Design system & experience contribution
The
Gleaner
A daily newsroom, given a clearer digital rhythm—without losing the density or authority of the reporting.
jamaica-gleaner.com, captured 3 September 2026. Editorial content and photography belong to the publisher and respective rights holders.
Project overview
The work
behind the work.
A publishing platform has to carry breaking news, long-form reporting, opinion, sport, business, and culture in the same system, often with changing assets and little time.
I contributed to the design system and editorial experience direction: clarifying hierarchy, reading flow, and the reusable structures behind the daily news. The current live site provides the context for this presentation.
Decision sequence
Hierarchy before decoration.
A live publishing system is tested by changing content every day. These observations connect the design direction to the current reading experience.
Decision 1 of 3: Give the front page a centre of gravity.
Live homepage capture · 3 September 2026
01 / 03 — Lead
Give the front page a centre of gravity.
A dominant image, headline, deck, and metadata establish a clear entry point before the page grows more dense.
Workflow summary
- 01Section identity
- 02Primary story
- 03Related headlines
- 04Onward reading
02 / 03 — Sections
Let repetition help readers orient themselves.
Section headings and recurring story patterns create a rhythm that lets readers change subjects without relearning the interface.
Workflow summary
- 01Editorial priority
- 02Reusable story patterns
- 03Responsive reading order
- 04Clear next story
03 / 03 — System
Design for the content that arrives tomorrow.
Reusable structures need to accommodate unpredictable headline lengths, differing image availability, and the operational demands of daily publishing.
The interface should preserve the newsroom’s hierarchy while making the next story easy to find.
Reflection
The constraint.
The response.
The constraint
The interface needed to preserve editorial judgement while making a dense front page easy to scan. Headlines vary in length, images change daily, and readers enter through many different sections.
My response
The work focused on stronger structure and repeatable editorial patterns: a decisive lead story, clear section groupings, visible metadata, and onward-reading paths. My contribution was to system and experience direction, not authorship of every element on the current site.