Overview
At the start of 2025, the Financial Times launched For The Why, a global brand campaign designed to reinforce the FT’s core value proposition: helping readers understand not just what is happening in the world, but why it matters.
Developed in partnership with New Commercial Arts, the campaign rolled out across the UK, US, EMEA, and APAC markets across TV, out of home, audio, digital, social, CRM, and on-platform placements.
My role focused on translating the campaign into the product and customer experience. I helped shape how the messaging system, visual identity, and campaign assets flexed across acquisition, onboarding, and lifecycle journeys, ensuring the brand promise carried consistently from first touch through to subscription and retention.
This work sat at the intersection of brand, product, and growth design.
My role
I worked closely with marketing, product, and CRM teams to integrate the For The Why campaign into key user journeys across the FT ecosystem.
This included:
shaping campaign messaging across email and CRM journeys
adapting the creative system for onboarding and acquisition flows
ensuring campaign imagery and messaging flexed across different digital placements
aligning landing page and in-product messaging with the wider brand campaign
maintaining consistency between brand-led acquisition and product conversion journeys
A key part of the work was making sure the campaign did not feel like a separate marketing layer, but a natural extension of the FT product experience.
The challenge
The main challenge was translating a broad global brand campaign into practical, high-performing product touchpoints.
The campaign was built around a simple but powerful narrative framework:
who
what
where
and ultimately
why
While this worked strongly in above-the-line marketing, the challenge was ensuring that structure remained effective across more functional product surfaces such as:
acquisition landing pages
onboarding journeys
lifecycle email communications
in-product banners and messaging
subscription journeys
The experience needed to preserve the strength of the campaign while still supporting clarity, trust, and conversion.
Design approach
My focus was on creating a flexible design and messaging system that could scale across multiple channels and user states.
This included exploring how campaign imagery, editorial photography, and messaging hierarchy could adapt across different layouts and screen sizes without losing impact.
Key areas of focus included:
how hero imagery flexed across responsive templates
message hierarchy across CRM and onboarding flows
maintaining strong visual continuity with wider campaign assets
adapting brand-led messaging into clearer conversion moments
ensuring the tone felt premium, intelligent, and aligned with FT’s editorial voice
A big part of the work was balancing emotive brand storytelling with more action-driven product flows.
For example, acquisition journeys needed stronger value communication and clearer calls to action, while onboarding journeys needed reassurance and continuity.
Cross-functional collaboration
This project required close collaboration across multiple teams.
I worked with:
consumer marketing
CRM and lifecycle teams
product and subscription teams
brand and creative stakeholders
external agency partners
The role required strong alignment between brand objectives and product performance, ensuring the campaign translated effectively into journeys that users actually moved through.
Outcome
The campaign launched globally as part of a seven-week rollout and contributed to a strong year for consumer subscriptions, with acquisitions up nearly 20% year on year.
From a design perspective, the work helped create stronger continuity between marketing touchpoints and the product experience itself.
It also reinforced the importance of designing brand systems that can flex across the full customer journey, from awareness through to subscription and retention.
For me, this project was a strong example of working beyond traditional product surfaces and bringing brand thinking into end-to-end experience design.
For The Why
Financial Times
2025
The UX Messaging Toolkit is a centralised content framework developed for the Financial Times, designed to bring consistency and clarity to how product value is communicated across marketing and in-product touchpoints, enabling faster execution, more relevant messaging, and a stronger, unified brand voice.
... Seb brought a much needed pair of fresh eyes and delivered beyond our expections.
Bill M.
CEO of ACrew4U
App Onboarding
Financial Times
2025
Overview
Overview
FT Edit is a curated, mobile-first editorial product from the Financial Times, designed to offer a slower, more intentional news experience through a daily selection of eight handpicked articles. In Q2 2025, we began migrating FT Edit into the main FT iOS app, replacing the standalone version as the primary way to access the product.
