How We Think About Design

Words: Thomas Williams & Fernando Turch, Illustrations: Tammy Lian

At WSJ Design, we work extensively on design systems, principles and guidelines that inform our product design and user experience. Each of these are essential to our work, but are often more detailed than what we require on a practical day-to-day level. Therefore we have developed a short and simple guide that serves as a “cheat sheet” for us to easily reference on a daily basis. Further to this, it provides insight into how we think about design as part of Digital Experience & Strategy teams and collaborators.

Design with what already exists

Whenever possible, we design with proven elements and components from our design system (repository of components), ensuring consistency and efficiency.

Design with context for the platform

We embrace native patterns and technologies, ensuring that the experiences we design are always appropriate for the platform (wsj.com, WSJ apps, etc.).

Design with hierarchy

We strive to understand what the most important content and tasks are and how we can make completing them as frictionless and intuitive for the user as possible.

Design experiences that are memorable

We aspire to exceed expectations and create experiences that are delightful and remembered, resulting in positive habits and providing a genuine reason to return.

Design in alignment with our goals

We translate our strategic thinking into tangible outcomes, ensuring alignment of our short and long-term goals, both at a team and organizational level.

Design to be inclusive and accessible

We ensure that being inclusive and accessible is not just a process, but how we holistically think about our products and experiences for all our users.

That’s it! It may seem simple, but having this guide readily available ensures that we are spending less time in documentation and more time thinking about what matters most.

If you would like to learn more about design at WSJ, please visit: design.wsj.com.