Headline, news and media
The news you can listen to
Headline is an AI news app for UK readers. We took it from a partner’s idea to a live app on the App Store: personalised briefs you can read or listen to, a narrator you can tune from casual to formal, and an assistant you can ask about any story.
- What we delivered
- Product direction, design system and the app
- Who it serves
- UK readers who want to keep up without reading everything
- Status
- Live on the App Store
What is happening with rail fares today?
The challenge
The project began with a partner’s idea for an AI news product. We questioned the audience, the product vision and the timeline for a first release, then studied how people find and consume news in the established news apps.
Personalisation was already familiar to readers. AI narration, an adjustable voice and a conversational way to listen were where Headline could be different, so that is where we put the effort.
- on the App Store and handed over to the Headline team
- Live
- every brief works both ways, with play and pause always in reach
- Read or listen
- a narrator people tune to how they like to hear the news
- Casual to formal
The system came before the screens
The approach
Before any finished screens we built the design system: typography, colour, variables and components, from the smallest parts up, in light and dark. Every screen that followed was assembled from it, which kept the product consistent as it grew.
When the first visual direction was not right, we explored a second and chose it.
Heritage Orange
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Your Daily Brief
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
Headings/H2 · 900 · 34/44 · -1.5
Johnathan
Body/B2 · Geist 400 · 16/23
Good morning,
Body/Mono/B1 · IBM Plex Mono 400 · 18/26
19 Dec
One brief, two ways in
Reading and listening
The home screen opens with a personalised view of the day and recent briefs to scan or revisit. Every brief can be read, or played and paused as narration, so nobody has to read everything on screen to keep up.
Good morning,
Johnathan
19 Dec
Today’s brief
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
5 Stories 4 min
Your recent briefs
See all
4 Stories
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
Yesterday 4 min
Your Daily Brief
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
5 Stories 4 min
Your Daily Brief
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
19 Dec brief
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
Narrated by Smith, casual
Good morning,
Johnathan
19 Dec
Today’s brief
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
5 Stories 4 min
Your recent briefs
See all
4 Stories
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
Yesterday 4 min
Good morning,
Johnathan
19 Dec
Today’s brief
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
5 Stories 4 min
Your recent briefs
See all
4 Stories
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
Yesterday 4 min
Good morning,
Johnathan
Choosing how the news sounds
Voice and personalisation
People choose their categories, topics and interests, pick a narrator, and set the voice anywhere from casual to formal. The same brief is rewritten to match.
How should we interact?
Good news if you cycle
Good news if you cycle: the council’s signed off on protected cycle lanes across the city. Work starts in spring and should wrap up in about a year, paid for by a regional transport grant.
Council approves protected cycle lanes
The city council has approved a network of protected cycle lanes. Construction is due to begin in spring and is expected to last approximately one year. The scheme is funded by a regional transport grant.
Casual: Good news if you cycle: the council’s signed off on protected cycle lanes across the city. Work starts in spring and should wrap up in about a year, paid for by a regional transport grant.
Talking to your news
The assistant
People can ask about a story or steer what they hear without leaving the brief, using the chat patterns they already know from assistants. Answers show their sources, so it is clear where the information came from.
Ask anything
What is happening with rail fares today?
Fares are frozen until spring. The transport authority confirmed it this morning and said the new timetable adds forty early trains a day, most of them on commuter lines into the city.
Key findings
- Fares stay at this year’s level until spring. 20
- Forty early trains are added each day. 5 12
- Most run on commuter lines into the city. 4
The outcome
Headline is live on the App Store and in the hands of its team. They have a product with a clear point of difference and a design system to build on.
The product is set up to answer three questions: whether people choose to listen rather than read, whether a casual or formal voice changes how much of a brief they finish, and what they ask when they can ask anything.
Good morning,
Johnathan
19 Dec
Today’s brief
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
5 Stories 4 min
Your recent briefs
See all
4 Stories
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
Yesterday 4 min
19 Dec brief
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
Narrated by Smith, casual
Good morning,
Johnathan
19 Dec
Today’s brief
Rail fares frozen until spring as the new timetable begins
5 Stories 4 min
Your recent briefs
See all
4 Stories
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
Yesterday 4 min
Your Daily Brief
Tidal power trial lights a coastal town for a week
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