Delivering value under constraints through the Minimum Desirable Experience (MDE)
We have detailed how the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework helped us move beyond general audience demographics to precisely identify core, recurring problems that people need an information service to solve for them.
This deep understanding of people’s needs and what outcomes they seek leads to defining your newsroom’s value proposition. However, identifying the core value is only the first step.
The next challenge is translating that value into a concrete product experience that is simultaneously effective, sustainable, and safe, particularly when operating under limitations such as remote access, restricted digital infrastructure, and security risks.
Drawing on Corey Ford’s teaching on desirability, we adapted the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to define a Minimum Desirable Experience (MDE). The MDE is the smallest possible product or service experience that effectively solves a real user problem in a satisfying way. It moves beyond the bare functionality of an MVP, which simply proves a concept, to emphasize user value and delight.
Jump: WHAT is an MDE | HOW to design for recurring needs | HOW to get to your MDE | WHAT we learned
What is a Minimum Desirable Experience (MDE)?
A desirable experience means the product resonates with users emotionally and practically; it is not just technically functional but convenient, trustworthy, and engaging enough that users want to use it repeatedly.
If people cannot easily access or understand the information (even if it is theoretically available) it is not desirable.
The MDE ensures that the simplest implementation still provides a positive user experience from the start.
For an information service, the MDE could be a very small-scale or low-tech tool that fits seamlessly into people’s lives and habits. The "experience" might be a daily text bulletin, a weekly printed flyer, a chat application message, or an informal word-of-mouth network.
The format is secondary to whether it reliably reaches people and they welcome it.
It is key that the MDE is a solution shaped around people’s circumstances, meeting them where they are in terms of both platform and context.
Designing for recurring community needs under constraints
The process of defining the MDE is governed by two core factors: the recurring nature of people’s information needs and the constraints of the operating environment.
Grounding the MDE in people’s reality increases likelihood of uptake and repeat usage
Designing for a geographically and socioeconomically bounded group of people requires rooting the product in their reality. The information utility should be informed by your process of researching your intended audience, your data gathering and analysis, and your identification of what Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) your news product will fulfill.
The JTBD framework sharpens our value proposition into a clear, actionable problem statement, ensuring the news product focuses strictly on this need to remain minimal yet valuable.
In one experiment to serve the information needs of a hard-to-reach population, we defined our value proposition as providing verified wage comparisons across districts, transparency about benefits and working conditions, and connections to peers who have worked in the same industry.
Our format choice centered on producing short-form animated video content distributed via existing social media platforms.
This channel leverages algorithmic distribution for reach, uses a highly-adopted format for engagement, and allows for the core product (job intelligence) to be packaged in an approachable, non-authoritative manner that resonates with people.
For technical production, we chose an AI video platform for practical reasons:
- Efficiency: We didn’t need a studio, actors, or a production crew.
- Anonymity: We kept ourselves anonymous. A fictional AI avatar protects our researchers and sources. The characters are also designed to be generic to avoid any unwanted attention.
- Easily replicable: After we have a script and an avatar, we can generate a new video in minutes to cover new data trends.
We are intentionally not sharing details about the project itself, because in the kinds of environments we work in that can create avoidable risk for participants and partners.
The product thinking, however, is portable: any team trying to deliver user value under constraint can apply the same MDE logic.
This also requires understanding how people currently receive and share information. We can bring in the insights we gained from both the audience research stage, in which we understand how different kinds of people seek and encounter information, and the research stage in which we created an information source map.
By applying these findings specifically to the reality of the people we are intending to reach, we can map the communication ecosystem of how people receive and share information.
To do this, we can again rely on remote research methods such as interviewing people and analyzing media reports. The goal is for our news product to leverage familiar channels rather than introducing entirely new information behaviors.
For example, if people trust information passed through local figures on video platforms, the MDE could attempt to use that human infrastructure.
In addition, our news product should be designed for recurring engagement. Because people’s core information need is ongoing, the experience must be consistent, dependable, and easy to integrate into their daily routines. This affects format (such as a short, daily update) and tone (such as friendly and familiar).
Achieving desirability is paramount for repeat usage. If the experience is new or burdensome, people may not stick with it, or share it.
Filtering by constraints and safety helps prioritize trust building
When working in distorted information environments, designing news products requires baking trust mechanisms into the product design. These trust mechanisms take into account the remote nature of the operation, including technological barriers and security concerns.
For us, the specific environment introduced three major constraints that governed our design choices: remote development, limited access infrastructure, and heightened security concerns.
Because we do not have direct contact with our intended audience, our process was one of remote development. Operating without direct in-person contact means relying on online interviews, working with intermediaries, and analyzing secondary data. Prototyping and testing can be conducted by proxy, such as sending materials to a contact on the ground to distribute.
This constraint necessitates extreme clarity in documentation and a reliance on indirect user feedback signals.
We chose the format of short videos generated through AI because of the restrictive environment in which our intended audience lives. We designed relatable, animated characters with local accents, and had them act out conversations about jobs, benefits, and working conditions.
This matters because “AI video” is no longer automatically perceived as low-effort slop. When it is grounded in real utility, and speaks in the vernacular of the community, it can feel like a native part of the discourse rather than an external broadcast.
The difference is not the tool; it is whether the video earns attention by being relevant, timely, and practically helpful.
Building audience trust was important to us. In our audience research phase, we learned that our intended audience may be skeptical of traditional media, or sources unfamiliar to them.
