Why did Civio decide to focus on this project?
For the past two years, Civio has grown concerned about the company’s lack of visibility on social media and Twitter. The group expressed a desire to be less dependent on social-media algorithms. One of Civio’s main projects consists of publishing news based on the Spanish government's official gazette. While this project has lived on Twitter, Civio wanted to migrate it to its website to better control and own the content. Overall, Civio wanted to redirect people from social media to its website and to organise its content into a user-friendly database.
How did applying design-thinking principles help?
One highly beneficial aspect of Civio’s design-thinking approach was sketching and rapid prototyping. The project’s tech lead emphasised exploring "as many ideas as we can" early on. This allowed the organisation to visualise different layouts and navigation paths for the project’s content archive before committing significant development resources. Moving from initial sketches to refined mockups and ensuring responsiveness across different devices was crucial for early user-experience validation.
Another invaluable aspect has been iterative feedback. Civio’s "soft launch" and public beta allowed the organisation to gather initial user input. This feedback guided the next steps, such as prioritising the keyword search functionality. Furthermore, actively collaborating with a visually impaired community member to enhance accessibility highlighted the group’s commitment to user-centered design and provided essential insights. This continuous feedback loop ensures the Hub evolves based on genuine user needs.
Did Civio’s approach change engagement with its audience in any way?
Civio’s soft launch allowed it to receive feedback from around 3,000 audience members. The group has so far received positive feedback — users are able to more easily navigate information using their website.
What challenges did Civio encounter and how did it address them?
One significant challenge was the migration and organisation of 12 years of diverse content from various social media platforms into a unified, searchable database. This involved cleaning, structuring, and importing thousands of micro-pieces of content while ensuring data integrity and historical accuracy. Civio learned the importance of thorough data auditing and preparation before attempting large-scale migrations, as underestimating this could have severely delayed development.
Another challenge was ensuring technical simplicity while building a robust and user-friendly platform that could handle a vast archive and continuous updates. Civio had to balance the desire for advanced features with the need for a stable and efficient system. The lesson learned was that iterative development and continuous user feedback are crucial. This approach allowed Civio to identify critical areas for improvement, like the need for a comprehensive keyword search and personalised content experiences, which it is now prioritising for future development.
How was the project received by Civio’s audience?
So far, the audience has responded to the changes positively.
What insights or lessons did Civio gain from this project?
One key insight was the importance of gathering feedback early on in a project — Civio’s soft launch allowed the organisation to meet its audience directly. By listening to audience members, Civio learned that it should focus on improving the website’s search function.
What does Civio plan on doing next?
Moving forward, "The BOE Hub" will be a permanent and evolving feature of Civio's website and it will continue to develop and refine its functionalities based on user feedback. Immediate next steps include implementing basic keyword search functionality to significantly enhance usability, and exploring options for making the app slightly more personalised, such as informing users about new content since their last visit, all while maintaining a strong commitment to user privacy.
Civio is also planning a comprehensive communication campaign to its 9,600+ loyal BOE newsletter subscribers and all Civio website visitors to widely promote the Hub and encourage deeper engagement. Civio aims to measure the project's impact through key metrics like website traffic growth, increased newsletter subscribers, and improved SEO rankings for relevant search terms. This flexible framework could be adapted to cover other evolving topics or investigative projects.
What advice would Civio give to other journalists or organisations considering a similar path?
A key tip is to actively seek and apply feedback, especially in areas outside your core expertise, like web accessibility. Civio has engaged a visually impaired community member to help improve the application's accessibility, which has been invaluable. Additionally, start with a public beta to gather early feedback. Civio’s soft launch allowed the group to identify areas for improvement, like the keyword search functionality, ensuring the product evolves based on real user needs.
Credit: Transitions, Journalismfund Europe's partner for implementing the Microgrants for Small Newsrooms programme, produced this case study.
