[ Case study ]
WSJ Vertical Video
An adaptive vertical video experience for The Wall Street Journal that delivers cinematic news across mobile, tablet, and desktop. As Lead UX Architect from February to November 2024, I mapped the user journeys, prototyped the interaction flows, and refined responsive layouts that reflow from a wide 16u layout down to a 4u mobile stack. Built as a scalable design system rather than an isolated feature, it now ships live in the WSJ Mobile App.
- Client
- Dow Jones - The Wall Street Journal
- Role
- Lead UX Architect
- Year
- 2024
- Disciplines
- Product Design, Multimedia, Design Systems, Responsive, Mobile
70%+
Of WSJ readers on mobile, the format's starting point
Live in app
Shipped in the WSJ Mobile App; web in progress
Feb-Nov 2024
Timeline
[ Information architecture ]
Discovery
- Home feed entry
- Section video rails
Player
- Vertical video
- Controls
- Captions
Engagement
- Save
- Share
- Related stories
Confidentiality notice
This work spans active platform strategy, shared AI capabilities, and multiple product surfaces. To respect that, this case study stays intentionally high-level, focusing on the cross-brand design problem, platform principles, and reusable outcomes rather than brand-specific implementation details.
WSJ Vertical Video redefined storytelling for The Wall Street Journal: an adaptive vertical video experience that delivers cinematic news across mobile, tablet, and desktop. This case study covers the journey from identifying the problem to designing a responsive solution and scaling it into the editorial ecosystem, reshaping how modern journalism is experienced while staying true to WSJ's premium voice.
Overview
WSJ set out to modernize its video storytelling by introducing a vertical format that felt immersive, editorially authentic, and consistent with its premium brand. The vision was a responsive system that worked seamlessly across mobile, tablet, and desktop. As Lead UX Architect I led the initiative from February to November 2024, partnering with editorial, product, and engineering to map user journeys, prototype interaction flows, and refine responsive layouts into a scalable design system. What began as a response to mobile-first behavior grew into a cross-platform standard for WSJ.
The challenge of modern news consumption
Traditional horizontal video formats no longer matched how audiences consumed digital news. More than seventy percent of WSJ readers accessed content on mobile, but video modules often disrupted editorial flow, loaded inconsistently, or felt detached from the article experience. From the business side, WSJ needed to demonstrate leadership in immersive storytelling and strengthen video engagement. From the user side, audiences wanted a cinematic, intuitive way to watch news videos across devices without compromising accessibility or editorial quality.
User and page flows
I started by mapping where vertical video should live across WSJ and how readers reach it - from the homepage into the Super Topper, Medium Topper, Lead Collection, and the latest-video section, and on to the article. Defining these flows first gave the format a deliberate place in the experience rather than being bolted onto each surface.
[ Protected layer ]
The full case study is available on request.
High-fidelity screens, information architecture and the detailed process for this enterprise project are shared under NDA. Enter the access password, or request access and I will share the full walkthrough.