Turning a print experience into a digital one (B2C)
Making print content into a digital, MVP experience
Responsibilities: UX/UI design, UX research Length: 3 months Team: UX/CX team, myself being the UX architect, working with content managers, product owners, Head of Digital and DIrectors. Year: 2026
HMW make a print magazine a scalable, digital one whilst retaining value and relevance?
The UX team, which ended up mostly being myself, were tasked with adding the Project Journal publication within APM’s website with limited development work. The proposed content includes multiple media types linking to the associated content pages, such as: Podcasts, archive (previous releases) Project Journal .pdf’s and video content. It is not proposed to provide an inline audio and video experience on page but to link off to these media types on their associated content pages for the MVP release.
There was a drive to 'gate content' to ensure a sense of quality of content, exclusivity for members and be able to track engagement by segmentation of audience.
reduce Project’s reliance on print for distribution to members which is both costly and limiting. A digital presence allows us to invest more in content and less in print and production. It allows easier global distribution, broadens the media at our disposal and maximises re-use.
Gating content similar to or competitors, were the National Trust magazine and Director magazine.
The scope was reduced into focusing on improving and gating Project magazine content, which fitted into the other project of digitizing it.
There had been some research of what members valued about the member-only magazine.
This was based on the current print magazine. However, no research had been undertaken on whether members wanted a digital version of it.
Therefore, I developed a research plan, as stated below.
I developed a Low-fi prototype to share with stakeholders, before moving onto creating a high-fidelity version to use with user testing participants.
I also started to think about how to develop print-similar components to use in digital, to make it unique and familiar.
Components design for magazine-familiar content
In testing, the initial questions were to understand: -their persona type -awareness of Project Journal -their use of it -as well as their behaviour of other digital content similar to Project Journal -their use of audio content and -awareness of the podcast.
The 2nd part of the call was with the prototype to gain an understanding of: -their opinion of use -type of content that was wanted -usability of the prototype -opinion on members only content -if anything was considered missing, distracting or unclear -whether the digital version was valuable to them as a membership benefit -their opinion of having a print version with a digital version -whether the digital version met their expectations in comparsion to other content -where they would navigate to within the prototype to find Project Journal initially
Tested users were aware of Project journal being part of their membership benefit, due to it being delivered them. 5/6 users didn’t regularly read it and read it in depth. This was down to being time-poor to read long content, a physical magazine wasn’t how they consumed content or didn’t see the relevance of content to them.
Users weren’t aware that there was a page re Project journal on the website and weren’t aware there was access to archived issues on the website.
When tested with the prototype, users responded well to adding articles to their CPD: but weren’t aware they could do this with news articles or blogs currently. 1 user who was a new member didn’t understand what was acceptable as a CPD entry.
When users did read PJ content, they wanted to know of the experience/background of the writers and those interviewed.
5/6 users weren’t aware of the Podcast.
Research, consideration and decision
3/6 were or are members of other professional bodies and within conversations, this mapped the expectations of type of content engaged with.
Webinars and events were surfaced as 1 of the main pathways of engagement with APM.
Users regularly use and rely on search – whether that was via a search engine, searching through their own browser bookmarks, using Ctrl + F on a page or using the internal website search: users expected PJ content to be surfaced within search engines and internal search.
The consideration to read Project is decided by how much free time users have: 2/6 mentioned that they read PJ on a train commute.
When users do have the time, they decide what content to read based on relevance to their role and their sector. However, all users were keen to know content outside their sector, with 1 stating that international and region-stated content was wanted.
Audio content was consumed by 5/6 users tested. These were consumed as Youtube videos, webinars as learning content, podcasts listened to when in the car or when doing low-level work such as emailing, or as required training videos by their organisation.
Impressions, usage and engagement
1st impressions of the prototype shown were all positive: users felt that the layout, spacing was clear and easy to read.
Users found the content type tag (e.g. ‘Comment’, ‘Interview’) was helpful for them to make a decision on whether they would be interested to read it.
All users successfully navigated to a selected category type (i.e ‘Peer to peer’), 5/6 successfully navigated to a selected article. Regarding the CTA of older issues, those that were questioned directly understood the terminology bar 1 (international user) or they organically found and understood the terminology and button intention.
Users found the content about specific projects and the awards to be of most interest.
All users tested expressed an expectation that they would expect to find Project Journal within Resources, with 5/6 expressing that did not expect or want ‘news’ content to be part of PJ.
Users didn’t initially understand what the padlock icon meant for members-only/gated content.
When users went through the user flow of logging in to access a members-only article, they then understood what the padlock referred to.
When questioned about their opinion of having members-only content within Project Journal, 2 expressed their surprise that some of PJ was being proposed to be free to everyone, with only some content being members-only, but understood why there could be a need for non-member content.
Users understood the concept and logging in process of accessing members-only content, referencing other sites such as the Daily Mail.
When questioned as to what type of content they would expect to be members-only, it was the ‘rich, insightful’ content, such as in-depth case studies of projects.
Users expressed positive reactions to being able to add articles to their CPD and being able to bookmark content. 1 user expressed difficulty in navigating throughout the website and therefore utilised APM’s bookmark feature to have a single-source index.
Half of users tested expressed that they share content that they see as helpful, to their colleagues, especially graduate or junior colleagues.
All users expressed comment on that the header image on an article page, especially in its gated form was too large and having to scroll before they could see the words: that they needed to read more of the text to understand its relevance.
