Yuri Victor is Making Things.
Who:The Onion Role: Technology lead
Remaking America’s finest news source
In just over 50 days, I relaunched The Onion’s newspaper and website. Working with MG Strategy and Design, we modernized its digital infrastructure by migrating 30 years of legacy content to WordPress and implemented a more intuitive and engaging user experience. We also developed a new solution to increase reader benefits and set up a successful membership program.
Who: Vox.com Role: Co-founder
Launching a journalism startup with friends
As part of the digital leadership team at The Washington Post, we had an idea for a new platform that leveraged design and technology to prioritize depth and context in storytelling. We left and in nine weeks we launched Vox.com. I helped pioneer now-commonplace visual formats like cards, explainers, and long-form storytelling, contributed to the development of a journalism-led CMS, and helped grow Vox.com from a startup to the largest national politics site in one year.
» Read about our sprint to launch
» Visit the current Vox.com
Who: The New York Times Role: Design engineer
Addressing Covid questions with AI
As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, The New York Times faced an influx of reader questions with no way to triage. I worked on a holisitic solution, building an internal AI-powered interface for journalists to cluster inquiries, and a searchable database on The New York Times website, allowing readers to ask questions and find answers. The tool helped millions of readers, and now, dubbed Switchboard, is being used to answer election questions.
» Explore the AI-powered Covid Q&A feature
» Read more about the project
Who: USA Today Network Role: Lead Designer
Unifying local news sites with a flexible design system
As lead designer for USA Today Network, I spearheaded a multi-year initiative to create a cohesive design system for hundreds of broadcast, radio, and newspaper websites. The challenge was to standardize components to improve user experience while preserving the unique identities of the communities they served, balancing brand consistency with local flavor, and optimizing for completely different content types.
Who: The Verge Role: Design engineer
Crafting a quirky bot with The Verge for CES
For Circuit Breaker’s debut, I built an AI chatbot that turned the concept of utility on its head. In a landscape saturated with underwhelming chat bots, we embraced the absurd. The result was a bot of marginal utility, packed with easter eggs, and an intentional failure rate. The approach led to unexpected, and hilarious conversations that went viral across the internet.
Who: New York Times Magazine Role: Design engineer
Bringing print to life with image recognition
Working with The New York Times Magazine, I developed a content management system that streamlined production of Google Lens experiences. The project allowed readers to interact with the magazine using their phones, share an article, access aditional content, or see a subject jump off the page through additional multimedia.
“It’s a joke at Vox that Yuri can make you anything in 10 min. Today he made me a new tool in 7 min & I hadn’t even asked yet.” — Allison Rockey
About me
Over the past 20 years as a designer, engineer, and journalist, I’ve created dozens of ground-breaking products including a top CMS in media, AI tools called “the future of news,” and Vox.com. Recently, I relaunched The Onion, built tools to assist readers and journalists at The New York Times, and led a cross-functional team at The Atlantic. I also serve on the board for SND Foundation, teaching the next generation of designers.
Elsewhere
Experimenting with universities in AR
Ezra Klein and I discuss Vox.com one year later
Focus on communication, collaboration, and caring
Why The Washington Post uses WordPress