Media & publishing · B2C · UX stream leadership
Structuring a top broadcaster’s news platform
UX leadership under intense time pressure in a fast-moving media context
How can conflicting requirements be resolved under a tight deadline?
This case study reflects on UX stream leadership during the launch of an independent digital news platform. It focuses on resolving contradictory expectations through structural UX thinking, system definition, and delegation in a high-visibility, time-constrained environment.
The work demonstrates how prior domain experience and system-level judgment support effective decision-making when timelines are compressed and validation cycles are limited. By prioritizing structure over surface solutions, the UX stream enabled clarity, alignment, and delivery under pressure.
Engagement overview
What this was, at a glance
In 2021, RTL Hungary, the country’s leading commercial broadcaster, decided to expand its digital presence by transforming its existing website into a full-scale news platform. The objective was to enter the online news market with a credible, competitive product that could operate at national scale from day one.
The project was delivered in collaboration with an external vendor, operating across parallel workstreams under significant time pressure. I joined the engagement as a senior product designer, leading the UX stream from early discovery through delivery and launch. Progress depended on rapid alignment across editorial, technical, and business stakeholders, while maintaining clear ownership within the design team.
Contextual challenges
What influenced the work
Designing a news platform introduces a distinct set of constraints. Content changes continuously, traffic spikes unpredictably, and information hierarchy must remain legible under breaking news conditions. Performance, responsiveness, and clarity are not secondary concerns but core product requirements.
My prior experience designing large-scale news platforms came from the technology side at index.hu, part of the Central European Media and Publishing group. Working as a product designer in close collaboration with editorial teams established a strong understanding of how editorial workflows, technical constraints, and user needs intersect in real-world news environments. This background proved critical in making fast, informed decisions without relying on extended validation cycles.
Role & responsibilities
Why structure mattered
I led the UX stream for the launch of an independent digital news platform, with end-to-end responsibility for discovery, information architecture, and core interaction design. The work required establishing a clear structural foundation that could support continuous content updates, high traffic variability, and evolving editorial priorities from day one.
A central challenge was resolving conflicting expectations under extreme time pressure. Rather than optimizing individual surfaces, I focused on defining a coherent system logic that aligned editorial workflows, technical constraints, and user needs. This included clarifying content hierarchy, navigation models, and interaction patterns that could scale without constant redesign.
In parallel, I structured the UX workstream to maintain momentum. I retained ownership of system-level decisions while delegating focused design tasks to mid-level designers, ensuring that detailed execution reinforced a shared structural direction rather than diverging under pressure.
Design approach
How we moved forward
Given the compressed timeline, the design process prioritized focused discovery and decisive execution. Early work concentrated on establishing a clear information architecture that could support rapid content updates, multiple content types, and evolving editorial priorities.
UX design emphasized modularity and consistency. Wireframes and interaction models accounted for states, variants, and responsive behavior from the outset, reducing rework later in the process. Rather than optimizing for edge cases, the focus remained on building a robust core experience that could scale under real-world usage and editorial pressure.
Throughout the project, decisions were guided by a balance of prior domain knowledge and present constraints. Knowing where precision mattered most, and where speed was essential, allowed the team to move quickly without sacrificing usability or structural integrity.
Delivery & evolution
What changed over time
The platform launched successfully into a competitive media landscape, with a clear structure, recognizable identity, and a solid UX foundation. From day one, the product supported continuous editorial updates, multiple content types, and high-traffic scenarios, providing audiences with a coherent and navigable experience under real-world news conditions.
Following launch, the platform continued to evolve as part of RTL Hungary’s broader digital presence. Refinements were introduced in response to operational needs and usage insights, reflecting the realities of running a live media product rather than a static release.
In later years, RTL Hungary revised its digital strategy and chose to step back from operating a full-scale news platform, returning RTL.hu to a more bulletin-style content model. This shift reflected a business decision rather than a design or usability failure. The original launch work remains representative of the goals, constraints, and decisions required at the time, and of how UX leadership and domain expertise supported a credible market entry under tight timelines.
Insights & takeaways
What this work revealed
This engagement illustrates how UX leadership operates in fast-moving, high-visibility environments. When timelines are compressed and validation cycles are limited, impact depends less on exhaustive processes and more on sound structural judgment.
Prior domain experience played a critical role. Familiarity with large-scale media platforms made it possible to recognize which problems required structural resolution and which could be addressed incrementally. This allowed the team to converge quickly on viable solutions without sacrificing coherence or usability.
The work reinforced the value of system thinking as a stabilizing force. By resolving contradictory requirements through structure rather than debate, the UX stream enabled clarity, alignment, and delivery under pressure. These principles later informed my approach to leading complex design efforts in enterprise and platform contexts.