WSJ Live: Video Center

In 2011, we underwent a rebranding of video across all Dow Jones properties. One of the main goals was to unify the experience with the then newly launched video iPad app and to create a single destination site for the umbrella brand WSJ Live.

This project was an early testbed for what would one day be a fully responsive site. We had a mobile site and a desktop site. On the desktop site, we had 2 snap points, each optimized for different advertising opportunities. Although the core experience didn't change, the framework allowed to move ahead with the fully responsive site, with 4 snap points. That fully responsive site launched summer 2014 and can be seen at live.wsj.com.

In 2011, we began the process by looking at both our mobile and desktop sites. Beginning mobile first, we sketched out ideas for what the minimum viable product of a unified video center for the Dow Jones properties would start to look like.

After some testing, we ultimately decided on a 2 state experience. The was a more lean back, cinematic experience. The second allowed for more in-depth browsing, keeping the video fixed while the grid on the right scrolled.

In the first, live testbed of the responsive framework, this design allowed for various tower ads to be served without disrupting the core viewing experience.

As the broader redesign of WSJ.com was underway, we were able to utilize the framework established there, a 4 snap point responsive site, to move ahead with a refresh/redesign of the video center.

During phase 1 of the video center, one of the exercises we had gone through was simplifying the taxonomy. With that site live after 2 years, we realized that we had gone a little too far in trimming the system. We needed to create a new system that would allow for a more robust, organic browsing experience.

The new look & feel of the site took cues from the existing redesign style guide, using the same patterns where applicable. As part of the rebrand, it was decided to move away from the name "WSJ Live" on the site only and rename is "WSJ Video."