By starting with data and building a narrative around it, we are not just telling a story; we are providing verifiable, evidence-based service journalism designed to build audience trust.
Our videos are also more likely to bypass censorship. A simple video about a fictional character's financial journey is much less likely to be censored than a direct, critical report on economic conditions. The message is embedded in a story that is both useful and innocuous on the surface.
Assuming low internet penetration or low literacy rates means the MDE can be low-tech or offline-first by design. Limited access and technology mean that the solution needs to accommodate the lowest common denominator of technologically available infrastructure, favoring simplicity and asynchronous formats like SMS or audio messages that can wait on the phone until a user has network.
For our projects, our focus was on piggybacking on existing infrastructure (e.g., a widely-used chat app) rather than inventing new delivery mechanisms of our own.
Security and privacy concerns are of utmost importance when operating in an environment with surveillance and repression. This requires a "do no harm" mindset. For our project, this led us to prioritize:
- Anonymity and discretion: Favoring one-way broadcast formats (like a printed sheet or secure channel messages) over interactive apps that collect user identities. The format must be low-profile and under the surveillance radar.
- Data minimization: Collecting as little personal data as possible to avoid creating records that could endanger participants, and relying on aggregate feedback instead of names or logins.
- Operational security: Using secure communications for the team, avoiding publicizing the project, and, if deemed necessary, masking the source to avoid suspicion.
In other words, “minimum” and “desirable” also mean not reinventing the wheel of information and communication infrastructure, and keeping in mind the constraints of access and security.
Moving from a recognized need to a testable MDE
Here are the steps we followed to arrive at our MDE for our news product.
Reconfirm the information utility and audience
Sharpen the recurring problem into a clear statement, define the value proposition, and identify the primary users (their JTBD), which sets the strict scope of the content.
Map the communication ecosystem
Gather insights on how people currently share and receive information, and identify the optimal mediums for reaching them safely and relying on familiar social patterns.
Ideate potential delivery experiences
Brainstorm a broad list of concepts—from daily text messages and recorded hotlines to printed flyers and asynchronous audio files—evaluating each for its reliability, fit into user habits, and perceived trustworthiness.
Evaluate constraints and choose a format
Filter the list against the constraints of feasibility (remote operation, resource needs) and safety (minimizing risk in the security context). Choose an approach that is the simplest, most accessible option capable of delivering the core information effectively, balancing minimum complexity with desirability.
Define the core experience and content
Sketch the simplest user journey by defining the content scope (strictly focused on the identified needs), frequency and timing (scheduled to match urgency and convenience), format details (e.g., video length, captions, language), tone and design (user-friendly and culturally appropriate), and the necessary call to action or interactivity (perhaps kept one-way for safety).
Prototype the experience
Run a minimum pilot or simulation to quickly validate the concept without building the complete infrastructure. This may involve using existing tools (e.g., using a personal phone for simple texting, or existing video tools to create content) to mimic the experience on a small scale. The validation goal is simple: confirm the core content and delivery method resonate with users before scaling.
Test for value and gather feedback
Assess if the MDE is truly desirable and effective using low-risk proxies, since hard data might be sparse or unsafe to track:
- Observe engagement: Measure lightweight interactions like repeat usage rate and word-of-mouth referrals (e.g., new users joining because they heard about it). High retention indicates the experience is valuable enough that users do not drop off.
- Fill the information gap: Check for signs of knowledge gain or behavior change (e.g., users citing our information on other platforms). Demand for more related content signals trust.
- Safely measure technical metrics: Track things like delivery success rates or the number of times a clip was played (without compromising user privacy).
Iterate and refine the MDE
Using feedback from the pilot, tweak the content or format in small ways—adjusting timing, improving clarity, or slightly expanding content—while rigorously maintaining the "minimum" ethos. The process remains iterative: if the initial approach was unsuccessful (e.g., the chosen channel was inaccessible), pivot to another idea from steps 2 and 3. Scaling occurs gradually, continually informed by feedback to ensure the positive experience is maintained.
What we learned
By following this integrated, audience-centric approach, we ensure that our initial information product is built on a foundation of genuine user value and trust, and delivered in the safest and most efficient format possible. The result is a Minimum Desirable Experience that serves a community need effectively and establishes a blueprint for future, resilient growth.
The process of defining an MDE closes the loop between abstract audience data and concrete product decisions. We learned that desirability is the bridge between a user’s problem and your solution. If the experience feels burdensome or risky, the value of the information becomes irrelevant. An MDE is not about offering the least amount of product, but the least amount of friction.
Our journey to define the MDE revealed that you do not need to build new infrastructure to deliver a new product. In fact, piggybacking on existing behaviors—like watching short videos or sharing chat messages—is often the only way to penetrate a distorted information environment.
"Desirability" in this context isn't about sleek interfaces; it is about trust, safety, and reliability. A low-tech video delivered via a familiar chat app is infinitely more desirable than a high-tech secure app that requires a steep learning curve. The constraints of remote access and security risks did not limit our creativity; rather, they disciplined us to strip away the non-essential, leaving only the core value that creates a habit.
Next, we will explore how the Acts of Journalism framework by the J+D Lab, updated in December 2025, offers a robust lens for media operating in exile to transcend traditional broadcasting models, transforming "products" into essential nodes that enable community action, from documenting systemic issues to facilitating mobilization.
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