The Washington Post: Free for All? (UX Capstone Project)

Project Overview

Role Sole UX Designer

Timeline

3 weeks

Scope Capstone project

Tools

Company Background

The Washington Post is a prominent American newspaper founded in 1877 and headquartered in Washington, D.C.

In recent years, The Washington Post has undergone significant changes, particularly in the way it delivers news to readers.

Under the ownership of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the newspaper has invested heavily in digital innovation, leading to the creation of new platforms and tools for readers to engage with its content.

Design Challenge

The Post has undergone a digital transformation and has even been dubbed as a “technology company disguised as a newspaper”.

Times have changed and there is a new generation that needs access to high quality journalism.

What can The Washington Post do to engage with Gen Z users and eventually get them to subscribe?

Problem Statment

As a Gen Z user seeking reliable online news sources, I am frustrated by the paywalls that block access to high-quality journalism.

Research

Desk Research

Case S ud

48% of Ameri an u e their martphone to on ume ne

50% of urveyor aid that onvenient ne pa kaging a a rea on to ub ribe to online ne

20% of Ameri an pay for ne but half of them ub ribe to NYTime

48% of people u e o ial media a a our e of ne , and 72% u e the internet

McKinse

Gen Z gre up on free ne , doe not ee a rea on to pay for a ne ervi

Ne i not only arti le , it ultura

Differen e bet een the ne and ju t ne .

American Press Ins i u

In all, 38% of Gen Z and Millennial ay they a tively eek ne ; 61% ay they mo tly bump into it

Meta (Fa ebook) and Alphabet

(Google) by them elve ontrol lo e to t o-third of all digital adverti ing revenue

In all, 28% of Gen Z and Millennial ay they pay for at lea t one ne produ t u h a print or digital magazine , print or digital ne paper , and digital ne app .

Competitive Analysis

One of the first tasks was to compare the Washington Post its competitors. Other prominent online newspapers also face the same struggle of recruiting Gen Z users, what are their strategies and could they be applied to The Post?

Key Takeaways

Each share many similarities

WSJ and LA Times appear to rely mostly on ads for revenue

All are active on social media. NY Times and The Post having the most followers/ engagement.

Auto-Ethnography

The next task was to dive into the Washington Post website myself. I put myself in the user’s shoes and experienced their pain points. I also took a look at their TikTok page.

Key Takeaways

The Post, allows users to view some articles for free by having them create a free account to bypass subscribing owever, the system appears to be random. There is no telling which articles you might be able to view for free or pay for Large TikTok presence. With 1.6 million followers.

User Interviews

After experiencing the website for myself, I needed to learn what Gen Z expected from an online newspaper.

I conducted in-person interviews with 3 participants, ages 19, 20, & 25. The focus of the interviews were to learn about news consumption and their thoughts on how online newspapers can engage with Gen Z users.

Key Takeaways

Found most value in their interest in the news and their thoughts on news outlets attracting Gen Participants either had no interest in news or wanted to be more informed

Get to know your audience, be transparent and relatable.

Empathize

How might we...

develop alternative payment options and subscription features to retain Gen Z users and keep them from exiting the Post website?

Empathy Map

Data from my desk research and user interviews led me to create an empathy to synthesize all my data.

Key Takeaways

Says “I rarely watch the news”

Thinks News is associated with schoolwork

D es Switch between multiple social media apps to find information on a topic/ story

Feels incompetent, confused, and frustrated.

I don’t watch or read the news as much as I feel I am supposed to I don’t understand some of the concepts in some articles

I only subscribed to an online newspaper when I had to for school

ews should be free or at-least very cheap

There are so many ways to get information online I enjoy watching youtube videos explaining topics I am interested in. I often get my news from social media (TikTok, Twitter & Instagram). SA S

Are other people consuming more news than I am Are people smarter than me

Watching videos make it easier for me to retain information.

I might be out of the loop on certain politics

Is it worth it to subscribe to an online newspaper

What do I get from a newspaper that I cannot get for free online ews is associated with schoolwork. I want to be more knowledgeable.

Switches between multiple social media apps to find information on a certain story

Finds an article from a trusted source but is blocked by a paywall – does not continue Searches for topics that are of interest to them. Often learns through TikTo

When sharing information learned from TikTok (or other social media) will lie and say they read an article on said topic, for credibility

Uses the bookmark feature on various social media apps to save posts about topics they think are important.

THI KS

“I want to stay informed about what’s happening in the world, especially with politics and social justice issues”

Ideation

5 Whys

With my How Might We... statement finalized, I next needed to narrow down my cause. I used 5 Whys to find out what could be the root cause of my problem.

Key Takeaways

oot Cause: The Post’s paywall algorithm lacks transparency and deters users rather than persuading them to subscribe Focus on users that are already interested in reading the news.

This problem is about how the Post approaches its paywall. How can it be more transparent so users can use the site more efficiently

Problem

Gen Z users are exiting the Washington Post website once they reach a paywall.

Why?

They are frustrated that they cannot read the article.

Why?

They are surprised with the paywall after they have clicked on the article.

Why?

There was no indication that the article was not free.

Why?

The Post did not want to discourage users from viewing another article.

Why?

The Post wants users to continue to use their website.

Root Cause

The Post’s paywall algorithm lacks transparency and deters users rather than intriguing them to subscribe.

Crazy 8s

Now that I narrowed down my problems it was time to start generating ideas to solve them. Crazy 8s was a quick way to get these ideas out on paper.

Sta douts

Informing users how many articles they are allowed to view for free Educating users on why there is a paywall and what their money is going towards Redesigning the homepage to give more transparency

Wireframes

The next step was the create low fidelity wireframes to bring my ideas to life. I started with paper sketches then moved to Figma to continue upping the fidelity.

ote

Informing users how many articles they are allowed to view for free ducating users on why there is a paywall and what their money is going towards Redesigning the homepage to give more transparency

Solution

Prototype & User Testing

I created the prototype in Figma. It showcases added features that increase transparency with the users as well as redesigned paywalls to communicate the Washington Post’s vision.

User Testing Tasks:

Surveyed 8 participants.

Gave them scenarios and asked for their reactions to different paywalls. Chose their next action: Exiting website or s bscribing to The Pos Showed participants two different Homepages

They choose which one they preferred.

Once they've reached their limit, let them know why The Post is asking them to subscribe.

View Prototype

Outcomes

The prototype received positive reviews and the solutions proved to be a benefit for users.

Feedback for the redesigned homepage was varied. Some users appreciated the clarity it provided while others were confused by the indicators of “subscriber-only” articles.