Wikipedia Redesign

A quick redesign of Wikipedia’s mobile experience, tailored to Gen Z’s expectations around tone, control, and usability.

Role

UX/UI Design

Project Overview

Final Design at a Glance

The final design introduces a personalized card-based layout, an academic mode toggle, and cleaner mobile navigation, giving Gen Z users more control, easier scanning, and a tone that feels more relevant and intentional.

Design Goal

How can Wikipedia evolve to meet Gen Z’s expectations as digital natives?

Designing for Gen Z

Gen Z is now the largest group of digital consumers. To stay relevant, products need to adapt to how they browse, interact, and engage with content on their own terms.

Gen Z and Their Relationship with Technology

Digital natives, expecting intuitive, seamless experiences
Short attention span (8 seconds), using multiple apps at once
Prefer bite-sized, visual content like videos, gifs, and quizzes
Value diversity, authenticity, and individuality, with customized experiences
Social, prefer shareable content to express opinions
Seek reliable, straightforward digital products

Keeping this in mind...

How could Wikipedia appeal to Gen Z?

Fast source of information of all kinds
Anyone can be a content creator
Democratization of knowledge

User Feedback Highlights

I spoke with a few Gen Z users (ages 18-22) to better understand how they use Wikipedia, and what keeps them from engaging with it.

Search behavior

Users typically don’t start their search from the Wikipedia homepage. They often find what they need through search engines like Google, landing directly on article pages, which may limit Wikipedia’s visibility.

Range of searches

Users search for a wide variety of topics, from academic assignments and historical events to celebrities and popular culture. Wikipedia serves as a go-to for different kinds of information.

Reading habits

Many users only skim the first paragraph of an article. This suggests that they often want quick answers and may not engage deeply with the full content.

Lack of engagement

Users feel that Wikipedia lacks excitement and visual stimulation. They prefer platforms with more dynamic content, such as videos or interactive elements, to keep them engaged.

Concerns about reliability

Users are wary of using Wikipedia for academic purposes, as anyone can edit the content. They often seek additional sources or prefer more authoritative platforms for assignments.

Preference for other platforms

For everyday queries or more interactive needs, users turn to platforms like YouTube. Wikipedia is seen as less fun and not up-to-date enough for casual browsing or practical tutorials.

Defining the Problem

Based on this information, the following scenarios could be relevant:

Our users want fast, reliable, digestible information for school assignments, before they search more academic resources.

Our users want to search for topics that interest them in a fun, customizable way, and quickly find content that's relevant to them.

Understanding the Existing Experience

Both the mobile site and app follow a similar structure, but the native app uses a bottom-left menu that feels disconnected from the content. The mobile version presents the article in sections but lacks clear entry points and interaction flexibility, especially for casual, non-linear browsing.

Based on this analysis, I focused the redesign on the mobile article page, where most Gen Z users begin and end their interaction with Wikipedia.

From Insights to Interaction Concepts

To create a more engaging experience for Gen Z, I focused on:

Refreshing the visual language to feel lighter and more interactive
Customizing the article view with removable sections
Adding an academic/fun toggle for different reading goals
Reorganizing content into scannable, bite-sized blocks
Highlighting videos and sources to support different levels of depth

Design Highlights

The following moments highlight how the design adapts to Gen Z expectations around control, customization, and clarity.

To make each article feel more relevant and immersive, Wikipedia’s branding tone subtly adapts: in this case, the green logo and themed visuals reinforce the climate topic while maintaining the product’s core structure and consistency.

Learnings & Next Steps

User Behavior is Unpredictable

Gen Z tends to skip long content, preferring quick, digestible information. This challenged my assumptions about how users engage with articles.

Adapting to User Needs

learned that Gen Z values flexibility. By offering options to skip or adjust content, I saw how giving users a sense of control leads to a more engaging experience.

Mobile-first

Designing for mobile isn’t optional: it’s essential. I focused on responsiveness and performance to keep Gen Z engaged, as they spend most of their time on mobile devices.

Next Steps

I would refine the design through user testing, expand personalization based on user behavior, enhance visual content for better engagement, and develop the academic mode into a more focused reading experience.