Case Study: Scientific American
The Challenge
Scientific American is a venerated publication that has been educating and inspiring the public about science and technology for over a century. Their online platform needed to simultaneously serve a broad audience—from casual science enthusiasts to researchers—while maintaining a high level of editorial integrity, facilitating subscriptions, and offering up-to-date news on breakthroughs. Balancing a wealth of specialized content with an inviting, navigable interface required a carefully orchestrated strategy.
My role as Product Manager
While I managed resources, timelines, and budgets as a producer, I also stepped into product manager responsibilities by:
• Collaborating with editors, marketing teams, and developers to prioritize which features and content modules best served readers and subscribers
• Defining a clear product roadmap that balanced user needs (e.g., easy content discovery, mobile-friendly design) with Scientific American’s business objectives (e.g., subscription growth, ad revenue)
• Using analytics and user feedback to guide iterative improvements to navigation, article layout, and overall user experience
Planning and execution
I organized the project into agile sprints dedicated to core site components—such as a subscription paywall, search optimization, and multimedia integration for articles and podcasts. Frequent stakeholder syncs enabled quick pivots in response to editorial updates or emerging trends in user behavior. By running usability tests and analyzing metrics, we continually refined how content was surfaced—ensuring that breaking news, featured stories, and evergreen articles were each given an appropriate spotlight.
Results
• Intuitive content discovery: A revamped site architecture and search/filter tools allowed readers to quickly find articles by topic, author, or feature section, leading to higher engagement and time on site
• Enhanced subscription funnel: Streamlined user journeys and clear calls to action boosted both new subscription sign-ups and renewal rates
• Refined editorial workflow: Improved content management tools helped the editorial team quickly upload and organize new articles, podcast episodes, and special reports
Why this project stands out
This initiative required uniting teams around a shared vision for a publication with a storied history and modern-day digital goals. By combining producer responsibilities (scheduling, budgeting, team oversight) with a product manager’s focus on user-centric features and data-driven decision-making, I ensured Scientific American’s digital platform could evolve while honoring its longstanding reputation as a trusted source of scientific knowledge.