Brand identity & site design
AIRBNB NEWS IS THE HUB FOR ALL THINGS AIRBNB, INCLUDING PRODUCT LAUNCHES, COMPANY UPDATES, AND BRANDED CONTENT.
In 2016, Airbnb’s founders handed us the keys to a rarely-used, single-page blog called the Airbnb Newsroom. Over the course of five years, we transformed it into Airbnb News, a singular destination where both press and customers could easily access all the latest company announcements, product launch info, and branded content.
From a core group of three team members in San Francisco, we grew Airbnb News to dozens of folks in offices around the world, localized the site for 16 different regions and languages, and increased our monthly visitor count from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands.
Role
Creative direction
Design
Producing
We crafted our design system to be cohesive with the larger Airbnb brand but flexible enough to accommodate all types of editorial content, including photo, video, long-form copy, product screenshots, illustrations, and data visualization. Our challenge was creating a site for two audiences, primarily press seeking quick company updates, but we still wanted it to appeal to the general public. So we bundled stories in a compelling way for both groups, with branded content for everyday users (like a collab with Bobby Berk on design tips) and functionality streamlined for journalists (like sorting articles by category or linking a full press kit package at the end of each article).
Building the back end was equally challenging. We developed and operated the site on Wordpress, but our primary users were PR folks with minimal design experience. To ensure a consistent, high-quality aesthetic, we developed a variety of story templates that gave our team the freedom to plug in content like photos, videos, slideshows, or even interactive infographics, without lifting a finger to design layouts.
Eventually, we ran Airbnb News like a well-oiled machine — so much so, that our design system was formalized as its own set of brand guidelines, and we could expand our framework to 16 other locales. Each regional Airbnb News site now operates independently with their own dedicated newsroom team who creates content tailored to their specific markets.
