Video & Subspecialty Channels
new product integration
Embedded Files
Introduction
Introduction
The product
The product
The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) has always sold content as bundles, but at the end of 2024, the Marketing team decided, as an outcome of their research, that we should be able to offer discounted narrower subscriptions to specialists: individual subspecialty content, or video content only. Content "channels," as we called them.
My role
My role
I served as the UX designer and product manager. I conducted reviews with stakeholders and management, wrote up detailed requirements, created mockups, and directed development with our tech team.
Timeline
Timeline
November 2024 – June 2025
The Process
The Process
Requirements
Requirements
Problems to address
Problems to address
There were several different elements required to sell channel access:
Access to 1+ subspecialties only
Access to video and articles with video only
If we are "gating" off our content in different ways, users need to be able to tell what they have access to
Subspecialties are currently considered metadata, and need to be exposed to the user
What does the user who has a channel subscription see when they try to access content outside their subscription?
Solutions
Solutions
In order to solve these problems, we would:
Add access indicators in the form of lock icons to all content for all users, which will also increase transparency on the site
Expose the subspecialties of all content across the site
Build a product "map" page to clearly explain our different access levels
Include tailored messaging for use cases when a user cannot access content
I wrote up three individual requirements documents for each project: Subspecialty Channel, Video Channel, and Access Indicators.
Three Projects
Three Projects
Access indicators
Access indicators
I made high-fidelity mockups in Figma, and then annotated them in PowerPoint as part of the requirements.
Because we had three kinds of access (guest, registered, and paid subscriber) and many different types of content, I made over 30 slides clearly delineating what each user would see in every possible instance.
Subspecialty Channel
Subspecialty Channel
This mockup shows the addition of subspecialty "chips" above each article, along with special green styling to show the user precisely which specialty they were subscribed to.
Video Channel
Video Channel
The Video Channel would be treated differently, since the user has access to all subspecialties, so the only changes would be some re-organization of data, and the addition of lock icons.
Mockups
Mockups
Access indicators
Access indicators
There were several rounds of iteration, but here are a few of the final mockups. I made desktop mockups only, since mobile was essentially identical.
Here is an example of a guest user's view. For the most part, they see grey locks indicating no access. Open access content, which is free to all users, sports a blue lock, and content which is free to registered users shows a grey lock with a green silhouette inset.
Subspecialty Channel
Subspecialty Channel
This is an example of the view of a channel subscriber. Content they may access shows green locks, and their subspecialty "chip" (in this case, Hip) shows special "subscribed" styling.
Video Channel
Video Channel
The view of a subscriber to the Video Channel. All videos are marked with green locks, apart from Open Access content, which maintains its blue locks. When accessed through the TOC or search results, article listings that include video also display green locks.
Complications
Complications
Additional access required
Additional access required
The finished product is identical to the mockups, so I won't include screenshots, but there were some additional details that arose along the way, which also got bundled into the project.
Because we now had to account for new user types that had access to only some of our content, we had to come up with messaging for channel subscribers who tried to access content outside their subscription level.
This is what a user would see if their subscription did not include article access.
User "title"
User "title"
To add additional clarity for the user to know what type of subscriber they were, we added a "title" under their profile menu.
My account says "Platinum Subscriber" in the profile menu, so I can easily see my subscription level. This also helps Customer Service in assisting customers, since they can get this information at a glance.
Product map
Product map
In anticipation of users potentially finding the new tiers of access confusing, we build a product map page.
Restructuring content access
Restructuring content access
In adding access indicators, senior management took a look at what we were offering for free versus what was offered to registered users only. They decided to move most content behind the registration wall, so we needed to enhance the controls allowing the admin to select what would be free for all or free for registered. This feature already existed for articles, but we had to extend that to each content type on our site.
The admin controls.
Auto-freeing Open Access
Auto-freeing Open Access
Senior management also wanted us to differentiate between content that was free and content that was open access, so I designed an open access indicator. I also took the opportunity to add support for freeing open access articles automatically based on the system recognizing their license tagging, which saved time for the site admin and cut down on human error.
The top article is open access.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Response
Response
The new features have been well-received internally. The Production team no longer has to manually free Open Access content. Customer Support is able to tell a user's subscription level at a glance. The Marketing team is preparing to sell the new products, and the hope is that they can attract new customers who are specialists rather than generalists.
Thoughts
Thoughts
The "channel" project turned out to be a bunch of other projects in a trench coat, so it was deceptively simple initially and became much more complex. Still, it was a pleasure to work on, and also, since we can cram one more into that trench coat, it laid the groundwork for a future project that I hope to lead in 2026: individual article purchase.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse