Reimagining Minnesota’s Largest Newsroom for a Digital-First Future
As digital subscribers surpassed print for the first time in 157 years, the Star Tribune needed a design system and platform that matched its ambition to become a modern digital media company and the leading model for local news in America. I led the redesign of the flagship site and app, ushered in a unified visual identity and helped reframe the brand to reflect its statewide mission.
This effort spanned a full replatforming, a responsive design overhaul and a major brand refresh — all delivered in close partnership with product, engineering, marketing and newsroom leadership as well as with agencies Colle McVoy and Code & Theory. During this intensive eight-month sprint, I brought focus to design decisions, advocated for scalable systems in Figma and helped connect the dots between daily execution and long-term vision.
The transformation led to a 12% increase in digital subscriptions and earned national attention from Figma, Fast Company, The New York Times and The Washington Post. The result is a more cohesive, multi-platform user experience and news report that supports growth, reinforces trust and reflects the values of our communities.
A News Platform Built to Scale
The redesign boosted engagement, improved performance and helped reposition the newly named Minnesota Star Tribune as a statewide brand. It laid the groundwork for ambitious subscription-growth goals, streamlined design operations and paved the way for ongoing design-system adoption across products, teams and departments.
Beyond the technical improvements, the work signaled a cultural shift: one that placed design at the center of how the Minnesota Star Tribune shows up for readers through design, experience and storytelling.
Post-redesign, I began expanding the Product department's UX function from a single UX designer to a fully staffed team — hiring a newsletter designer, a product designer and the company's first full-time UX researcher. I also drove the promotion of our original UX designer to UX Lead. Through the rapid UX team growth, I reinforced a human-centered focus while refining workflows, clarifying process checkpoints and building trust through clear communication.
The growth didn't stop there. Alongside UX team-building, I established in-house design capacity within Consumer Growth, hiring a dedicated designer and nearly eliminating vendor costs while significantly increasing design quality and cohesion. I also introduced project workflows adopted across departments, improving visibility and cross-functional collaboration.
At the end of 2024, I was named Best Team Lead — a company-wide award — for my critical work across core business units in News, Product, Brand, Consumer Growth and Sales & Marketing.
Design: Josh Penrod, Maddie Sherlock, Carla Fabian, Bryan Brussee, Stevie Lacher
Illustrations: Elias Stein, Kevin Cannon
