This Newsroom for Expedia Group is a cross-brand PR solution for industry journalists to get the latest news and trends on all things travel.
Project overview
This initiative’s goal was to establish a unified cross-brand platform where journalists could access the most up-to-date news and resources from any Expedia Group brand. This platform allows journalists to sort content by brand. Expedia aimed to direct all media traffic from their individual brands to this centralized hub.
My role
Competitive analysis
Design mocks & prototyping
User acceptance testing
The team
1 UX designer
2 product owners
1 agency (development only)
Tools used
Figma
JIRA
Wordpress
The problem, explained.
Previously, each brand belonging to Expedia Group had its own method for publishing and sharing press releases, travel news, and trend reports to journalists and industry experts. As more brands were added to the group, it became apparent that a unified platform was necessary to house all news in one centralized location. This would enable the PR team to publish all news in one place.
Competitive research
As I started this project, I made sure to take the time to research the newsroom platforms for many leading travel brands and other top brands. This research offered valuable insights into industry trends, messaging strategies, and media approaches. I found that many brands have very similar platforms and treat their press releases similarly to blog posts. That being said, the team decided it would be best to move forward with this as a WordPress project.
Wireframes & low-fi mocks
Using Figma, I translated my first sketches into low-fidelity wireframes. Then, I improved them by adding a few relevant stock images and copy provided by the PR team. At this stage, the wireframes were defined enough for some rapid prototypes to present to stakeholders for design feedback. Designs were enthusiastically approved and we moved into the final design stages prior to agency hand-off.
UI design elements
Once wireframe and prototype feedback was gathered from stakeholders, I transitioned to the final UI design phase, which involved the refinement of established brand elements and the seamless integration of new design components. Throughout this process, it was important to consider that the solution would be implemented on a WordPress platform, as opposed to Expedia's proprietary development platform. Consequently, I introduced new features to Expedia's ecosystem while carefully leaving others for future implementation.
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The solution
After finalizing the design, we outsourced its implementation to an external agency for integration within the Wordpress framework. I collaborated closely with the stakeholders and the agency development team to ensure the precise execution of my designs. Additionally, I conducted user acceptance testing after each milestone to ensure proper completion.
Feedback
Senior leadership enthusiastically embraced this solution, prompting the expansion of content pages. Subsequently, I was entrusted with the responsibility of ideating fresh design solutions for EG labs and EG product releases.
“Working with Heather was an absolute pleasure; she regularly checked-in in the project and her seamless collaboration and attention to detail made the entire experience easy and efficient. She’s been a great partner and I literally could not have done the newsroom without her help!”
— Senior Communications Manager, Global Projects & Operations, Expedia Group