The i Paper
Translating impartial journalism into a distinctive digital experience
The i Paper is an impartial, non-partisan UK national newspaper with a monthly reach of 9.2 million readers.
Since 2015, they have protected their impartiality by refusing to endorse any political party in every UK general election. They have a clear editorial promise: impartial news and intelligent debate.
But in a media landscape shaped by polarisation, changing news consumption habits or even news avoidance, being balanced can come at a cost. Too often, impartiality risks being perceived as passive or forgettable, while the digital news experiences that enjoy the most amplification are also the most biased.
The ambition was to change that perception and to spark independent minds into action – to shape a refreshed digital experience where the brand feels active, premium, and energising, one designed to drive repeat visits, deeper engagement and digital subscription growth.
If I'd have known how far you would get us in just 15 weeks I would have bitten your hand off.
The opportunity
Reader behaviour has shifted rapidly, with news increasingly being consumed in fragments, design now has to account for attention scarcity. Readers are left with a dilemma: engaging or trustworthy.
For The i Paper, this created a clear challenge. How could its editorial values be translated into a digital experience that stands and feels sharper, more engaging, and more distinctive, while remaining calm, fair-minded, and trusted?
Through research and validation with interviewees, we found that people are tired of feeling manipulated by the news, but they still want to stay informed and think for themselves. This opened up an opportunity for The i Paper to express impartiality as an active value in readers' lives.
Our approach
We adopted an iterative brand approach — concentrating on a core brand narrative and personality which became the foundations of something solid enough to ship and flexible enough to evolve.
Brand and product were developed in parallel, with reader behaviour setting the direction. We worked closely with product and editorial teams to ensure the experience could be delivered at newsroom pace and scale beyond a single digital touchpoint.
Our guiding principle was simple: the experience needed to demonstrate The i Paper's value, not explain it.
Working closely with the editorial and digital teams, we translated The i Paper's commitment to impartiality with conviction into a digital experience that feels as distinctive as their journalism. This work focused on defining a clear narrative and purpose to shape formats, interactions and everyday product decisions. The result is an experience that feels active, premium and designed to earn repeat visits.
Making it real
That thinking shaped a refreshed digital expression of The i Paper — bright, fair-minded, challenging, constructive, and energising — supported by a flexible tone of voice that adapts across moments, from breaking news to lighter engagement. Our approach centred on respecting readers' time, designing to drive ‘happy' frequency, deepen engagement across modes and boost the value of every visit. The resulting design language balances bold, energising moments of action with calmer, uncluttered spaces for reading. It's always premium, and recognisably The i Paper.
The vibrant colours and engaging layout make it feel fresh and exciting. It draws you in and makes you want to explore.
To ensure the strategy could deliver against business goals, we focused on developing two high-value journeys and validated and codified concepts via this research:
For non-subscribers: we explored how ‘skimming and dipping' moments could become more meaningful interactions, using shorter formats and curated previews to build curiosity and satisfaction, encourage newsletter sign-up, and reduce one-and-done behaviour.
For subscribers: we designed patterns that make the experience feel alive and worth returning to, helping readers quickly understand what's new, choose where to go deeper, and feel that the service is doing the hard work for them.
What we delivered
Over four months, we delivered a practical toolkit to support rollout and continued experimentation:
- A brand snapshot and playbook, defining positioning, personality, and design language
- A tone of voice framework with practical scenarios and examples
- A digital-first design language and Figma design kit
- Key experience journeys and prototypes, ready for delivery, experimentation, and validation
- Email and social templates to support rollout across channels
- A phased brand and experience roadmap, co-created with product leadership
- Personas and newsroom engagement artefacts to support adoption at pace
The impact
The ambition was to increase the value of every visit – strengthening reader habit and creating the conditions for subscription growth. This phase of work set a clear digital direction for The i Paper. It turned a beta brand into something practical — a shared view of how the experience should look, feel, and be built. At the time of publication the refreshed brand is live on the website homepage and main reader experience. The first iteration of Shorts is launched and is being promoted, with Perspectives in active live-use testing.
The i Paper was shortlisted at The Press Awards for 7 awards total, our work itself on 'Shorts' being nominated for ‘Best Audience Engagement Initiative of the Year'. The combination of editorial, product, and design has come together to create something distinctive that is landing with users in an impactful way.
The i Paper had strong editorial values but lacked a shared language to express them digitally. What made this work valuable wasn't just the output; it was the way it was done. In 15 weeks, ustwo created the conditions for product and editorial teams to work in genuine alignment, something we'd struggled to establish before.