Config 2024: Redesigning BBC.com: crafting a connected, contextual, and global experience

Summary

Sam Drew and Laura Wellen from BBC Studios discuss the monumental task of redesigning bbc.com for a global audience. They share the challenges and solutions encountered in creating a coherent, sophisticated user experience that reflects the BBC's mission as a global public service broadcaster, emphasizing the importance of storytelling, design system scalability, and cross-cultural communication.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The BBC is undertaking a redesign of its news website, bbc.com, to better serve a global audience and maintain its role as the world's first global public service broadcaster.
• 🔄 The redesign is a response to the realization that international audiences may not have the same association with the BBC brand as those in the UK, highlighting the need for a more globally relevant approach.
• 🏢 The project involves collaboration between a small, nimble design team distributed across the US and the UK, working within a large, established organization.
• 📈 The redesign process emphasized the importance of scalability, reusability, adaptability, and context sensitivity in design to accommodate the ever-evolving nature of digital content.
• 🤝 The team employed an inclusive approach, opening up concept storming sessions to a wide range of stakeholders to ensure diverse perspectives were considered in the early stages of the project.
• 🗣️ Language and communication presented unique challenges due to cultural nuances and the need for clarity in both team operations and audience communication.
• 🛠️ A high-fidelity prototype was crucial for gaining initial buy-in, illustrating the vision, and securing funding, despite not resembling the final product.
• 📝 The project required a meticulous and adaptable design process that evolved to include additional checkpoints and a more complex workflow to manage increasing complexity.
• 🧠 The design system was built around a series of components and content cards, allowing for a flexible storytelling approach that could adapt to different levels of prominence and urgency in news delivery.
• 🌐 The naming convention for the design system and editorial CMS was simplified using non-technical, easy-to-remember names inspired by US states and UK cities to aid clarity and cross-cultural understanding.
• 🔄 The project leveraged digital tools like Figma for prototyping, which served as a 'living' prototype that evolved with the project and provided a reference point for various stakeholders.

Q & A

Who are Sam Drew and Laura Wellen, and what roles do they play in the redesign of BBC's news website?

Sam Drew is the UX Director at UIC Digital, and Laura Wellen is the Creative Director of Digital News and Streaming at BBC Studios. They were responsible for leading the redesign and rebranding of bbc.com for a global audience.

What was the main challenge faced by the BBC in redesigning their news website for a global audience?

The main challenge was to create a platform that brings trusted, unbiased news and factual content to a wider audience in a more relevant and powerful way, while also overcoming the fragmented and inconsistent user experience that had developed over time.

How did the BBC address the issue of having a fragmented and inconsistent user experience on their website?

The BBC addressed this by recognizing the need for a more intentional approach to their international endeavors. They aimed to create a new, coherent, consistent, and sophisticated experience for bbc.com and its app.

What was the significance of the design team's small size in the project?

The small size of the design team allowed for nimble decision-making and quick adaptation of changes across different platforms. It also facilitated efficient communication and collaboration, despite the team being distributed across different geographies.

How did the design team ensure that their design decisions were relevant for a global audience?

The team ensured relevance by conducting concept storming sessions open to a wide range of stakeholders, testing ideas with both seasoned BBC users and complete newbies, and being mindful of the language used in the UX writing to avoid regional nuances.

What was the role of high-fidelity prototyping in the early stages of the redesign project?

High-fidelity prototyping played a crucial role in illustrating the functionality and design thinking to stakeholders, obtaining early user feedback, and securing funding for the project. It helped reassure stakeholders that the project was moving in the right direction.

How did the design team manage the complexity of the project as it evolved?

The team evolved their design process to include more checkpoints and organized their work into a more complex process diagram. This ensured that important requirements were not misplaced and that nothing slipped through the cracks.

What approach did the BBC take in naming the collections of content cards for their new design system?

The BBC named the collections of content cards after US states and individual content cards after UK cities, towns, and counties. This non-technical naming convention made it easier to keep track of the various components and facilitated cross-cultural understanding.

How did the design team address the issue of time zone differences affecting their ability to collaborate?

The team used various digital communication platforms and leveraged the time zone differences by leaving comments and feedback on designs that could be actioned by the other team during their working hours, thus making the most of the limited overlap in working times.

What was the significance of the 'diamond prototype' in the development of the new BBC website?

The 'diamond prototype' was a living, breathing, fully interactive prototype that served as a source of truth for the design team, ad sales team, senior stakeholders, and developers. It allowed them to visualize and test how newly designed components would fit into the wider context of the site or app.

How did the BBC ensure that their redesigned website maintained a consistent look and feel while also being adaptable to different types of content?

The BBC designed a series of content cards with various design treatments that allowed for flexibility in storytelling. They arranged these cards in content templates to set the context for each story, ensuring a consistent look and feel while also allowing for adaptability to different content types and priorities.