It's my understanding that drug users sometimes have flashbacks that cause them to hallucinate and do unexplainable, unimaginable things. So when a friend told me to go see the new Technorati website and it finished loading, the first thing that came to mind was that drug users with a Jolly Rancher fetish are now in control of the bus.
Technorati is a blog discussion search/indexing engine, or that's what I had been made to believe. This new magically-delicious site would have me believe it's the next social app of the future...future...future...future. I kept looking for a way to "Digg" blogs and blog posts but found nothing. I'm guessing that by the time the redesign project got to that phase it was time for the munchies. I could be way off here and this is merely an homage to early Web 2.0 design circa early 2005 — an inside-joke or way to get free publicity with headlines like: "What hath Technorati become?" or "MyYahoorati?".
I don't see any real additional functionality that would warrant this work, it's just a white-trash skin job that brings blog avatars front and center in an application where having avatars don't really make sense in the first place. In a world that could use a better blog topic search engine, Technorati would be better suited to allocate it's time and energy on that key service rather than try to be something it's not.
There was nothing wrong with Powazek's design. It was unique to the brand where this new design does nothing to make the site stand out from the plethora of Web 2.dough crap out there. Then again, I'm reminded of that bizwhiz formerly from Seattle who preaches that bad design sells. I'm not up for drinking that Kool-Aid just yet but it would seem that David Sifry slammed the Dixie cup and donned the purple jumpsuit.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
From here on out, Technorati design versions shall be called "Flavors." Current flavor: "Granny Smith."
Running a company I'd focus on my core competency. For Technorati that's indexing feeds. As a feed consumer, I want Technorati to allow me to monitor keywords and phrases. Do that and you have a killer application.
Technorati, I am going to guess, isn't indexing half of the the feeds pinging Technorati. I am saying that based on the failure of many of our clients blogs not getting indexed despite regular pinging of Technorati and regularly hearing that so and so wrote about me when I had not seen it on my feeds from Technorati.
If I'm a Technorati VC, I'm looking at core competency. What makes Technorati tough to beat? What makes our valuation high? And what makes us an attractive buy if we so choose? All of that stems from a quality product effectively indexing and delivering feeds.
Technorati leads with a 'hip design' at a time when they are failing in their core competency. Misguided.
I can't speak to the overall functionality, but for my own personal needs (which concerning Technorati, isn't much) it works. I get what I need, and selfishly, that's all I care about - at least with Technorati. I did like the LOOK of the old site, but on the new one I can find what I'm looking for easier. For some reason I always felt like I was consistently digging (not Digging) on the old site.
Cleaner and more organized, despite the fruitiness. :D
I did like the LOOK of the old site, but on the new one I can find what I'm looking for easier. For some reason I always felt like I was consistently digging (not Digging) on the old site.
Good comment. So was that a problem resulting from the design or Information architecture? I would suggest that the design may have had some responsibility but the IA is the culprit. Also, don't think I won't ban someone for suggesting they are one in the same.
The new design appears to be taking on Google and Microsoft. The reason I say that is the layout is much more cimple, but the colors are from the Microsoft Windows XP logo :)
It is cleaner looking for sure, but the colors are definitely intense.
ha ha. I won't say they're the same. In fact, I think design is becoming sort of like religion in that everyone thinks there are many different paths to a well-designed site and no one thing makes good design, but then there are the real designers who see more levels, like IA and other less vague principles, and they get something deeper than just fluff, which though it still works for me, appears to be the essence of this new Technorati.
They should totally add three or four hundred pixels of whitespace above their content... Now THAT is a design that would dazzle.
Chuck in a few distressed edges (circa 1998) and it'd really round it out.
Sorry for the double post, but did you notice that the Scoble post you linked to links to a poll that seems to indicate that most people actually LIKE the new design? More attractive, more usable.... It appears to be an improvement on both fronts, no?
I'm with Natalie on this - the old site, while looking good (but it wasn't anything spectacular back then too), was a nightmare from IA point of view. Now it's easier to find what you need there - and indeed, it feels like Google a bit.
Samantha, I did notice that Scoble's peeps like the new wallpaper which validates my belief that Scoble and his merry band still don't get what design is about and think it's only something you buy at Target.
Reading through comments here and abroad I think a lot of people are confusing a white background for being "clean" when to me it looks like a very sloppy implementation of what I assume was a better design when it was living in Photoshop. And I don't really understand what about this design/IA makes it easier to use. What was difficult to use in the old design?
I like the new design. It's fresh.
Greg, I've always enjoyed your writing, but this post made it difficult not to laugh out loud. Thank you sir.
I'm reminded of an old print client who, when presented with a mostly white and blue brochure complained "I'm paying for all of the colors - use them!"
Samantha, the whitespace needs to be exactly 345px. Also I really think Technorati could have used a blimp, or maybe a French Coat of Arms next to every H1 tag. I don't know, but something is definitely missing from their design.
Greg, this was priceless. Keegan and I were snarfing over the design yesterday, but this is perfect. I thank you for brightening my day.
I don't get the colour scheme. green at the top, but then green in the orange section. Blue sections, but then blue text all over. Oh, and then some pink. Huh?
After visting the site, I "flashed" on the notion that they will soon be booking their own "Technocrati Crusies of the Caribean", captained by T. Leary, and bloged by T. Wolfe. Green Haze.
Vanni, that's an awesome idea. Building off the Caribean theme, they should redo their tagline: Techorati Blog Sear... uh, Something-or-Other. Horray Technorati!
I'm sad to see Technorati go the way of so many other candy-colored website revamps of late. I find the new design distracting — too many colors in too many places. I think the IA could use a tune-up on both old and new, as I still have to look around a bit to find what I'm after (when the colors release their death-grip on my eyeball, that is), and the avatars are pointless. (This isn't MySpace, last I checked.)
...As I gaze at it longer, it seems misplaced to put the Pepto-pink headers at the bottom, as it draws my eye slightly more than the orange. What's most important on the page again? The avatars? (/sarcasm)
Great post, as usual! (I'm a new commenter.)
if it ain't broken don't fix it. Didn't seem broken to me.
Reminds me of a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. Sure, the colors draw your eye everywhere, but nothing holds any particular weight.
Reminds me of 9rules actually...
It's just ... wrong!
The Jolly Rancher/Fisher Price style of design needs to die. Now.
You wish for a redesign?
~poof~ gradient-buttoned!
I don't use Technorati. I don't get the draw? When I do use it half the search results return bogus sites. I don't go to blogs to read about certain events/topics, I go to friends' blogs to do that. Why do I care what random blogger has to say about "X"?
I liked the old Technorati design quite a bit; I think Derek's work was superb. That said, I can see why they would want to recalibrate the design and maybe even remake it wholesale. It's just my personal opinion that this redesign doesn't do a particularly good job of it.
Have they just tweaked it again based on feedback from the "blogosphere". It looks better now, the homepage, reorganized a bit.
I think people are forgetting who blogs, younger people mostly. I think the design is bright and bubbly, which I leave to others to decide if they like it. I agree with other comments that the IA has improved, that is what I look at the most, can I find things.
There's just something about Technorati that screams "you can't find anything you're looking for here" that I get from the design and layout that puts me off. It's not that I can't find anything I'm looking for, it just feels like it.
Summer facelifts evidently side with shine and superfluous cargo. First liftoff, Last.FM got polished to maximum gloss but it took ten minutes to even catch a whiff. Now they’ve colored Technorati into a biodiversity ecosystem. I miss my environment of green, just green. Not tarnished by pink pesticide. And they, best to my knowledge still have not implemented RSS. Now that’s downright sinful.