Quick Posts Editor

Overview

Between 2022–2023, The Verge introduced Quick Posts, a lightweight publishing workflow designed to empower editors to post timely commentary, embeds, and updates with minimal friction. This tool complemented The Verge’s redesign by enabling fast, blog-style publishing that maintained brand consistency while increasing editorial velocity.

Problem

Traditional CMS workflows were too heavy and complex for short, timely posts. Editors wanted to “tweet on their own site” but legacy technology limited agility and slowed down the publishing process. The existing system was not optimized for rapid, informal content that still needed to align with The Verge’s editorial standards.

Product Approach

Quick Posts was scoped as a dedicated entry type with a new Vue-based editor featuring a lightweight field set and simplified schema. The design focused on editorial ergonomics, allowing editors to compose and publish quickly without sacrificing brand voice or consistency. Instrumentation was built in to track usage and surface metrics for continuous improvement.

Designing the Experience

Key principles shaped the Quick Posts editor and workflow:

• Speed – Minimize steps and fields to enable rapid composition and publishing.
• Clarity – Simple, focused UI that reduces cognitive load for editors.
• Editor Autonomy – Flexible controls that empower editors to craft short-form content independently.
• Brand Consistency – Templates and constraints to ensure posts align with The Verge’s style.
• Minimal Friction – Seamless integration with existing CMS and tooling to avoid disruption.

My Role

• Led product design from discovery through rollout, collaborating closely with editorial leadership.
• Conducted research on editorial workflows and pain points to inform feature prioritization.
• Mapped quick-entry UX flows and designed a simplified content schema.
• Created interactive prototypes and iterated based on user feedback.
• Partnered with engineers on front-end implementation and integration.
• Defined success metrics and instrumented analytics to measure adoption and impact.

Impact

• Enabled faster publishing cadence, allowing editors to respond to news and trends in near real-time.
• Achieved strong adoption across multiple desks, increasing short-form content output.
• Supported The Verge’s modernization goals by reducing reliance on legacy CMS features.
• Decreased technical debt through a focused, modular editor design that could evolve independently.

How Quick Posts differ from articles

• Fewer fields and simpler metadata schema.
• Streamlined editor UI focused on essential inputs.
• Faster publish path with fewer review steps.
• Designed for short-form, timely content rather than long-form features.