6 things I've learned from redesigning Engadget

Last January, Engadget got the best page view results in its history surpassing other sites like The Verge, Wired and QZ --And only two months after launching the biggest redesign in the last 8 years.

A redesign is a very exciting project; I've been working on this one for more than a year (yeah, a lot!) and I've learned a lot of things during that time:

1) The Partners

Designing a site like Engadget requires a lot of time and effort, and each step is essential for the final quality of the product itself, such as Definition, Information Architecture, Wireframing, UX, UI, Development, QA etc.

Finding the right partners is a very complicated task. As a product manager, your product should be your whole world (as Engadget was mine); you need a team around working in the same direction and having, at least, the same level of passion for the product. I've been extremely lucky to work with a team of Developers, Designers, Project Managers and Editors who made this journey really easy.

Even if you have the perfect idea it's really complicated to execute it without a perfect team.

Focusing on the perfect idea, it's really important to make sure all the requirements are clear before starting to work with the rest of the team, or there could be a real problem crossing your path in every project status meeting. If managing expectations is usually tough, doing so when everyone is not on the same page is incredibly hard. I've seen a lot of problems and misunderstandings in the past just because the requirements were not clear at the beginning of the project.

Having the perfect team, the perfect idea and all the requirements ready, there are still a lot of different things you should NOT do during a redesign to make your life and your team's lives better.

2) The Community

Engadget was born as a tech BLOG, and for many years it has continued working like that. During our research, we asked users what they would change for the redesign and a lot of them told us that they wanted a cleaner, faster and more efficient... blog.

However, we did not want to make this blog just more beautiful, but we all agreed on a more mature and solid product with plenty of new content and a better user experience. The first reactions we had to the redesign were, let's say... "expected":

Users don't hate changes. Users hate those changes that make them relearn drastically. But sometimes we need to tear down the foundations in order to build great new products. And, as everybody knows, you will always have haters around.

3) The Homepage

Personalization Matters. Just like snowflakes, no two people are alike, and we can not expect every single user to consume identical content.

In order to create a working redesign, we had to provide different types of organized content and make sure every user was able to find what they were looking for.

Based on those ideas, we created Channels, vertical spaces that deal with specific topics including the classic Reviews to Science, Politics, Culture and even Gaming.

The next natural step was to add an extra layer of customization to the homepage based on different variables like time or audience.

4) The Data

Numbers don't lie, so it's really important to know and understand what those numbers are trying to tell you, what they mean, where you are doing a good job on your product and where you need to focus.

Based on that data, before starting a redesign it's very important to define and consider what the goals are. If your main goal is to increase the "time on site" your work projection should be different from someone who wants audience growth, regardless of the time spent browsing.

Choose your goals, wisely and always with a data foundation.

5) The Content

If you're not able to offer a collection of tools that make your users lives a little easier, you should probably stop what you are doing and rethink the strategy.

A user should be able to interact with your product seamlessly (that sounds obvious but it's pretty much what you should try to achieve in order to make something that works).

One of the goals for the redesign of Engadget was to create a unique layer of authentication for every product or feature we provide. So, with your credentials, you can write comments or product reviews, save articles and very soon you will be able to write your own stories.

If you want to write and be a part of Engadget, take a look and join our community "Public Access".

6) The Social Networks

Social first is the new "Mobile First". The truth is that with the exponential growth of different social networks, it is stupid to ignore the fact that a lot of your traffic will come from there. So, focusing on that, make your redesign accessible from those sites and attractive enough to make them stay navigating through it. Let's just put it this way: Make them forget the social network itself during that moment, provide them with content that is easy to find and read.

In combination with your community, social networks are the best tool you can have if you want to engage new users, so make them come to your site and stay.

So, having the great idea, the perfect team, the goals and requirements, the data and the expertise, don't you ever forget: