, including a newsletter with 30k subscribers.

The launch needed to feel in-sync with other Vanity Fair products, attract local readers as well as visitors to London who admire the VF brand.

UX challenge and solutions

The website's final solution was a simple, clean and elegant UI, allowing ease of use for both visitors to London and locals.

A mixture of small chunks of content was established, best for visitors to the city. Alongside this, longer-form content featured for regular local readers who were proven to mostly consume the product on their commute or at work.

The content was distributed successfully across multiple platforms, such as web and also social. This initially proved challenging due to the breadth of content, but conquered with the team fine-tuning their planning process and optimisation of assets.

Summary

Today, the VF London website continues to have healthy reader engagement and newsletter viewings. It has established itself as a favourite sub-brand within Vanity Fair and a go-to for Londoners.