The article page is arguably the most important part of a corporate website. While the homepage serves as the "front door" of the site, the article page acts as the "side door"—the page that gets shared on social media, news outlets, and various other platforms. This page could be a user’s or customer’s first interaction with your company’s website.

 

Often, unless you work for a news outlet, the article page is overlooked and doesn't receive the attention it deserves. After all, your company’s primary focus is on selling products to consumers, not on writing articles. This was precisely the situation at Prudential. During our rush to meet the launch deadline for our new site in September 2015, the article page became an afterthought and was created in haste. It was based on existing content since we didn’t have a dedicated content team, and our main priority was updating all our legacy pages to align with the new design standards. We typically relied on third-party writers for content, with very little being generated in-house.

 

In 2017, Prudential started developing a content team focused on more than just writing for businesses and marketing. This team aimed to create new content that educates and informs customers about both current and future products, while also helping to bridge the gaps in general financial knowledge.

 

In 2017, we updated all our existing content to align with a new layout and began creating an online, user-focused repository for both current and future materials. This repository included not only articles but also videos, infographics, and webinars. The content team approached me to re-evaluate the current article page template, as they found it lacked the flexibility and options needed to effectively showcase their content.

 

I sat down with the team to discuss their wants, needs, and nice-to-haves. I anticipated that there would be certain items they would insist on, such as social media integration, clear next steps, quotes, and connected content. My goal was to incorporate as many of these elements into the layout as possible. Since we were using a specific system, many of their requests already existed but weren’t being utilized effectively. Some items needed to be created from scratch, while others required modifications. I asked them to select a typical article as a reference, and with their list in hand, I got to work.

 

I began by reviewing various news outlet websites, then eliminated items that either needed more or less prominence. After that, I rearranged everything to create a cohesive layout. I'm not particularly fond of side rails in articles, and my manager also disapproved of sticky social media icons. I focused on centering the main content, cleaning up the overall design, and incorporating existing components that were underutilized. Additionally, I ensured that the page layout could be easily adjusted for different types of content, such as videos or infographics. Since this project was primarily about user interface (UI) design rather than user experience (UX), I didn’t engage in any discussions about UX.

 

As always, I ensured that everything functioned well on the smallest viewport size of 320 pixels wide for mobile users. Naturally, when content is condensed, the page scroll becomes quite extensive. To address this, I proposed a “read more” fade interaction to alleviate user anxiety about the length of the content. The new layout was met with enthusiasm; the content team received most of what they wanted for the article page. More importantly, someone listened to their needs and responded with a positive outcome in a timely manner.

 

Thanks for reading.