Hi there.

I am busy preparing for our World Congress next week. Let me know if you have questions for any of our guests, in particular my interviews with Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones, and Mark Thompson, CEO of CNN. And if you are coming, please get in touch or find me there. I’ll be easy to spot as co-moderator. 

Today I wanted to share a couple of aha moments I’ve had recently. One on changes to app navigation I have noticed and the other from unveilings at Canva Create here in Los Angeles. If you have anything to add to either of these conversations, please  drop me a note. I’m at Jodie.hopperton@INMA.org. 

In two weeks, I will be back with a wrap up of product and tech learnings from the World Congress. 

See you in your inbox then,

Jodie

New navigation trends in premium digital news

During the recent INMA Webinar Unlocking Premium: How to Elevate Your Digital Product — and Its Price Tag, Eva Günther, head of digital product of NZZ, and Daniel Marx, product manager at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, shared their insights on how navigation changes can significantly impact user experience. 

Their discussion resonated with me, and I wanted to delve a bit deeper into some of the navigation strategies they’ve implemented.

A while ago, I showcased the The New York Times’ app and its intuitive navigation. I noticed The Washington Post has adopted a similar approach, splitting navigation between content in the top bar and format options in the bottom bar. This dual-layer navigation strategy is emerging as a popular trend across news apps.

When NZZ revamped their app, they reimagined their top navigation to mimic the social media style, similar to the way Instagram showcases content through stories. 

In this design, the top navigation acts as a dynamic content carousel, inviting users to swipe through different stories or highlights. Importantly, when these stories are active, the bottom navigation remains visible, ensuring access to the core content is never lost.

The bottom navigation on the NZZ app is focused purely on content access. Arranged from left to right, the buttons provide direct pathways to key areas: home, editions, explore, search, and a personalised area labeled “My NZZ.” This thoughtful layout separates content discovery from content consumption, making it easier for users to navigate without feeling overwhelmed.

In contrast, FAZ’s new premium product, Der Tag, offers a distinct experience. Although not the main news product, Der Tag provides a limited number of curated stories in a beautifully designed app accompanied by a fresh user flow. 

One of the innovative design elements in Der Tag is the introduction of a bottom right navigation for each story. From top to bottom, this navigation panel reads: summary, listen, save, share. This feature is designed to give users quick, context-sensitive controls, allowing them to engage with individual stories in a more interactive manner.

Of course, one of the biggest challenges with any navigation redesign is changing user behaviour. For users accustomed to swipe gestures and updated navigation styles seen on many modern apps, the transition might feel quite intuitive.

However, for a segment of users who are more set in their ways, an onboarding process for the new design is essential to prevent confusion or frustration. This is a challenge but certainly one that can be solved with thoughtful design and user education.

The evolution in navigation design leads us to an interesting question: Are we witnessing the gradual end of the traditional hamburger menu, at least for content-rich news applications? 

As news apps move toward more streamlined and visually engaging navigation structures, the old paradigms may be replaced by more innovative solutions tailored to today’s digital consumption habits.

Do you have an innovative navigation design that has transformed your digital product? I’d love to see and hear about it. Feel free to reach out to me at jodie.hopperton@INMA.org.

Date for the diary: Webinar on June 4 

Building on INMA’s report How News Organisations Should Work with AI Companies, we’ll chat with two legendary media companies to learn their strategies for content licensing in the rapidly changing AI landscape. 

During this INMA Webinar, Unlocking AI Content Licensing: Strategies from Dow Jones & The Guardian, join me as I talk with Traci Mabrey, general manager at Factiva/Dow Jones, and Robert Hahn, director of business affairs and licensing at The Guardian. It’s free to members. Sign up here.

Canva Create 2025 sparks a new wave in media innovation 

When every Big Tech company takes the stage for its annual launch event, it’s easy to get caught up in the fanfare. 

But witnessing Canva Create 2025 unfold in Los Angeles, my hometown, offered more than just a spectacle. It presented a thoughtful glimpse into how one platform is reshaping the media’s digital toolkit. 

Once known solely for its design capabilities, Canva is now straddling the worlds of creative design, data intelligence, and everyday work tools. With 230 million users and a billion designs produced in a single month, its growth speaks volumes. Yet, beyond the impressive numbers, there’s a profound evolution underway.

The event opened with a performance by Jon Batiste, complementing dynamic visuals and videos of real Canva users. This hinted that the day’s proceedings would be as much about innovation as they were about celebration. 

What struck me was how Canva has managed to retain its playful, accessible spirit even as it advances into enterprise territory. It’s professionalised but has not lost its character.

Historically it has been popular among individual creators; Canva is now making deliberate strides to serve larger organisations that demand both creative freedom and rigorous control over brand assets across multiple platforms.

In an era where rapid content creation and real-time analytics are crucial, the company has built in data to the heart of its product. 

The unveiling of Canva Sheets marked a pivotal moment in my mind. In some ways, they have a product advantage by coming onto a product that has had very few big updates in years while being a staple of everyday businesses. 

First came Microsoft spreadsheets, Excel in 1985. That was improved on by Google when they launched their Sheets almost 20 years ago in 2006. Now, using GenAI, Canva lives up to its tagline of simplifying complex things (this used to be simplifying design; it’s expanded). No longer do you have to remember formulas. Just say what you need it to do and what you need to incorporate. 

Canva’s integrated platform now marries design, data, and even coding in one ecosystem. This all-in-one approach challenges traditional siloed solutions like Google Workspace and offers a compelling alternative. 

While it’s still early days, the evolution seen at Canva Create 2025 signals a future where the boundaries between design and data fade away — ushering in a new age of digital journalism that is as agile as it is visually compelling. 

For news media companies, the promise is clear: a more integrated, intuitive approach to content creation that not only meets the demands of today’s fast-paced environment but also sets the stage for tomorrow’s storytelling challenges.

Canva hit on all the things necessary to be successful in a GenAI world: seamless integrating data, using GenAI to simplify complex things that previously only specialists could do, and bringing it together in a beautifully designed platform. Just think about a journalist's ability to swiftly convert raw data into insightful narratives without having to rely on other teams for this part of the production. 

And while Canva talked a lot about individuals and creators, they also showcased enterprises such as Disney and scalable solutions — particularly strong for brand assets across multiple platforms and languages, strong brand controls, and security.  

As we move into a GenAI world, this is one of the first examples I have seen that is a clear step forward on a business tool that has highly practical use right now. That can give business efficiencies while enhancing output and operations.

About this newsletter 

Today’s newsletter is written by Jodie Hopperton, based in Los Angeles and lead for the INMA Product and Tech Initiative. Jodie will share research, case studies, and thought leadership on the topic of global news media product.

This newsletter is a public face of the Product and Tech Initiative by INMA, outlined here. E-mail Jodie at jodie.hopperton@inma.org with thoughts, suggestions, and questions. Sign up to our Slack channel.

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