Part of the mission of the new AJC.com was to reinvent the AJC’s free site brand to be clearly differentiated from their paid products, with a goal to gain new audiences who are not as engaged in traditional “news.” To do this CSE created a more visual and bold experience that focused the free site on “owning the moment,” while also creating more attractive ad inventory for their advertisers. A core component of the strategy were story pages — which for many users are the first point of entry within the site  — ensuring the experience was compelling and provided plenty of avenues to additional content.

The new design strategy for the site focuses on bold visuals, with sharing and social as core functions of the site. This look and social emphasis carries over to the mobile web site where users can keep up with what is going on in a way that feels seamless with the desktop experience, while providing key information in a visual and scannable way.

As part of the strategy to own the moment, CSE created a series of templates to provide a compelling experience to readers in areas they are passionate about such as food, sports teams, neighborhoods, and iconic Atlanta destinations. These templates offer advertisers specific verticals for their content, such as the Atlanta Beltline being paired with a cornerstone retailer. 

CSE designed a layout that adapts to the device, including a 1024 breakpoint and smartphone UI providing Atlantans with AJC.com’ content whenever and however they want it. In addition, CSE helped Cox Newspapers roll out the same templated design across three other markets – Austin Statesman, West Palm Beach Post, and Dayton.com.

Cox Newspapers was motivated to bring the new sites to market as quickly as possible. CSE was able to help  accelerate their development schedule by leveraging our deep technical expertise in building digital products for some of the largest media companies including CNN, National Geographic, NBC Sports, Turner, and the NBA.