miacarvalhao@gmail.com
A mobile-first news experience designed to fit into real moments of everyday life, combining personalization, short-form content, and audio to support an on-the-go audience.
Client
Sapo
Skills
The context
SAPO is one of Portugal’s most established digital news brands. As mobile consumption increasingly diverged from desktop behavior, SAPO identified the need to rethink its mobile app to better serve an on-the-go audience, users who consume news in short moments throughout the day.
The project emerged from a competitive proposal to design a more personalized, mobile first news experience that could stand out in a crowded and highly competitive market.
The challenge
The main challenge was not to redesign a traditional news app, but to rethink how news fits into a user’s daily routine.
The experience needed to support quick, frequent interactions across different contexts (commuting, multitasking, short breaks) while remaining credible, clear, and aligned with SAPO’s values.
The approach
We explored how on-the-go users interact with content by analyzing news apps alongside social, audio, and short form platforms such as Flipboard, Artifact, and social media feeds.
From this research, we identified recurring behavioral patterns: short-form content, audio first interactions, personalization, and hands-free usage. To ground these insights, we defined a clear persona, the User on the Go, and structured the proposal around moments in a typical day.
The solution
The proposal introduced a mobile-first news experience designed to integrate seamlessly into daily life.
At its core was the Daily Summary, a personalized, audio-supported overview of the day’s most relevant news, designed to feel closer to a radio experience than a traditional feed. This was complemented by swipe based short news formats, a dynamic homepage for deeper exploration, and personalization as a foundational layer across the app.
Results and Impact
The proposal was selected as the winning concept, and the project was awarded to the team.
Although the final product was later adapted to a new brand direction and developed by a different team, the core experience, features, and interaction logic remained closely aligned with the original proposal.
My Role
As a mid-level designer, I had a hands-on role throughout the project, working across UI design, concept development, benchmark analysis, and the definition of interaction patterns.
I collaborated closely with senior UX, visual, and motion designers to refine the proposal and ensure both usability and visual quality.
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