Business Challenge
When you’re a renowned, global staple of respected publications, you need a digital experience to reflect that brand, and bring your content to the online masses. This was The Economist’s call. We were their solution.
The Economist online is the digital arm of The Economist Group, responsible for all Economist online properties. Maintaining a searchable online archive, and offering a variety of web-only content is a critical element of the online brand. With everything from blogs and debates, to audio and video programs to be made available for users, the need for an immersive, responsive, and innovative digital experience was a headline in itself.
Additionally, they felt that having two websites diluted external traffic and incurred more effort to manage and update content for, potentially confusing visitors and decreasing the likelihood that a potential client or agency would want to work with them.
Our Approach
The Economist was in dire need of digital transformation for their online properties. Having so much content is one thing, but making it searchable and accessible, across multiple platforms, that requires development, integration, and an innovative technology solution. With close client-vendor collaboration, the design and development experience requirements were set, and the business needs addressed.
The Appnovation team proposed a Design/UX phase that would produce a site map, wireframes, and detailed page designs, and the subsequent Development phase created a cohesive, responsive website for their digital media buyer audience. Both phases were run using Agile (Scrum) practices which enabled The Economist and Appnovation teams to collaborate closely together and work flexibly as high-value business needs emerged for the next development sprint.
Customer Outcome
In short, this project was all about Design Development, and UX. Our team commenced by creating a responsive redesigned site for The Economist’s Global Marketing Group, consolidating and enabling digital media buying for all The Economist publications, for both agencies and clients.
Offering a brand-reflecting, consistent look and feel, The Economist Group achieved not only online brand consistency, but also a digital experience that properly reflects The Economist’s spirit of innovation and embrace of technological change. Using a full-on Scrum/Agile process, emphasizing collaboration, team self-management, and the flexibility to adapt to emerging business needs, we delivered a true digital transformation. Post launch the new experience generated high customer satisfaction scores from its users.
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