NBC NewsSearch
Leading the 0-to-1 design of a new enterprise tool, integrating new media platforms into the broader product ecosystem.
Client
NBCUniversal
March 2023 - May 2023
Contribution
Lead Designer
Product Strategist
UX Researcher
Partners
SVP
Sr. Director
Lead Engineer
Product Owner
NBC News kept buying the same images twice.
Nobody could see what colleagues had already purchased from Getty, AP or NBCU's own library, so teams paid for the same assets again and again. In three months, I designed NewsSearch from scratch: one platform for all three sources, projected to save $1.2M in its first year.
Impact
at-a-glance
$1.2M
projected first-year savings on media assets
300+
daily active users after launch
3 →1
3 tools consolidated into 1 unified platform for Getty, AP and NBCU's internal portal
TL;DR Summary
Problem: Teams searched Getty, AP and NBCU's internal portal separately, couldn't see what others had already bought, and paid for the same images repeatedly.
What I did: Led research, strategy and design for NewsSearch, a new 0-to-1 platform, and set a realistic MVP roadmap with engineering when leadership wanted it live in one month.
Outcome: Launched in three months with 300+ daily active users, traffic shifted almost entirely from external sites to NewsSearch, and $1.2M in projected first-year savings.
My role: Lead Designer, Product Strategist and UX Researcher, Mar to May 2023.
Where this fits
NewsSearch became one of the tools in NBC News's Newsroom Computer System, connected to the global Media Asset Management portal (MAM). Unlike the other tools, it didn't replace a legacy system. It filled a gap that had never been designed for.
The problem: paying twice for the same picture
Images for NBC News came from three places: Getty, AP and NBCU's own internal portal. Each had its own search, its own purchase flow and no connection to the others.
That created three costly gaps:
- No visibility into past purchases. An employee had no way to know a colleague had already licensed an image, so the company bought the same asset multiple times.
- Scattered search. Finding the right image meant searching three sites and comparing by hand.
- Hard to share. Getting an image to teammates or into the global Media Asset Management portal took extra steps outside any single tool.
The cost was measurable. Counting redundant purchases across these platforms showed how much money was going to images NBC News already owned.
Research: how newsrooms really find images
I studied how users acquired images from outside sources, which search filters and facets they relied on, and how they purchased and managed assets afterward.
What I learned shaped three principles:
- Keep the search people already know. Users had working mental models from Getty and AP, so NewsSearch kept familiar filters and facets.
- Show ownership before purchase. The moment of decision is when someone is about to buy, so that's where they need to see an asset is already licensed.
- Make sharing part of the flow, not a separate task.
Building 0-to-1 in three months
There was no legacy tool to redesign. NewsSearch started from a blank page, as a fast-tracked MVP run in agile sprints.
Leadership wanted it in production in one month. With the Lead Engineer, I made the case for one month of design and two for development, testing and legal, and backed it with a concrete roadmap, minimum requirements and a plan for fitting NewsSearch into the existing ecosystem.
Key product decisions
1. "Free to download" license tags
Decision: Tag every image the company already owns with a clear label: "image is free to download." Each license shows its terms, either a shared-use window (2–4 weeks) or a set number of uses (e.g. 10).
Why: Duplicate purchases happened because nobody could see what was already licensed at the moment they were about to buy.
Result: Users see ownership before they pay. This is the decision behind the $1.2M in projected savings.
2. One search across three sources
Decision: Search Getty, AP and NBCU's internal portal from one place, with advanced filtering and a view toggle to browse by images, metadata or description.
Why: Users searched three sites separately and compared results by hand. Research showed they relied on familiar facets and filters.
Result: Search consolidated into one central place, and traffic shifted almost entirely from external sites to NewsSearch.
3. AI-powered recommendations
Decision: An AI layer that recommends images that were recently purchased, popular right now, or relevant to a keyword search or the user's profile.
Why: Surfacing what the company already owns makes the cheapest option the easiest one.
Result: Owned and trending assets show up first, steering users toward images they don't need to buy again.
4. Boards
Decision: Pinterest-style Boards for saving, collecting and organizing images before purchase.
Why: Users gathered options across many searches with no place to keep them.
Result: One place to build collections and share them with teammates.
5. Flexible checkout to the MAM
Decision: A simplified checkout, modeled on familiar AP and Getty flows, that lets users download directly, send to the global Media Asset Management portal, or add to a Board.
Why: Sharing and filing an image took extra steps outside any single tool.
Result: Purchasing, sharing and filing happen in one flow.
Challenges and how I overcame them
A one-month deadline and no roadmap
The tension: SVP leadership wanted a production MVP in one month, without a clear direction or roadmap. The timeline was too short for everyone involved, and shipping something rushed would have put legal review and ecosystem integration at risk.
What I did: I partnered with the Lead Engineer to replace the deadline with a plan. We drafted concrete timelines, a clear roadmap, minimum requirements and a strategy for integrating NewsSearch into the ecosystem, and made the case for one month of design and two for development, testing and legal.
The result: Leadership agreed to the three-month plan, and NewsSearch launched on schedule with 300+ daily active users.
Big picture impact
NewsSearch was projected to save $1.2M in its first year, and users moved to it almost entirely from external sites.
$1.2M projected savings
First-year savings, based on redundant purchases identified across AP, Getty and other image sources
300+ daily active users
Daily users after launch
3 sources → 1 platform
Getty, AP and NBCU's internal portal, searchable in one place
3-month MVP
From blank page to launch, Mar to May 2023
Beyond the numbers
"Being able to see which images have already been purchased is a huge help; it keeps me from wasting my budget on duplicates."
- Traffic came home. Image search shifted almost completely from external websites to NewsSearch.
- Ownership became visible. Licensed images are clearly marked as free to use, within their terms.
Reflection
The lesson: on a 0-to-1 project, a realistic plan is a design deliverable. The roadmap we wrote with engineering mattered as much as any screen.
What I'd do differently: partner with engineering to integrate financial analytics to track actual redundant purchases after launch, to turn the projected $1.2M into a measured number.
What I'd build next: design an alert system when a license is about to expire to encourage teams to reuse images within their window.