Users expressed a need to understand what the article was about within the 1st few sentences to understand its relevance to them, the key takeaways and whether it was worth engaging further in reading – aka investing their time in, before going through the process of logging in.
1 user expressed a distaste for ‘being advertised’ to, especially regarding membership when they are already a member.
1 user was confused regarding the Project banner colour choice and confusion of the lack of APM branding within the physical product, as they understood Project Journal to be a product of APM and therefore being predominantly green branding.
Users that were familiar with the quarterly delivery of PJ content recognised the labelling of articles as such, but didn’t necessarily notice them initially. 1 user expected the information of which issue to be within the header.
Users understood the concept of tags within articles, as well related articles and expressed that they would use these tags or showcasing of relate articles to continue to read content on the same topic.
Users that were questioned about commenting stated that they didn’t comment themselves, but did read other comments to better gage the contents relevance and impact on others, as well as their own unique insights. 1 stated that there was a need to avoid social media due to their industry.
Retention
Project wasn’t seen as a reason for maintaining their membership: events/webinars and post-nominals were identified as the main reasons.
Within the current prototype, users felt that it didn’t meet their expectations of what a magazine was: it was seen more of a news outlet. 1 user expressed that having ‘a personal touch, such as the editor letter as an introduction to the issue’ was missing.
Print v digital
Users stated that the hard copy received served as a physical reminder of their membership and to read APM content.
When questioned about whether they would want to receive a physical copy if a digital version was available, 3/6 users stated that they would want to receive physical copy – so it served as a physical reminder, with others expressing they needed a physical version for moments of poor connection (e.g. on a train) or to be able to add notes to.
3/6 users expressed a digital copy only as that’s how they consumed most content, as well as shared content with others.
A theme that emerged was the appreciation of hardcopy publications such as APM’s Project Journal but not limited to it, with a participant mentioning the value of receiving a hard copy magazine journal, highlighting the ease of reading and referencing physical copies.
Several participants echoed this sentiment, expressing a preference for physical copies due to the convenience of reading without digital devices whether it be because they were out and about or just not near a device.
The importance of validated sources was discussed with participants highlighting:
the need of quickly accessing validated source data.
the ability to verify information contrasted between the push of information through magazines and the pull of data through online searches.
Risks and limitations
Risks
Lapsed/prospective members expressed the need for a physical copy as part of the value of their membership, as well as half of those tested within this initiative.
Users expect tagged content: from landing page to single articles, to lead to other relevant content.
Users expect PJ to be part of APM products offered and its branding, and to deviate away from that confuses members, as well as leading to not knowing the quality of content. This may lead to a lack of engagement.
Above-the-fold content is the time when users decide to engage: therefore having unnecessary content taking up ‘real estate’ above-the-fold may lead to drop off.
News-type content wasn’t expected or desired from users tested and including this or having an association with news, may detract from the expectations of members.
Though users wish to read content that is valuable, which often becomes quite lengthy, if articles don’t include suitable breaks in wording, a summary of points at the start of an article and relevant visuals - may lead to disengagement.
Users tested expected valuable content for PMs to be members-only. Therefore, if non-gated content is deemed more or as valuable as the members-only content – may lead to lapsing of membership if the value is delivered and obvious.
If the members-only status isn’t obvious within the landing page, users may not understand the difference between content, and not expect the gating process. This may lead to a lack of click-throughs to content.
Members do not necessarily need advertising to regarding membership: though data-led information was appreciated. Including content that isn’t customisable to the target audience may lead to disengagement.
Users of APM are know to not scroll down through content if above-the-fold content is not deemed worthy of their time.
Having members-only content with an unlimited share mechanism (ie. Share via Linkedin) will devalue the content.
Recommendations
That content, gated or not, is searchable via search engines and APM’s website internal search. It may be necessary to be clear at point of preview, that content is members-only.
That the Project Journal and APM branding and their influence on users experience is considered of how the 2 work together.
That gated content is made clear that its for members only within the UI.
Exploring ways membership costs/benefit can be communicated at point of gated/login flow
That PJ remains accessible only as a type of resource.
Add ‘Latest features’ title or similar to 1st section
On article webpages, that above-the-fold content is delegated to only the most valuable aspects to entice user engagement: -remove the Project banner -reduce the size of the header image and improve layout of image with text -move the ‘add to CPD’ and ‘add to bookmark’ features into the right-hand column.
Consider adding information on article pages of average reading time.
To determine hierarchy of content and allow more above the fold/lessen scrolling, consider utilising smaller cards for landing page content, that display a headline and/or small img only. This could also be used on article pages for related content
Consider adding downloadable audio-version of content and linking to relevant podcasts: see this WSJ example.
Consider necessity of comment feature and the engagement strategy of it.
That CPD and bookmarking features are explained to users within the UI.
Content that is shared is only shared as its gated version.
Consider developing the profile/information of PJ writers and interviewees to indicate the quality and validity of content, that also links to a search-results page of content by that writer
That content information on the landing page is marked by what issue it is part of, but include date/year information on the article page.
That landing page article previews are tagged with 1-3 word tags that describe what type of content it is. Eg. Interview, comment, case study.
That content featured considers its international users: -features non-UK projects -features non-UK PMs -displays what country/continent within tagging and headlines.
That a magazine-defined experience is explored and tested.
Using GS4 and Hotjar tools, UX/CX team and Web PO set metrics of success and analyse, and report findings 3 months after MVP launch
A user flow diagram of how users could access the digital magazine was created by my manager and head developer.
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