Warning! BloggingZoom May Cause Seizures
January 30th, 2008 in Design Inspiration
by: Matthew Griffin
I was bouncing around my favorite social news sites in an early Monday morning stupor, when I discovered that BloggingZoom.com had released a redesign over the weekend. For a few seconds, I squinted my eyes at the at the glaring screen wondering if I had mistyped the url. Now I just wish someone had warned me about the celebration—the new BloggingZoom slapped me in the face and put a sparkler in my hand. Its minimalistic design had been shucked overnight and replaced with something from the high-energy, patriotic, art-deco aisle (if such and aisle exists). Upon closer scrutiny, though, I discovered that not all of the changes were unhelpful or inappropriate—time to get out the scalpel and start dissecting.
Color Palette
Most of my criticism will fall on this aspect of the design. I would expect this color palette on a Ron Paul fan site but it doesn't make a lot of sense on BloggingZoom. Unfortunately, it's the most prominent feature of the new motif. It created a knee-jerk reaction that was difficult to shake off as I navigated through the rest of site. They might be able to pull it off if the dark red and blue weren't applied so liberally. The white, lighter blue and natural yellow could be used to fill large areas and the the darks could be used to separate blocks of content and bring out the logo. Overall, though, the number of colors in the palette needs to be cut down and I think the dark orange should be the first to go (it's only used once as far as I can tell).
Layout
Once I regained my composure from the color explosion, I found that the new layout was a significant improvement. I was able to find the content I was looking for without any frustration. The only real complaint I have is that the header takes up too much space. On a content-rich website, the content should appear as far above the fold as possible. This problem could be easily remedied by moving the top nav bar to the bottom of the page. Other than that, I give them congratulations on a successful layout.
Proportions and Consistency
The last element of the design that caught my attention was its disproportionate text and button sizes. Some of this may be an illusion caused by inconsistent style application but the problem remains either way. It would be too difficult to give a step-by-step prescription for fixing this so I'll just say that it all needs to be tightened up. One good principle to follow is to try to keep at least one aspect consistent from button to button—shape, color, background pattern, font style, etc. And keep the number of button styles to a minimum.
Conclusion
BloggingZoom.com is a great service and I plan to continue using it on a regular basis. But if the Pligg powered social media site is going to kick Digg's butt as they claimed in a recent member email, they are going to have to take design seriously. My criticism is intended for their improvement , not their detriment—so BloggingZoom, good job...try again.
- 12 Comments
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Comments
Posted By: Jason A Clark on 01/30/08
I think you bring up some valid points. Your assessment was fair and balanced. The design of your site here is really nice. Perhaps you could take a few minutes to type up some ideas and pass them on to Court and Vic at BloggingZoom. I know they are trying their best to make it a site that everyone will use and enjoy so maybe they would like to hear what you have to say?
Posted By: on 01/30/08
Thanks, Jason. I will consider doing that. As I said, all my criticism is meant to inspire them to improve and I'm glad you recognized that.
Posted By: Vic on 01/30/08
I loved your honest review. All things mentioned where taking into consideration and we would have preferred a more minimalistic look but the fact are what they are even though you seem to think like us the focus groups preferred the eye candy so we designed for the masses.
Posted By: robojiannis on 01/30/08
I totally agree. The previous design wasn't much either, but was at least kind of better. It doesn't give much of a web 2.0 :) visual. Some new services rock anyway.
Posted By: on 01/30/08
Thanks for the response, Vic. Believe me, I understand biting the bullet for a client and I hate focus groups.
Posted By: Justin Briggs on 01/30/08
Nice review. I think you had several valid points. I've never been a big fan of buttons. They seem a little dated to me imo. I do think it is better than the previous design. Its doesn't seem like "just another pligg site" Yeah, and the content above the fold is an issue. I get like 1 1/4 posts, then I have to scroll =/
Posted By: Elliott on 01/30/08
Great review and some good points. Considering this new design was launched as the server recovered from a serious crash attack, I think the new design is pretty slick. Yeah, it definitely grabs you by the kiesters when you first see it. I do think there was quite a bit of improvement to in the functionality of the site as well. Considering this is still an infant, give her time to grow up a little more and she'll be a pretty chick!
Posted By: Vic on 01/30/08
Justin this is one of the things that was important for us as our core once was Pligg the first day that is about it. We have our own dev of the core so in reality right now we are quite a bit away from that but the look needed to reflect that.
Posted By: E. I. Sanchez on 01/31/08
The red tabs are just overwhelming. There's almost like a glare coming off them. The ZOOM button the left is also annoying to the eye... Edgar.
Posted By: Vic on 02/01/08
Matthew would you be so kind and update the screen capture with the new logo. LMAO I know it does not change much but it is better then the one the site designer made.
Posted By: on 02/01/08
I'd be happy to, Vic.
Posted By: bbrian017 on 03/26/08
bloggingzoom is nothing but an unfair environment for the typical blogger, guest voting is nothing but a website trying to make their selves look better then they really are! Not to mention it�s VERY EAY TO CHEAT Guest voting is so unfair and wrong! I prefer blogengage, far better and allows for you to guest blog as well Good luck with that crap site!