Customer Success Stories

Lasting change for a media giant

The Financial Times (FT) is one of the world’s best known and most respected news publications. The ‘pink paper’ has a good existing online offering with total circulation of over 750k readers, including 550k corporate memberships.

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7 weeks
From redesign to a deployed next-generation homepage

750k+
Total FT.com circulation, including 550k corporate memberships

+30%
Increase in reader engagement

1.5s
Homepage load time on desktop (2.1s on mobile)

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The Challenge

The Financial Times (FT) is one of the world's best known and most respected news publications. The 'pink paper' has a good existing online offering, with total circulation of over 750k readers, including 550k corporate memberships.

The FT knew that online news was changing fast, and its subscription model meant it had to deliver something above and beyond the news and services available for free. The next generation of ft.com was already underway, and the FT needed a partner to help envisage it and bring it to life, solving two overarching challenges:

1. Delivering the next-generation ft.com homepage as proof that UX and design could integrate successfully across every stream.

2. Shaping a creative team strategy across the entire online product portfolio.

 

Our Approach

Red Badger placed a core, multi-disciplined product team at the centre of the working group, redesigning and deploying a new ft.com homepage in just seven weeks, integrating React and GraphQL into the FT's existing tech stack.

From there, the team learned how the FT's internal teams worked, then coached each product team in turn from untraceable, out-of-view processes onto open Kanban boards with metrics that let the FT predict completion time, throughput, lead time and cycle time using Little's Law.

A formal education programme then taught fundamental UX, Lean UX and Kanban methodologies to a cross-section of the business, reinforcing the change at an enterprise level, with ongoing support built in to sustain the FT's user-centred design approach as it matured.

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The Results

The Financial Times remains one of the fastest news sites in the world, loading in 1.5 seconds on desktop and 2.1 seconds on mobile. Reader engagement has increased by 30%, with visitors reading more and returning more frequently, and the site has won Website of the Year at the Press Awards and Best Use of Technology at the Digiday Publishing Awards.

But don't just take our word for it....

Working with Red Badger has allowed the FT to see thefuture of our .com publishing model in a new light.Helping the FT to get the best out of our own great people,with a fresh approach to delivery and the way in whichwe collaborate across all disciplines has been central inbuilding lasting change.

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Chief Product & Information Officer, Financial Times Christina Scott

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Context
The Financial Times needed a partner to deliver the next-generation ft.com homepage and shape a creative team strategy across its whole product portfolio, embedding Lean UX and Agile Design at an enterprise level.

Approach
Placed a core, multi-disciplined team at the centre of delivery to redesign and deploy a new homepage in 7 weeks on React and GraphQL, then coached the FT's internal teams one at a time onto open Kanban boards and trackable metrics, backed by a formal Lean UX and Kanban education programme.

Results
The ft.com homepage now loads in 1.5 seconds on desktop and 2.1 on mobile, reader engagement is up 30%, and the site has won Website of the Year at the Press Awards and Best Use of Technology at the Digiday Publishing Awards.

Ways of Working
Moved the FT's product teams from untraceable, siloed processes to open Kanban boards with predictable completion time, throughput, lead time and cycle time using Little's Law — a cultural shift built to outlast the engagement.

We solve complicated problems in complex places

Red Badger is the product transformation consultancy for blue chips. Our product design capabilities and technical pedigree build high-performance digital platforms that get you closer to your customers and embed new ways of working. Your journey to an agile, innovative digital product organisation starts today.

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