USA Today

Developing a product strategy and design for rewards and AI features.

Project Overview

Role & Duration: Lead UX/UI Designer & Product Strategist, 3 months
Team: USA Today Customer Experience Team + 1 Designer collaborator
Goal: Increase user retention with a gamification program to encouraging sign-ins and engagement for working professionals.
Tools: Figma, Adobe, Qualtrics, 11Labs.

Summary

According to USA Today, only 2% of users signed in when accessing the app. USA Today aims to target young adults and mid-career professionals to begin encouraging sign-ups and consistent engagement. To address this issue, I conducted exploratory work, competitive analyses, a large-scale user survey, and iterative user testing on prototypes.

I prototyped several features, including AI summaries, personalization, and rewards. Over 84% of users reported that rewards were their favorite feature, and 64% reported that they found rewards somewhat to highly motivating to sign up for USA Today.

Goal

Research Question: How might we encourage working professionals (25-45) to authenticate on each visit to the app?

Personas

I evaluated USA Today's current customer base, with particular focus on expanding to customer segments like young adults and mid-career professionals.

Informed mom Sheryn only trusts reputable and relevant reporting.

Mid-career professional Eli keeps up with news, sports, and technology.

Young adult Maya stays informed, sharing articles, and solving crosswords.

Survey

After identifying the user segments, I developed a survey to gather data and perspectives from a large number of diverse users. I chose to conduct a survey to better understand general sentiments and user needs. Additionally, surveys allowed me to evaluate and quantify the data received quickly.

Surveyed & interviewed 43 working professionals.
Age: 22–28 (53.5%), 29–43 (18.6%), 44–55 (25.6%)
Medium: 53% of users access news primarily from their phones.
Key barriers to sign-up: spam (48%), legitimacy (27%), privacy (23%)
Motivators: Gift cards (44%), $5 local coupons (23%), branded merchandise (20%)

Age breakdown: 22-28 = 53.3%, 29-43 = 18.6, 44-55 = 25.6%, unreported = 2.3%. Gender breakdown: Female = 53.5%, Male = 44.2%, Unreported = 2.3%

Design & Iteration

Lead designer on all wireframes: Integrated survey results and user feedback into prototypes. Early iterations were website wireframes, later adapted to mobile app.

Gamification: Points earned for reading, podcasts, crosswords.
Personalization: Tailored news feed based on interests.
Audio engagement: AI summaries & podcasts for accessibility.

Customer Journey

Digital Rewards System

84% users reported points as favorite feature; 64% found rewards motivating.

Points displayed minimally to avoid disruption
Tiered rewards with local partnerships
In-article notifications highlight rewards without interrupting reading flow

Rewards in the UI: number of points to earn before articles, points or rewards earned after reading.

Proposed User Flow

This user flow encapsulates the feedback cycle between recommended content and user interaction.

User flow follows user through the recommendations process.

Prototype Highlights

Prototypes focused on the integration of the rewards feedback system in a typical user flow.

Reflection & Next Steps

Product management: Understanding customer journeys, competitive analysis, KPIs, etc.
Competitive analysis informed strategy and engagement gaps
Balance gamification to motivate without annoying
Next: AI personalization, optimized rewards, streamline site navigation
Accessibility: Keyboard + screen reader friendly interactions

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