Stand News
Deliver high-quality news fast and everywhere for 3M readers
As Hong Kong went through a major socio-political shift, its premier online news outlet, Stand News, was also going through one of its own. We helped redesign the online news website for an eager, mobile-first monthly readership of 3 million people.
My Role
I led the research with our client and the redesign. I worked with the engineering team to implement the design and did a phased rollout.
Project Team
Me, Lead Designer
Kelvin, Product Manager
Chun Yin, Senior Software Engineer
Carrie, Software Engineer
Peter, Software Engineer
————
Update from 30/12/2021
On 29 December 2021, Stand News shut down its operation amid the backdrop of increasing government suppression of news media. You can still see the redesigned website on Web Archive
Design Brief
How might we respond to the ever-changing social situation
Stand News is the premier online news media that focuses on social and political issues in Hong Kong, with a monthly readership of about 3 million at its peak.
Amidst the pro-democratic movement in Hong Kong in 2019-2021, Stand News was propelled to the center stage as it provided pro-democratic, non-stop coverage during that period.
But with the newfound popularity comes a big challenge for the burgeoning news outlet: How can Stand News respond to this complex social situation?
Design Goals
Optimize for mobile, speed and differentiation
Stand News is growing its readership by 250% month-over-month before we started working with them. Their website is overwhelmed by traffic, mostly from mobile devices. They also shifted from majority long-form, investigative pieces to quick, bite-sized news updates.
Therefore, working with the editorial team, we defined the following three goals for this redesign
Faster and more optimized for mobile
Designed for faster news cycles
Stand out more from other news agencies
01
Prioritize the most critical news
Not all news articles are equally important at a time. Therefore, we highlighted on the latest news, popular news based on views and editorial curation, and live updates. So that readers can have a quick glance of what is happening, without even clicking into any articles.
02
Double down on live and video news
Stand News pride itself on its rapid response. They are usually the first written and video journalists to arrive in breaking situations.
Live blogging and video content differentiate Stand News from other media outlets. Therefore, we want to highlight these contents, and optimize those experiences for a largely mobile-native audience.
03
Mobile First
75% of readers consume Stand News on mobile. While the previous website treats mobile as an afterthought, we made mobile the first priority in this redesign. We primarily focus on discovering relevant coverage and sharing articles across the internet.
Outcome
Reliability News Amidst Tectonic Change
The redesign gained traction right away, speeding up load times and helping Hong Kong people stay updated in the midst of massive social change that was happening, whether they are in their homes or on the go.
87%
Reduction in load time
250k
People tuned in to a live blogging session