Company & Team
NBC News Digital Product & Design Team + Code and Theory

My Role
Product designer at NBC News

Year Built
2017 - early 2018

Objective
TODAY.com is a well-established part of the NBC News brand that has its own distict identity and history. The website update happened in parallel with the year-long redesign and rebrand of NBCNews.com.

Process
We closely collaborated with the Today editorial team. Ensuring our refresh still reflects the core brand value and user needs, while fitting into the family of NBC News brands. I worked closely with stakeholders for business goals, with developers to build and deliver new changes, and deliver prototypes for the research team for user testing.

WHY REFRESH?

The TODAY.com website is a one stop destination for online publishing, broadcast media, and e-commerce. The essential modules/features are unique to their brand and differ widely from the NBC News system, which historically resulted in using add-ons and hacks to achieve certain serivces or effects. It was time to design user AND editor friendly services that will help the content shine.

Today.com in 2017

USER SURVEY RESULTS

“How do we show the generation of young adults that we produce content for them as well?”

TODAY.com has been serving a specific user demographic for many years and acquired die-hard fans from all over the country. We learned from leadership that they were hoping to reach a younger population. Even though we already have content made for them, according to research data, they associate the Today brand more with their mother’s generation. 

REBRANDING PROCESS

The first step was to refresh the look of the brand. TODAY.com has gone through several brand color changes throughout the years, mostly sticking to the iconic orange color.

A few previous logos:

I was a part of proposing a bolder orange for replacement. Taking inspiration from a color palette used exclusively on the latest Today app designed in 2017. We were nervous for lashback for this particular change in color scheme, since the original orange is highly recognizable. After a few adjustments, we found the perfect balance.

New logo & palette:

USER TESTING & PROTOTYPING

We ran 2-4 week sprints in conjunction with the design sprints. Depending on the goal, we either brought in users or tested remotely with UserTesting on both desktop and mobile. I provided the Principle prototypes and worked closely with the research team to set agendas.

UI DESIGN EXAMPLES

For the rest of the year, we designed many components and featured specifically tailored for Today but could be converted to the NBC News and MSNBC brand if needed. Below are some visual design example I’ve worked on with the team, with many more still in development.

Homepage Featured News

Article Hero

Homepage slider on mobile

Search cards on mobile

Mobile sharing top bar