The goal was to reduce fragmentation, make app discovery easier, and allow users to subscribe directly within the main app. The challenge was to retain FT Edit’s calm, focused feel while integrating it into a much busier and more complex environment. My role was to shape a smooth and thoughtful user journey that worked across different areas of the app and different subscription states, so that no matter how someone entered the FT ecosystem, they could easily find and use FT Edit.
Impact and key results
28% of existing FT Edit standalone app users migrated to the integrated FT app experience within the first four weeks after launch, surpassing the initial expectation of 20%.
Trial activations increased by approximately 15% due to the introduction of preview content and a soft registration flow that lowered entry barriers for new users.
Qualitative feedback gathered from user surveys and support channels indicated strong satisfaction, with many users commenting that the transition felt “seamless” and “unobtrusive,” preserving the editorial tone and reading experience they valued.
My Role
I led the UX strategy for the migration, working closely with product and design teams to map out entry points, streamline transitions between apps, and ensure user flows aligned with subscription logic. This included defining user states, access levels, and content journeys based on whether someone was anonymous, registered, subscribed, or on a trial.I also helped design the migration experience for existing FT Edit users and also helped to support discoverability, purchase flows, and post-migration retention within the main app.
The Challenge
The primary challenge was balancing preservation of FT Edit’s editorial calmness and simplicity with the realities of integration into a more feature-rich app. FT Edit users were highly sensitive to changes in tone, layout, or flow, any disruption risked alienating loyal readers.
Other challenges included:
Supporting multiple user states: Existing subscribers needed seamless migration, new users required gentle onboarding, and FT app subscribers unfamiliar with FT Edit deserved clear, non-intrusive promotion.
Subscription complexity: The migration coincided with launching Apple in-app purchase flows, adding monthly and annual plans that had to align with Apple’s strict policies and billing mechanisms.
Discoverability without confusion: FT Edit had to be prominent enough to attract new users but not so loud as to cannibalise other FT content or overwhelm users.
Continuity: It was vital that the transition felt like a natural evolution rather than a disruptive change.
Research and Discovery
To understand the nuances of FT Edit users and prepare for migration, I undertook a discovery phase:
Behavioural data analysis: Using Amplitude, I analysed in-app behaviour to uncover patterns in engagement and friction points:
Average session length: 4.6 minutes (vs. 3.8 minutes on FT app)
Article completion rate: 61% (vs. 47% benchmark on FT app) These insights highlighted opportunities to reduce friction in trial flows and improve onboarding clarity.
User interviews and surveys: We gathered qualitative feedback from existing FT Edit subscribers through customer care to learn what they valued most about the product, what caused frustration, and their expectations for the migration. Many emphasised the value of simplicity and the uncluttered approach.
Support and feedback logs: I analysed tickets and comments to identify recurring pain points for both apps, seeing where improvements could be made with a new version of the Edit.
Competitive benchmarking: I studied how similar publishers (The New York Times) had successfully integrated niche products (like NYT Cooking) into their main apps, extracting lessons about navigation, subscription management, and user onboarding. (This gave us lots of ideas to start tesing in the design phase)
Stakeholder workshops: Sessions with product owners, engineers, editorial, and legal teams helped to clarify business goals, technical limitations, and compliance requirements.
The 3.8-minute average session length and 61% article completion rate (both outperforming FT app benchmarks) validated that FT Edit’s compact, curated format was resonating. This reinforced the need to preserve editorial simplicity in the integrated experience, guiding our early navigation designs toward a dedicated, distraction-free content surface within the main FT app.
User Journey Mapping
With research insights in hand, I mapped four primary user journeys.
Existing FT Edit subscribers
Needed an effortless, one-tap migration from the standalone app to the integrated FT app experience.
Expected to find the familiar editorial structure, interaction patterns swipe navigation), and visual tone intact.
Required clear reassurance that no content or features were lost.
Anonymous or registered non-subscribers
Needed a low-friction introduction with preview content access before committing to registration or payment.
