Illustration by Suvi SuitialaBy Tracie Lee (VP of Design, Growth & Platforms) & Pamela Glass (Director of Design, Growth)The mission of The New York Times is clear: We seek the truth and help people understand the world. Fulfilling that takes creativity and expertise from every part of the company, and for teams that work on growing our subscriber base, it raises questions: How do we earn and maintain trust with millions of readers as they consider subscribing? How do we use experimentation and data responsibly to grow The Times? How do we help subscribers feel that their money is well…
How We Made a 15X15 Game Surface Feel at Home on AndriodIllustration by Lehel KovácsBy Shafik QuoraisheeWhat Is Crossplay?The New York Times Games team has been building daily puzzles for quite a while: Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, The Mini. These are solo games. The player opens them, solves them, and then closes them. This leads to a simple, satisfying experience which delights millions of players a day.Crossplay is an altogether different endeavor. It’s the first multiplayer game from NYT Games, and it brings a friend (or a stranger) into the experience with them. So two players, one…
Bringing accessible, brand-consistent dark mode to life in The New York Times Games app through cross-platform design and engineering collaboration.Illustration by Allie SullbergBy Vanessa Johnson, Daniel Falokun, Michael Ingber and Oleksandr ZabiiakoThe Games Mobile App introduced dark mode back in October. This seamless implementation was a collaborative effort, requiring careful planning and management of design, cross-platform coordination, and engineering work across both legacy and modern user interface systems. The process to implement dark mode across the app included consideration on…
The Right Team for the Job: From Engineering to Product: A Superpower for Developer Platform StrategyIntroducing Danny Cassidy, Senior Technical Product Manager, Developer Productivity in Developer PlatformsIllustration by Claire MerchlinskyBy Geethu Jacob, Daniel Cassidy, Nikki Larson and Erica Vendetti“PMs actively and effectively engage with engineering and technology decisions, understanding possibilities and consequences.”This article is part of a New York Times Open series showcasing the breadth of experiences and backgrounds of our Product Managers.Engineering can fuel product…
Illustration by Giacomo BagnaraBy Nikki Larson, Erica Vendetti and Michael BeachOur mission is simple: We seek the truth and help people understand the world. Accomplishing that mission requires each of us to build trust, seek out different perspectives, collaborate respectfully, and continuously strive to deliver the very best in all we do. But what exactly does that mean for Product Managers (PMs)? How do we earn and maintain trust with tens of millions of global readers in an era of misinformation? Where are new readers finding and developing a daily habit with our original reporting? How…
How AI tools are helping our software engineers write better tests at scaleIllustration by Nick LittleBy Eric Chima and Leonardo QuixadáAt The New York Times, we’re all excited to build fresh new experiences that delight our users. Our product managers are driven to find new ways to get our work in front of our audience and build reader engagement. Our engineers are motivated to solve unique technical challenges. And just when you think all that work is on track, breaking news strikes and all of our plans change at once.With all that going on, who could blame us if our test coverage couldn’t…
How five product design interns created an award-winning virtual museum experience for employeesIllustration by Lucas BurtinBy Nuoran Chen, Mina Chung, Frannie Ello, Christina Su, and Bella RinneA key element of The New York Times Product Design Internship Program is a cohort project where all the interns work as a group to create a deliverable that is presented to the entire product design team. We, the summer 2024 cohort, were tasked with designing a proof-of-concept that brings the internal company museum in the NYC office to remote employees.The Times Museum is home to multiple artifacts…
How real-time algorithms and causal ML transformed our digital subscription funnel from static paywalls to dynamic, millisecond decision-makingIllustration by Mathieu LabrecqueThe New York Times became a subscription-first news and lifestyle service with the launch of its paywall in 2011. Since then, our subscription strategy has evolved substantially. Initially, users could access a limited number of free articles per month before they encountered the paywall. In 2019, we began personalizing this number using a Machine Learning (ML) model — The Dynamic Meter. In the past few years, we have…
How we designed a deceptively complex featureIllustration by Alessandro GottardoBy Joel Urena, Jenna Kim, Kenneth Ofosu, Shaka Clark, Raven Adaramola, Dylan CampbellAt least once a day, our players requested a Dark Mode feature for The New York Times Games, particularly those who enjoy playing at night. The bright screens were negatively impacting their satisfaction and hindering accessibility. Our players often wondered why this seemingly simple feature — just a switch from white to black — took so long to deliver.People may think designing for Dark Mode is about inverting colors from white…
The bold approach NYT Cooking used to define a strategy for recipe cards.Illustration by Ben DenzerBy Jayne LeeIn The New York Times Cooking, “cards,” or the containers that represent our content, are the first impression of our brand. They’re the window into our recipes and users rely on them to evaluate and choose what to cook.NYT Cooking users are particularly attracted to our appetizing food photos. In every research session, participants get distracted by a delicious-looking dish while answering the moderator’s questions. People tend to browse with their stomachs first and then see if…
How we developed a dashboard tool created to help ease the workflow of managing puzzles for our Connections editor.Illustration by Su Yun SongBy Shafik Quoraishee and Wyna LiuIn the game Connections, every puzzle is a meticulously crafted challenge designed to captivate our audience and spark intellectual curiosity. Developing these puzzles can sometimes be a time consuming and intricate task. Each puzzle requires planning, beginning with conceptualizing fresh categories and plausible misleads, followed by testing the combinations for balance and solvability, and concluding with refinement…
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