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A redesign of the Verdict News platform and their 40+ websites

  • Nick Quinn

Verdict News had approached me to redesign their entire news platform catering for over 20+ websites. A simple and flexible design treatment was required in order to cater for the rapid growth of the company and meet the three-month deadline. We adopted the Agile process for this project working in weekly sprints to deliver the project. My recommendation was to design a modular framework built around interchangeable components to aid development speed and usability for the editorial team. As there were so many websites to cater for we needed to align templates across all sites and decide if some required bespoke templates or components. I wanted to break down this case study into four sections: Navigation / the mobile journey / the templates and modules / the style guide

https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/
https://www.airport-technology.com/
https://www.power-technology.com/
https://www.verdict.co.uk/
Aligning site navigation

My research had highlighted the existing suite of sites comprised of four variations of navigation. This was always going to prove problematic regarding future-proofing the product. We wanted to create a solid foundation to build on that could cater for the inclusion of new sites and consolidation of others. I wanted to align navigation using clear sign-posting and contextual links within each section, breaking away from the more traditional nav structure.
Addressing the mobile user journey

The brief had a focal point - how do we address the 80% bounce rate on article pages. After gaining an understanding of the issue with the existing user journey I was better informed to advise on a design treatment that addressed the holes. The solution comprised of clear sign-posting (users were arriving from a Google search) with easy access to relevant links and sticky content on page.
Defining the core page templates and modules

We needed to define the primary page templates that would create a structure to be rolled out across the 20+ sites that sit under the Verdict umbrella brand. Each template comprised of interchangeable components across mobile and desktop.
Whilst our aim was to build a suite of templates that could be used as the core page structure for each site, there was always going to be the need to build bespoke pages and components.
A design system for Verdict News

A project like this will always require a flexible component library for the team to build on. Not too rigid, but enough guidelines to ensure that it is cohesive, easy to build and own-able from a brand perspective.
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