Monetary Policy Radar
Overview
Monetary Policy Radar (MPR) is a newly developed product from the Financial Times that has been designed to boost investors' confidence, help them anticipate future monetary policy decisions, and answer the needs of busy, time-poor and information-overloaded professionals.
This was a 0-1 project that involved extensive collaboration between Editorial and FT Professional (B2B) Commercial, Product and Tech teams. The scope involved designing and validating an MVP within a tight timeframe to meet ambitious revenue targets for the new product. Additionally, the project presented an opportunity to enhance the FT Professional branding, ensuring this add-on product stood out as a distinct, premium offering compared to standard FT.com content.
My role
- End-to-end design lead: Guided the entire product design process - from initial discovery and strategy through prototyping, testing and final build
- Brand strategy integration: Defined how the FT Professional identity extended into MPR, ensuring seamless brand consistency
- MVP scoping & prioritisation: Partnered with stakeholders to scope the MVP and prioritise features based on user insights and business impact
- User research & validation: Developed interactive prototypes and supported my research partner in conducting usability tests and facilitating workshops
- Cross-functional collaboration: Worked within a cross-functional team (Product, Research, Content, Data, Engineering) and liaised closely with Editorial and Commercial stakeholders to align on goals and deliverables
- Launch enablement: Created release collateral for the Product Marketing team, ensuring a successful go-to-market
Problem
This was a challenging cross-team project initiated by Editorial and Commercial teams who identified an opportunity for a new product specifically relating to monetary policy and conducted market research that has found evidence for that unmet need. With so many stakeholders involved, there were a lot of ideas on how the product should be designed and the need for user research has been downsized.
However, after initial difficulties, we have managed to conduct extensive desk and user research into the target audience to identify their Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) and come up with recommendations for essential product features that would solve them.
Additionally, we identified potential challenges that could limit the perceived value of the Monetary Policy tool for our target audience, ensuring these issues were flagged early for consideration in the development process.
Process & solution
After several brainstorming and journey mapping sessions, I progressed to wireframing and prototyping, ensuring each page was carefully structured to address user needs, align with editorial workflows, and account for technical constraints. We conducted regular usability testing alongside early-stage commercial validation trials to evaluate the design’s performance and its impact on the pricing strategy.
Initial learnings allowed further iteration of the MVP, focusing on adding new features, enhancing utility, and refining the information architecture. Additionally, we worked on strengthening the product’s differentiation from a branding perspective. Given that our users are familiar with tools such as the Bloomberg Terminal, it was critical to balance utility and usability while maintaining a distinctive and premium feel.
Nonetheless, certain challenges remained, particularly regarding the Monetary Policy Radar’s placement within the broader FT.com navigation. The lack of a dedicated space for FT Professional products has hindered the findability of MPR, ultimately affecting the overall user experience.
Additionally, as with most new paid products, it was difficult for users to see the value without trying it first - something highlighted during the soft launch. To address this, we designed FT Professional’s first-ever self-serve trial option for MPR, giving users instant access to a 14-day trial supported by a guided onboarding walkthrough that showcased the product’s core value.
Impact
- Delivered a new revenue-generating 0-1 product for FT Professional within one year
- Helped generate £50K in initial revenue
- Contributed to a steady pipeline of qualified leads through the rollout of self-serve trials
- Earned board-level praise for cross-team collaboration, cited as a 'blueprint' for other teams
- Gained invaluable user insights and identified opportunities for future design iterations
- Navigated complex technical constraints to integrate the MVP seamlessly into the FT.com ecosystem
Additionally, I proactively raised concerns about the findability and navigation of not only MPR but all FT Professional products. This led to my separate proposal to senior leadership, directly informing next year’s OKRs and initiatives. These initiatives focus on enhancing the user experience across FT Professional offerings and strengthening overall brand recognition, with me playing a key role in their development from a design perspective.
*Data as of December 2024
