Problem Statement
Medium has a lot of great content, but readers often see the same types of stories in their feed. It’s hard to discover new and interesting topics without searching manually. This makes the experience feel repetitive and less exciting over time.
How might we make it easier for readers to explore fresh, relevant content in a way that feels simple, personalized, and engaging?
Which results to
When users can’t discover fresh, relevant content easily, it leads to a decline in engagement and retention. Here’s what that might look like:
Lower Session Duration
6.2min
→
3.9min
Avg. session time
Readers skim instead of reading deeply due to repetitive content
Saved Story Revisit Rate
~12%
saved articles are ever revisited
Saved section becomes a dead-end instead of a re-engagement opportunity
Reduced Content Exploration
~9%
of readers use topic filters or search regularly
~70% of articles read come from the homepage or algorithmic feed
Why it matters?
These numbers point to a critical gap between content availability and content accessibility. By making discovery more intuitive and diverse, we can potentially:
• Improve session time and article completion rate
• Encourage more frequent visits
• Increase value perception of Medium membership
Ask users
The first step I took after understanding the problem was to talk to users. I reached out to three friends who are avid Medium readers.
Rhea
31, Product Manager
Reads Medium daily during her commute
Arjun
22, Student, B.Tech
Reads 3–4 times a week, especially late at night
Raj
28, Lead Product Designer
Reads in the morning and writes sometimes
And a set of focused questions to guide our conversation
Why do you use Medium? What are you hoping to get out of it?
What kinds of content do you usually read?
Do you feel that Medium shows you the right kind of content?
How easy or hard is it for you to discover new topics or writers?
Do you often feel like you're seeing the same types of stories repeatedly?
Do you use the search bar or topic filters? Why or why not?
How often do you save stories to read later? Do you come back to them?
What makes you click on a story? Headline, topic, writer?
Have you found any personal hacks to discover new content (e.g., newsletters, Twitter links)?
Have you ever stopped using Medium for a while? What caused that?
If you could change one thing about Medium’s reading experience, what would it be?
What would make you read on Medium more often?
Based on the responses, I gathered key insights:
Other Findings
4
There's no clear way for readers to track how much of the story remains.
Design opportunity
Opportunity
What is it?
Create a separate “Trending” tab
Curated for new writers and trending topics
Introduce a visual, interactive topic grid
Lets users explore topics (e.g., Design UX, Figma Tips, Design System) along with story counts
Add smart filters to the homepage and explore page
Filters:
Moods (Inspiring, Thought-provoking, Practical)
Time (Week, Month, Year, All Time)
Let users train the algorithm subtly
Easily Add/remove interest tags from home page’s tab
Add a “Fresh Voices” tag to new trending authors
Introduce a 'Fresh Voices' tag for newly trending authors to highlight emerging perspectives for readers.
Suggest relevant stories
At 70% scroll, recommend related stories to keep readers engaged.
Reading status
A minimal bottom bar to track reading completion.
Your Saved Reads, Ready When You Are
A gentle email nudge like: “You saved 3 design articles — feel like diving into one today?”
A simple reminder to help users revisit what caught their interest.
Proposed Solution
Topic grids for quick access to relevant topics for users
Introduced a refined tab layout featuring filters and a curated trending tab.
New Tag ‘Fresh Voices’ to let user expect fresh perspective from new emerging authors
Easily remove the Interest tab from your homepage.
Added a minimal bottom bar to track reading progress, and introduced smart story recommendations at 70–80% scroll to keep readers engaged.
A gentle nudge via mail, to help users to revisit their saved stories.
Closing Statement
Medium has tons of great content, but it’s not always easy to find stories that match your mood or interests. This small project gave me a chance to dive back into the research side of design — and honestly, reminded me why I love doing this in the first place.
The goal was simple: help readers explore more, stay longer, and enjoy Medium a little more — without losing its clean, minimal feel.