YOUR FORBES

In response to the digital landscape that exists nowadays, Forbes tasked us to design the future of their online experience with the goal of bringing new users to the site, as well as increasing retention of existing users.

In the digital age we live in, customers are used to having relevant news at their fingertips.

Now more than ever, it is extremely easy to provide oneself with relevant and useful news content. Forbes misses the mark on connecting their content to a users interests, leading to a lack of user loyalty to the brand.

Surveying to explore how users are currently consuming their news.

I quickly realized that in order to best design to create new and returning users, I would need to understand how my users are currently consuming their news. I surveyed 54 participants with an aim on focusing on their current news discovery, and what attracts them to certain news sites.

News Discovery

Users are primarily discovering their news through google searches and news applications, primarily on their phones and on laptop.

Filtering the Overload

Users feel that they have abundant access to the news they consume, but yearn for a customizable news experience that they control.

Maintaining User Interest

Users are primarily attracted to the news that they read when it is convenient to their schedules and relevant to what they are interested in.

Nate the Newbie

As an undergraduate student beginning my job search, I want to find a news source that I can customize and trust, so that I can best prepare myself for my career after college.

Rachel the Returner

As a busy marketing executive, I want easy access to articles that are relevant to my interests, so that I can better enjoy the small breaks that I get throughout the day.

Tiered Solution Diagram

To further guide and define my project, I divided my project goals into three tiers, building off of the base idea of personalization and moving upwards towards rewarding users for coming back to the site.

A personalized digital environment that seamlessly delivers Forbes content in the most efficient ways possible.

My solution creates a customizable environment that is heavily focused on clarifying and diversifying the information delivery of Forbes content, while at the same time rewarding users for loyalty to the Forbes brand.

Your Forbes Onboarding

A call to action for signing up for Your Forbes exists on the home screen. During the onboarding process, a user is prompted to enter their account information as well as choose the topics they are most interested in so that Forbes can create a customized page for them.

Your Forbes curated page

A users personalized hub of content that they are interested in, allowing them to explore their interestes as well as expand their knowledge through the content that Forbes offers.

Forbes Daily Delivery

As it currently stands, the Forbes Daily Dozen is an email newsletter of twelve articles delivered daily to a user. I wanted to take steps to personalize the Daily Dozen, and turn it into the Daily Delivery.

Customizing your Forbes experience

Once a user creates an account, they gain access to new customization options. A user can adjust both the amount of articles contained within the newsletter, as well as what time of day they would like to receive it, allowing their Daily Delivery to best fit their schedule.

Forbes Browser Extension

I wanted to allow a user to find the news they love with the simplicity of a single click. Each time a user opens a new tab, they would be greeted with curated Your Forbes content. The Forbes browser extension is broken into two parts: curated and discover. A user can view the articles in the browser and, on click, are taken to that article on the Forbes site.

Forbes 5 To-Go

In addition to the browser extension, I wanted to offer another point of delivery for news to my users. I designed Forbes 5-to-go, a text based delivery of news information that takes the user to their own five articles to read, each article taking ~5 minutes to read.

iMessage Extension

To allow for the easy sharing of news articles to their friends, family, and others, I designed an iMessage extension that a user can quickly share their recently read articles.

Forbes FYI

For the third tier, I chose to explore the idea of an interactive inforgraphic experience that details the knowledge a user has gained throughout their month of reading.

Working with a well-established client was an amazing learning opportunity, and forced me out of my comfort zone.

Throughout this project, I was challenged to design within a well-established brand from a respected client. In doing so, it forced me to consider the ripple effect that each decision I made would have on Forbes' current digital environment, and how I could best optimize my solution to pinpoint the needs that Forbes had laid out. Going forward, I would like to explore a more fleshed out third tier of increasing user loyalty through exclusive content and articles for consistently returning users.

TIME FOR ONE MORE?

A matching card game focused on habitats.

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