Website redesigning is more complex than braining a new one, as there are certain unavoidable norms related to redesigning. It is like building something new from the scratches. Without affecting the functionality and content of the site, designers have to give it a different look. While redesigning a site, designers have to customize the sites, which is a challenging task. Still, redesigning has a preference among designers as the job motivates them to measure the level of creativity. A true designer will enjoy adding something extra to an already created site and coin appraisal for his creative spirit.
At the same time, it is also imperative to note that present design is adequate enough to match with level of content. It takes a lot of time and planning and also involvement of designing experts to execute the plans properly. It becomes important to redesign a site when it is no more user-friendly and costs nothing to both the owners and the users. Thus, it is better to plan first and then go ahead.
Yellow pages are a good example of redesigning. Retaining the similar old design appearance and the patent yellow and black color of the company, the new design has included few services to ease the task of the users. Localization is one of the many updated services gaining this redesigning more popularity. The contents included are relevant enough to provide information on locality basis services, available from yellow pages. Some of the old features have been replaced with more advanced services to populate the site. Inclusion of attractive images made the site ore acceptable, which was the sole purpose of redesigning yellow pages.
Blinksale is as a web application was in search of a web layout to optimize the sites conversion rates. It also aimed to grow visitor’s interest on the tools working process and help them find out the sigh up box. With this aim, the redesigned site has placed the call to action button in the first page of the site. Now it is easy to learn about the selling point of the app and know the product costs. This is a unique feature that differentiates Blinksale from other web apps.
Website Redesign Examples
DepositPhotos
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WordPress
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With Slides, we don’t make you start from an empty slate. All you have to do is to pick the elements you like best and combine them. Each slide has been carefully crafted to satisfy three key criteria: aesthetic, function and usability. That way you know every element works together seamlessly while enhancing the impact of your content.
Create a WebsiteYellow Pages
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Blinksale
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Plaxo
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Mozilla
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Smashing Magazine
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InstantShift
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Crazy Egg
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Apple
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CNN
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TechCrunch
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Mashable
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Think Vitamin
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Manuel Garcia Jan 17, 10:09 am
I thinks some of these changed their website design a long time ago. I don’t actually know but i think iShift and smashing magazine are the latest. Nonetheless, this post has a good key points.
Sam Jones Jan 17, 11:43 am
Some great examples, in particular the new Smashing Magazine. Now hopefully we’ll start to see some more blogs implementing a Responsive Design.
dinozaver Jan 18, 5:56 pm
Smashing Magazine looks really cool! Anyway, the picture from “before” is actually – before before :)
Liviu Jan 18, 7:22 pm
Did you notice that they have different menu style based on resolution? :P You don’t see that very often! It’s a pain in the ass to do it! I know I did it on a CMS I work before :P
Martin Jan 18, 7:53 pm
I think most of the redesigns are far better than the old designs. But a few of the redesigns are not so much better than it was before.
Artur Redesign Jan 19, 6:23 pm
Good list Adrian! Some thoughts…
Depositphotos made a big redesign improvement.
For Blinksale – its good, but keeping the bright website colors might have been better
Apple designers – heads up! Although, might have been better to keep the top nav bar in light grey… the dark takes away from product pictures.
Angel Ceballos Jan 25, 7:38 am
I’m personally a huge fan of TechCrunch, and read their blog everyday, but the new redesign I should’t be in this article if its titled “Good Website Redesign” because the new design is good at all personally, look like a giant cliche, boring, and no creative thinking went behind it from an aesthetic standpoint. I mean the old one wasn’t the best in the world, but it worked which is important.
I just wanted to throw that in there since I saw it on the list. I would go more in-depth, but I don’t want to have full article in the comment section. I can probably write one for this blog explain what works, and doesn’t work as a case study.
Overall, great showcase, and keep up the good work.
Best,
– Angel Ceballos
JG Dec 1, 9:51 pm
Through whose eyes are these redesigns being looked at? Designers or users?
Most of the redesigns have less info (some far less) than before. A user may think “why should I stay”?
The “less is more” remark is a typical “arty” comment.
Anyone can criticise clutter and information overload – but for users too much is better than too little. Why?
A visitor touching on a site wants to be able to decide quickly whether:
a) The info wanted is actually there. On the front page would be ideal but not always posssible so….
b) If the info isn’t on the front page, it must be obvious where to find it. Is there a clear and full content list.
Is navigation clear?
Too many recent redesigns have dropped most (sometimes all) visual clues about what is active/clickable – leading to time-consuming guesswork.
Traditional “buttons”, rounded with colour gradients. shading or bevels have been replaced
by monotone rectangles – often looking no different from a (passive) topic header.
Active text used to be coloured blue or underlined. Now some pages require extensive cursor passing to discover text links.
Some icons have been “simplified” (flat, monotone) to the point of being, at best ambiguous, at worst meangingless – compounded when all are coloured grey !
In short if nothing says “click me”, why stay?
Lastly, even if click-clues and contents are visible, is the text grey – like this one?
Lack of contrast makes reading harder and on a glaring white background, potentially eye-straining.
Fortunately smaller retailers don’t have the resources to spend money on redesigns. Assuming they were functional to begin with, they may find their traffci increases !