Product Development: The Download
Download with hero image and sponsor from 1/6/17
The challenge: Shortly after launching the new site in February, the Product Development Team was tasked with creating a curated newsletter product. Prior to this, MIT Technology Review sent out weekly newsletters by topic, which were essentially automated lists of links to recent articles. Inspired by NextDraft, Quartz's Daily Brief, and others in this space, the editorial team wanted something that was easily editable and which they could infuse with personality.
Project requirements:
- Create a templatized, curated daily newsletter experience which exposes MIT Technology Review's best writing as well as journalism our editors deem important and timely from elsewhere on the web
- Give a "voice" to our brand
- Allow for media uploads, but does not require them to tell a good story
Our approach: The word from our Editor and Chief was that "As with individuals, newsletters can’t be too smart or attractive, so long as they are clear and engaging and dress relatively plainly." - so design-wise, we had our marching orders. We spent time researching what other brands do, and interviewed the editors who would be on the hook for sending out the email every day. We also had the editors start to practice with format and tone in Google docs. They'd share their creations with broader stakeholders every day. This process greatly helped shape the design of the final product.
From a technical/build perspective, we chose to work with MailChimp, given the responsive layouts, list management, ease of uploading new templates, and (most importantly) great user experience for editors.
My role:
- Planning and strategy with internal stakeholders
- Project and resource planning
- Vendor management
- Project management
- Quality Assurance
The team:
- Emily Waggoner: UX/Design lead
- Shaun Calhoun: Lead developer
- Michael Reilly: Senior editor, news and commentary