Irina Altuna — Senior Product Designer

Informed

Designing a calm, editorial news experience

Informed is a curated news platform designed to help people stay informed without feeling overwhelmed. The product brings together high-quality journalism and editorial context into a calm, accessible reading experience.

I joined Informed as the first Product Designer, working closely with the founding team, the Head of Design, and engineering. My role involved shaping the product experience from the ground up — from early MVP exploration to a more refined, editorial product across mobile and responsive web — while also participating in the evolution of the brand.

Role

Senior Product Designer

Role

Senior Product Designer

Role

Senior Product Designer

Team

CEO, Head of Design, Engineering

Team

CEO, Head of Design, Engineering

Team

CEO, Head of Design, Engineering

Platforms

Mobile & Responsive Web

Platforms

Mobile & Responsive Web

Platforms

Mobile & Responsive Web

Tools

Figma, Linear & Slack

Tools

Figma, Linear & Slack

Tools

Figma, Linear & Slack

Overview

Challenge

News products often prioritize volume over clarity. Early versions of Informed reflected this challenge: the experience was functional, but the brand and interface didn’t yet communicate trust, calm, or editorial intention.

Key challenges included:

Content overload and weak hierarchy
Limited brand expression within the UI
Lack of editorial context for articles
An early visual system that didn’t scale well

Our goal was to create an experience that felt focused, human, and trustworthy, while laying the foundation for future growth.

Role

As the Senior Product Designer, I worked across experience design and visual execution, collaborating closely with the Head of Design during the product’s evolution.

My responsibilities included:

Defining core user flows and information architecture
Designing and iterating on the MVP interface
Participating in the evolution of the product’s visual and editorial brand
Creating a scalable design system
Ensuring accessibility and responsiveness across platforms

Design Principles

To align product and brand decisions, we worked from a shared set of principles:

Clarity over quantity — reduce noise and cognitive load
Editorial value — context is as important as content
Calm reading — typography and spacing support focus
Consistency — one system across product surfaces

These principles guided both UX decisions and brand evolution, enabling us to transition from a purely functional interface to a more editorial experience.

Brand Evolution

From Functional MVP to Editorial Product

As Informed matured, we recognized that the visual language needed to better reflect the product’s values. I participated in the brand evolution by translating editorial intent into tangible UI decisions — ensuring the brand was felt through layout, typography, and interaction.

We worked with A Color Bright on a brand redesign and aligned our visual identity with our new strategy and audience. The new branding showed the perfect symbiosis of known editorial principles and a contemporary digital spin on news consumption. It transformed our B2C app into a beloved platform, boosting brand recognition and customer engagement.

Before

The early brand and UI focused on utility, but lacked a strong editorial identity.

Generic typography
Dense layouts
Limited visual hierarchy

After

The evolved brand emphasizes calm, trust, and editorial clarity.

Strong typographic hierarchy
Purposeful spacing and rhythm
A restrained, confident color palette
Components designed around reading behavior

Designing the Reading Experience

Editorial Notes

One of the core features of Informed is the editorial note, which adds context and meaning to each article. This element helps users understand why a story matters before committing time to read it.

Curated Reading Flow

Rather than infinite scrolling, content is intentionally grouped and paced. Clear hierarchy and whitespace guide the reader through the experience without pressure.

Design System

To support consistency and scalability, I helped define a design system that aligned closely with the evolved brand.

The system includes:

Typography optimized for long-form reading
Color tokens for light and dark modes
Reusable editorial and UI components
Layout and spacing rules

This system enabled faster iteration and smoother collaboration with engineering.

Responsive Web Experience

I adapted mobile patterns to web while maintaining the editorial tone and reading comfort of the product. The experience was designed to feel cohesive across devices, not like a separate product.