Collaborated with product, engineering, research, and editorial teams to reimagine the Christian Science Monitor’s daily email newsletter workflow. The goal was to increase reader engagement and improve editorial efficiency by shifting from a rigid daily email package to a flexible, rolling publishing model.
The design sprint resulted in a new design of the Daily email, which supported a digital strategy shift for editorial, resulting in an estimated 20% time savings for journalists.
I facilitated and actively participated in a cross-functional design sprint to prototype a new publishing model that would reduce editorial workload and support more dynamic email content delivery. I contributed UX expertise in rapid prototyping, user feedback synthesis, and iterative design. My role was confined to the design sprint, however my rapid prototyping and design facilitation was a necessary asset for the team to develop a testable and viable idea within the 5-day sprint.
The Monitor Daily is a daily email newsletter that packaged multiple full-length stories and separate short reads. Producing both formats required duplicated editorial effort and constrained the ability to respond quickly to breaking news or evolving stories during the day. There was also an afternoon send time, which added stress to multiple departments in the newsroom.
I led prototyping sessions in Figma during the design sprint to explore interface and workflow improvements for editorial staff managing the email content, and supported moderated usability testing of prototypes with editorial team members. Finally, I synthesized user feedback and collaborated with product and engineering to prioritize features for implementation.
By eliminating the short-read feature and replacing it with a Monitor-style nut graf, each journalist’s workload per story was reduced by up to 20%. This was a significant efficiency gain. Even more importantly, the prototype sparked a shift in digital strategy, enabling the newsroom to move from a fixed daily publishing model to a flexible rolling model. Stories could be published as they were ready, and the Daily editor could curate the following morning’s email from the available content. This change also aligned with reader feedback, as many subscribers had requested a consistent morning send time.
This project reinforced how critical close collaboration with editorial teams is to designing effective newsroom products. By working directly with editors and journalists through a design sprint and usability testing, I was able to deeply understand their workflow challenges and editorial priorities.
Balancing those needs alongside user experience and business goals was key to developing a solution that increased efficiency without compromising journalistic quality. This kind of partnership and balancing act is essential in mission-driven organizations where editorial integrity, audience engagement, and operational efficiency must all align.
