the times ios APP

In a digital world dominated by real-time news feeds and constant updates, The Times faced a fundamental challenge: how could a premium newspaper remain valuable when breaking news was already everywhere?

Readers didn’t want more noise. They wanted clarity, context, and authoritative journalism.

Working with The Times, we redesigned the iOS app around a simple idea — moving away from the endless breaking news cycle and toward curated digital editions delivered at meaningful moments in the day.

As Global Creative Director for Experience Design, I led the design of the new mobile experience, helping transform the app into a premium product that supported both reader habits and subscription growth.

Global Creative Director, Experience Design

• Mobile product experience design

• News platform UX strategy

• Information architecture and interaction design

• Editorial and content design

• Product and brand alignment

• Multidisciplinary team leadership

Led design across a small cross-disciplinary team delivering a new mobile experience for The Times and Sunday Times.

200%

increase in subscriptions

500,000

peak subscribers

30,000

Free subscriptions per week

4%

subscriber churn is at a record low

35%

increase in average time-on-app

The shift to digital news created a difficult tension for traditional journalism.

24-hour news cycles and infinite scrolling feeds pushed publishers to publish faster and more frequently. But readers increasingly felt overwhelmed by the constant stream of updates.

In research sessions we repeatedly heard the same frustrations:

• “I can’t keep up.”

• “News has become noise.”

• “I want to slow down so I can understand what’s happening.”

For The Times, the opportunity was not to compete on speed but to focus on clarity, credibility, and thoughtful reporting.

Instead of replicating the chaotic flow of online news feeds, we focused on the concept of a digital edition.

The app would deliver curated updates at three key moments:

• Morning

• Midday

• Evening

Each edition provided a carefully selected overview of the most important stories, allowing readers to understand the news without constantly refreshing the app.

This approach aligned the digital experience more closely with the traditional rhythm of a newspaper while taking advantage of mobile distribution.

Research showed readers interacted with news in several distinct ways.

1. Skimming — quickly scanning headlines and imagery

2. Dipping — sampling articles and multimedia content

3. Reading — engaging deeply with long-form journalism

4. Learning — exploring related stories and analysis

The product needed to support all four behaviours seamlessly.

Design decisions focused on:

• Clear typography and legibility

• Thoughtful information hierarchy

• Distraction-free reading flows

• Visual cues supporting article discovery

The goal was to make long-form journalism comfortable to read on mobile, not rushed or fragmented.

Several features helped reinforce the new editorial model.

The Edition

The home screen presents the latest curated edition, allowing readers to quickly scan the day’s most important stories before exploring individual sections.

Saved articles

Readers can store articles in a personal “My Articles” area to read later or offline.

This supported the way many subscribers use journalism as part of their ongoing learning and reflection.

Sharing

Articles could be shared with non-subscribers, allowing readers to gift access to specific stories.

This helped extend the reach of Times journalism while acting as a trial for potential new subscribers.

For subscription publications, engagement is directly tied to retention.

By focusing on quality, clarity, and thoughtful pacing, the app encouraged readers to spend more time with the journalism rather than skimming headlines and leaving.

The result was stronger reader engagement and significant growth in digital subscriptions.

Designing news products revealed several lessons about digital publishing.

• Speed isn’t always the answer.
  Readers often value clarity and context more than constant updates.

• Editorial rhythm matters.
  Curated editions create a more meaningful relationship with news than infinite feeds.

• Reading is a product experience.
  Typography, layout, and pacing directly shape how people understand complex information.

These insights continue to influence how I approach content-driven products.

Role

Global Creative Director, Experience Design

Skills

Hands-On Mobile Product Design, Interaction & Interface Design, News Platform UX Strategy, Research-Driven Experience Principles, Prototyping & Rapid Iteration, Information Architecture, UX Writing & Content Design, Multidisciplinary Team Leadership, Product & Brand Alignment, Subscription Engagement & Retention Optimization

Team

Si Hill, Marcela Maltese

Agency / Launch

SapientNitro / 2015