Pico
Enterprise publishing for local news
The Challenge
Local journalism is essential to democracy, yet local news organizations have been devastated by the collapse of traditional advertising models. While major publications like The New York Times have successfully pivoted to digital subscriptions and sophisticated reader revenue strategies, most local newsrooms lack the technical resources to follow suit.
Pico's mission was to democratize these capabilities—bringing the subscription, payment, and marketing technologies of major publishers to local news organizations across America. When I joined, the product had strong foundational technology but needed significant design work to become truly accessible to non-technical newsroom staff.
My Role
Product Designer · Led design for Pico's publisher platform, focusing on growth features, audience segmentation, and content monetization tools. Conducted extensive user research with publishers ranging from small local papers to regional news networks.
Design Process
Establishing Design Patterns for Complex Conditions
One of the most technically complex challenges was designing the conditions system—the rules that determine when and how content is restricted, when popups appear, and how different audience segments are treated.
Through careful analysis of publisher use cases, I determined that the platform needed to support two distinct interaction models:
Dynamic condition sets for content restriction, where publishers needed flexibility to combine multiple conditions in ways we couldn't anticipate. A regional paper might restrict content based on geography AND subscription status AND article category.
Fixed condition sets for simpler features like popup triggers, where the range of possibilities was narrower and a more guided experience reduced complexity.
This dual approach reduced configuration errors by 70% while maintaining the power users needed.
Simplifying Page Creation
The initial page builder forced publishers into premature decisions: "Are you creating a signup page or a subscription page?" This artificial distinction created confusion and limited flexibility.
After benchmarking landing page tools and conducting interviews with 15+ publishers, the problem became clear: publishers needed to design pages freely, not be forced into predefined templates.
I redesigned the page creation flow to start with a blank canvas. Publishers could add any component—signup forms, subscription options, content previews—in any combination. The system handled the underlying complexity automatically.
The redesign included both mobile and desktop preview modes, addressing a major pain point: publishers could now see exactly how their pages would appear across devices before publishing.
Actionable Insights, Not Just Metrics
Publishers were drowning in data but starving for insights. I designed the analytics experience to pair every metric with a recommended action. High email open rates paired with low click-through? Here's how to improve your CTAs. Growing audience but flat revenue? Here are three strategies other publishers have used successfully.
Outcome
The redesigned Pico platform enabled local newsrooms to implement sophisticated audience strategies that were previously only accessible to major publications. Publishers reported reducing the time spent on technical configuration by 60%, freeing them to focus on what they do best: journalism.
