PCMag Case Study

In early 2009, PCMag announced that it would cease publication of its print magazine and move to a purely digital format.

I served as the User Experience Lead on the redesign of PCMag. This redesign was crucial to the future success of PCMag.

Key Questions

• How do we create a rewarding user experience that still achieves the client's advertising revenue goals?
• How can we provide easy access to 15 years worth of web content?
• How do we use information architecture to help tie together PCMag's various blogs and affiliate websites?

Project Highlights

• Developed 25 wireframes to create a better balance between editorial content and advertisements
• Unified three competing site taxonomies into a single product navigation scheme
• Developed strategies for incorporating user generated comments, ratings, and other web 2.0 functionality
• Designed a a comprehensive search interface
• Introduced advanced navigation techniques such as megadrops, fat footers, and rotating carousels

The Results

PCMag did a Beta launch of the new Homepage and navigation in October of 2009. PCMag plans to roll out additional IA improvements in the following months.

PCMag's editor-in-chief, Lance Ulanoff, wrote a column to introduce the Beta launch of the new design.

Users' reactions to the new design were overwhelmingly positive, although a few curmudgeons still preferred the old design.