Comcast · EveryBlock · 2014–2015
Every
Block.
Your neighborhood,
your neighbors,
your news.
your neighbors,
your news.
EveryBlock was built to help you find out what's happening around you. But what if no one uses it?
EveryBlock, a product of Comcast, is a hyper-local source of neighborhood information — local news, events, crime reports, and a platform for neighbor-to-neighbor discussion. Available on web, mobile, and as a daily email digest.
A metro-to-metro product operating in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Boston and Denver, EveryBlock had been wildly successful in Chicago where it launched. But the newer metros were not gaining traction. Neighbors weren't communicating, people weren't posting content — it was ultimately a feed of news with a sprinkling of human interaction.
I was brought in to breathe life into the system: audit the experience, define the user, and redesign from the ground up.
How could we get people to sign up, see the value, and go beyond just a news feed?
Step 1 — Current State Audit
Step 2 — User Types & Actions
Used the site and app extensively. Collected user feedback and documented every friction point in the current web and mobile experience. Built a full recommendation document for the team.
Mapped out distinct user behaviors: the casual reader, the chatty neighbor, the publisher, and the local business owner. Each had radically different needs and motivations.
Integrated new functionality into the existing site while future-proofing for the redesign — so that items designed today would slot seamlessly into the new system.
Developed new interface designs, a visual style guide, and a refined brand direction — introducing warmth, color, community iconography and a layered visual system.
The drop-off from landing page was high. My recommendation: offer users access to the system so they can see it, see the value of it, and get comfortable with the brand. Remove that roadblock and let the people in — then separate sign-up from profile building and onboarding.
Step 3: Restructured user flow separating entry point from sign-up from onboarding
Five strategic moves to transform EveryBlock from a passive news feed into an active neighborhood platform — each grounded in user behavior, not assumption.
People do not want to sift through every post to find what is relevant to them. What if a user could select their interests? We were already categorizing incoming content — so why not tag it with a predetermined set of topics? Community News, Local Chatter, Events, Public Data, Alerts — five clear channels replacing 20+ opaque categories.
In an age where everything requires an email address, people are hesitant to sign up for something they can't yet see. Let them in first. Offer a guest-access view of the neighborhood feed, then invite the sign-up once they've experienced the value. Separate enrollment from profile-building entirely.
Not everyone wants to post. From a usability standpoint, users had very little to do on EveryBlock other than read and post. Introducing reactions, quick-follows, and one-tap responses creates pathways for the modest user to participate without commitment. Every nudge toward engagement compounds.
Users on EveryBlock are technically neighbors. The current profile offered minimal information, and user-to-user actions were binary: message or block — two extreme moves. We rebuilt profiles to showcase activity, allow following, and let users discover who lives around them — making the platform feel like a community rather than a comment section.
If users can connect to neighbors, why not content sources and local businesses too? We proposed profile pages for publishers and businesses — allowing users to follow, recommend, and engage with the local ecosystem. Businesses have great local content; give them the platform to share it.
20+ content types simplified into 5 clear channelsKey insight
Redesigned profile — from minimal to meaningful ⚑ Low-res — replace with hi-res asset
2.0 — Home + Map View + Business Profile
2.0 — "Less feed, more function"
"Less feed, more function."
Step 4 — Style guide: assets, reactions, map markers, color system and brand inspiration
In a large corporation like Comcast, the expectation is speed. I learned to adjust my process — accomplishing smaller things more quickly without sacrificing quality. I broke work into shippable moments while the larger redesign was underway, making every intermediate step count.
Designing functional updates to the current interface while the full redesign was in progress forced a discipline of future-planning. Every decision made for today had to integrate seamlessly into tomorrow. No throwaway work — everything needed to be an easy lift forward.
Working with a remote international team — Australia, Chicago, Portland, Philadelphia — meant that every design decision had to communicate clearly without a shared whiteboard. These weren't typical developers; they were complex Django engineers whose database schemas didn't speak the same language as my usability ideals. That gap became a creative constraint.
The redesigned home — map + filtered feed + new navigation system ⚑ Low-res — replace with hi-res asset