The flow needed to encourage trial activation through soft gating like banners, modals, or inline messages rather than aggressive paywalls.
FT app subscribers unfamiliar with FT Edit
Required gentle promotion via homepage modules and subtle in-app messaging that framed FT Edit as an editorial bonus rather than a sales pitch.
Needed clear but unobtrusive pathways to explore the curated content.
New users via the App Store
Needed an upfront subscription selector with clear monthly and annual plans that aligned with web and Apple store pricing and options.
The onboarding journey had to be straightforward and aligned with FT Edit’s editorial values.
Concepts & Wireframing
Early-stage wireframes explored several hypotheses and navigational options:
The redirect from the standalone FT Edit app to the integrated FT app, including messaging and button placement on the transition screen.
Entry points from the FT app homepage, subscription screens, and push notifications leading to FT Edit content.
Preview article layouts for non-subscribed users, balancing enough content to engage while preserving subscription value.
Subscription plan selector UI incorporating monthly and annual billing with Apple in-app purchase compliance.
I developed multiple layout concepts to preserve FT Edit’s minimalist, editorial aesthetic while fitting within the FT app’s design system. This included:
Card-based content feeds with consistent headline hierarchies and narrow typography palettes (similar to what was implemented in the standalone app)
Strategic placement of the FT Edit tile on the homepage and subscription screens.
Flow variants to handle returning users with incomplete registrations or trials.
Stakeholder walkthroughs provided valuable feedback, especially on error handling, gating clarity, and visual hierarchy. These sessions informed iterations and helped define a robust foundation for UI design.
Creating Final Designs
I focused on ensuring:
Retention of FT Edit’s signature minimalist design, characterised by a soft, neutral colour palette and clean, readable typography.
Consistency in user interaction patterns, such as swipe gestures and scroll behaviour, matching the standalone app to maintain familiarity.
Clear and calm microcopy that reinforced editorial tone and reduced cognitive load, avoiding overly promotional language.
Compliance with accessibility standards, including high contrast ratios.
Final User flows
The final user journeys included:
Standalone FT Edit users: Upon opening the original app, they encountered a migration screen with a clear message and a single button that launched the FT app’s FT Edit section. They landed directly in the curated feed, which retained the same editorial hierarchy, layout, and swipe interactions as before.
Returning subscribers: Experienced uninterrupted access to their familiar content with no modal interruptions or confusing changes.
New or anonymous users: Entered a preview mode allowing access to article headlines and intros before a soft prompt for registration and trial activation.
Subscription page visitors: Found FT Edit monthly and annual plans integrated into the app’s main product selection screen, with clear explanations of benefits and billing terms.
FT app subscribers unfamiliar with FT Edit: Saw FT Edit positioned as a valuable editorial feature, accessible via homepage tiles and unobtrusive banners.
Push notifications and in-app messages: Reinforced awareness and re-engagement with FT Edit content without overwhelming users.
Collaboration
The success of this complex migration was rooted in strong cross-functional collaboration:
Product management ensured the project stayed aligned with strategic business objectives and timelines.
Design team refined UI elements and interaction details to maintain editorial consistency and accessibility.
Engineering implemented robust routing, gating, and billing validation systems to handle multiple user states reliably.
Marketing and editorial teams developed consistent messaging across onboarding, push notifications, and in-app banners.
Legal and compliance reviewed subscription plans and messaging to ensure adherence to Apple’s policies and regulatory requirements.
The team adopted two-week sprint cycles with daily stand-ups and demos.
Results & Adoption
The integration launched to existing subscribers in April 2025, with the public rollout following soon after. By the end of May, around 28% of FT Edit app subscribers had started using the product within the main FT app. In-app purchases, including the new annual plan, are now live and showing stable performance.
Engagement from registered users and anonymous visitors is growing steadily as FT Edit becomes more visible within the app. We’re actively monitoring the conversion funnel to fine-tune registration prompts and subscription calls to action.
Seb Sadler
Open to work
Seb Sadler
Open to work