Skillset
The Times Travel & Holidays. MVP launch and post-launch iteration.
Overview
Designing commerce inside journalism is mostly about knowing when not to ask.
The Times’ Travel & Holidays product needed to support commercial journeys without disrupting how readers experience editorial content. I joined at MVP stage, shipping the initial foundations and then iterating post-launch once real behaviour and constraints emerged.
This work spanned two clear phases:
Designing and shipping the MVP
Refining and correcting the product after launch
Collaboration & Stakeholders
This work sat across multiple teams, as Travel & Holidays touches a wide range of concerns inside The Times:
Editorial — maintaining trust, tone, and pacing within journalism
Product — defining journeys, prioritisation, and success metrics
Marketing / Brand — ensuring Travel felt intentional, not bolted-on
Sales / Commercial — supporting partners and onward enquiry journeys
Engineering — feasibility, implementation, and scalability
A key part of my role was translating between these perspectives, making sure decisions improved the user experience without breaking how teams needed to work day-to-day
The Challenge
Readers come to The Times to read journalism, not to shop.
Any travel product needed to:
Respect editorial tone and trust
Introduce commercial intent gradually
Handle complex travel data without overwhelming users
Work across two connected ecosystems: The Times and The Times Holidays
Involvement
Phase 2 — What Emerged After Launch
Once live, real behavioural patterns began to emerge.
Trip cards in particular were increasingly asked to carry complex pricing data, support subscription and promotional goals, and act as both inspiration and decision points. This led to denser cards, reduced price clarity, and increased cognitive load, pushing users to decide too early.
I reframed the trip card as an entry point, not a decision surface. This helped reset internal conversations and clarify design priorities.
There was pressure to add more information directly into the cards. I pushed back, highlighting risks around scanability, comprehension, and editorial trust. Instead, I proposed keeping cards lightweight, directing secondary detail into pop-ups or product detail pages, allowing users to opt into depth when ready.
Outcomes
Stable MVP evolution without over-commitment
Clearer, calmer trip cards post-launch
Reduced cognitive load without hiding complexity
A more natural funnel between The Times and Holidays
Strong engagement with enquiry and call-based journeys
Metrics and Signals
Research was lightweight but continuous. Click behaviour consistently showed users preferred enquiry and call-based actions over immediate booking. CTAs were adapted accordingly, supporting exploration first and clearer intent later in the journey.
Across this period, the product recorded 14,000+ booking, enquiry, and call CTA interactions, validating enquiry-led journeys as a meaningful success metric for high-consideration travel.
Additional signals included:
Consistent engagement with enquiry and call CTAs over direct booking
Clear drop-off before booking pages, reinforcing the need for confidence-building journeys
Stable performance while reducing card density and cognitive load
Conclusion
Reflection
The most valuable part of this work wasn’t adding more, but knowing when to stop.
Working across editorial, product, and commercial teams made it clear that clarity only holds if communication does too. Design decisions had to be understood, not just shipped.
Designing for a trusted editorial brand means earning the right to ask users for action — especially when that action sits outside their primary intent. Meeting users where they are helped reduce friction without forcing outcomes.
Other work
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