An update on Stuff’s latest new features and look
Friday, 22 March 2024
Janine Fenwick is the Content Director - Growth at Stuff Digital. She oversees the best and new ways to reach and engage Stuff audiences.
You can always rely on your whānau to tell it like it is when you try out a new look.
It’s been a few weeks since we launched Stuff’s bold new platforms, and we’ve been listening hard to your views on our makeover.
Being the biggest and most-loved news website in New Zealand isn’t a job we take lightly. We know our popularity rests on ensuring we represent and listen to Kiwis - what keeps you up at night, what makes you tick, what impacts your communities. How we tell your stories is core to delivering on that mission, so we’re pumped to tell you today about some new elements of the Stuff experience that we’ve updated following feedback from you - our audience whānau.
Stuff runs on a world-class tech stack that allows us to quickly iterate according to what New Zealanders want. We read every single one of the thousands of emails you sent us about the new design. We’ve doubled down on the things you love, and restyled the things that didn’t hit the mark for everyone. If you’d like to tell us what you think, email stuffproduct@stuff.co.nz.
These changes are available on our apps, so a friendly reminder to always update to the latest version (which for these features will be version 4.2405.1).
Quality NZ journalism front and centre
Our refreshed top stories module is a smoother-on-the-eye showcase of our best journalism each day - such as Steve Kilgallon’s revelations that Green MP Darleen Tana is caught up in migrant exploitation claims, or Nadine Porter’s gut-wrenching reporting on the illness that killed a 44-year-old in eight weeks.
We’ve expanded the number of news stories we feature up top, and reduced the amount of text.
Latest headlines are a wee bit further down, and your daily fix of podcasts, quizzes, puzzles and newsletters has moved up.
Most popular is back
Keep across what everyone in Aotearoa is reading each day via the Most popular module. It lists our most-read stories of the past 24 hours, and sits below the Stuff Shorts video playlist.
If you’ve already read a story, it’ll show in light grey so the content new to you is easy to spot.
A fresh lick of paint
Yes, we removed the mint header (for now). You know when a notion takes hold and you decide to change your hair colour, but once you get home from the salon you realise it just doesn’t suit your overall style? The good news for us is that New Zealanders are never shy about telling us what they think, and we heard loud and clear your thoughts on this particular choice. You’ll still see plenty of colour across Stuff, because that’s what our vibrant, diverse brand represents, but it’ll sit comfortably with the hard hitting journalism you visit us for.
Representing the regions
We listened when you told us that you couldn’t easily find the local news that matters to you, so we’ve reintroduced regional sections for Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Otago, alongside the rest of our news mastheads. You can find them all in the NZ news section, as well as under Regions in the main menu at the top left of the site.
Let’s get quizzical
We welcomed a new member to the Stuff Quiz Whānau in February - the Big Stuff Quiz podcast. Listen to quiz queen Imogen Wells and her quizzical assistant Chris Reed to test your knowledge of everything from art to zoology. They’ll ask the questions - you note the answers.
The BSQ runs every Wednesday, which is perfect because Wednesdays can be tricky, right? And to get you over the hump we’ve created the Hump Day Quiz Day module which sits under the homepage every Wednesday afternoon to make killing time via quizzes that much easier.
Are we there yet?
Not by a long shot. Our Chief Product Officer, Ben Haywood, says that our audience feedback will continue to feed into more iterations over the coming weeks and months.