BBC Realigned.
My idea was to create a lucid layout, using stronger colors than todays bbc.co.uk to give the web page a more personal, warmer feeling.
The news, promo-and upcoming fields have been placed in the right column. This makes it very easy to find, which is important due to BBCs many varied users. The less important stuff have been placed in the left column, which has slightly less contrast. This gives the more important fields maximum focus.
My contribution holds many new features. When one is logged in, an extra menu will appear at the top of the page. This shows the user new messages, conversations, podcasts and newsletters. It also gives very easy access to "my bookmarks" and "my recent pages", which will open in a dropdown menu.
The top toolbar gives easy access to the most important parts of the BBC Online network. Other features are language selection, page options, settings and a search box.
--- TODAY ---
I´ve chosen to put the main focus on news. Although bbc.co.uk is so much more, news is still the most important part of the site. This was also stated in the reboot blog.
The "top story" is very easy to find, so is the "latest news" field - right at the top where I want it.
The BBC iPlayer is shown after clicking the tab in the "today" field. I know BBC really wants to have this as a central element of the website, which I still think it is.
A giant video library system is not bugging anyone, unless they want it to. The iPlayer probably won´t be the most frequently used part of bbc.co.uk, so I see no disadvantage in "hiding" it through a tab.
The "today" field also makes it very easy to navigate through the news. From there you can also find the RSS feed for your liking.
I've chosen to include some buttons for messages, podcasts and comments. Possibly "newsletters" could also be fitted in there.
The today field gives very easy access to all the most important parts of bbc.co.uk.
--- PROMO ---
I decided to give the "promo" field some extra attention, since it´s content is usually more popular. It has the same style as everything else, but I gave the background a bright, red color to pull your attention. Stylish, effective and good-looking.
--- NEWS "2" ---
I've chosen to put science, sports, economics and business news in a separate column. Sport is the default chosen tab, but with just a click on one of the other tabs you can easily bring up the other ones.
By separating the different categories this way, the user won´t be confused.
--- EXPLORE BBC.CO.UK ---
I've been doing a lot of thinking about the "explore" field, and I believe this is the best way to do it: A search field under the top story, and an A-Z Index placed in the footer. The search field contains, except for the search form, a quick overview of the most frequent search terms.
To place the A-Z Index in the footer was another good idea. Together with the "new features" field it really binds together the whole page at the bottom, pulling just as much attention as it should. Genius.
--- LOCAL ---
The "local" field gives you the most important facts about what´s going on near you. Local news is important to most of us - so is local weather. Travel updates has been set as a link, rather than a full box with news. I think that's enough.
--- WHAT'S ON? ---
I've been doing a lot of thinking on the "what's on?" field, and I think I've come up with a very good solution.
In the "upcoming" field, one show gets special attention. Underneath a quick overview of the next 6 shows is given. The TV Schedule is divided with tabs.
I've chosen to just include BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4 as they are the most watched channels. If the user wants the full TV show listing, he can click on "full schedule" and the rest will appear.
The "what's on" field also includes a few genius links/buttons in the bottom field. "Movies today", "Sport today" and "News today" lets you sort out all the movies, sports or news from the listings and give you a tailor made schedule. The "print schedule" is also a genius thing the current bbc.co.uk is lacking.
"My Schedule" is another useful thing. The "watch online" is also genius, giving a small mini-episode online, or on your mobile phone.
The green color makes it stand out a bit from the rest of the page.
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It is a very pleasant site to use, and - most of all - it gives the user a demand to check out more about BBC and BBC's programs. An important part of the user experience online is to create a demand. You´d want your users to feel like coming back, and this is widely achieved in this design.
"Lead the web to it's full potential." - Dean Jackson, W3C Interaction Development
- 23 May 2006 11:27
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Love it - you manage to show so much information without it ever feeling cluttered! Won't be surprised if this wins, its certainly deserves it.
I like your design, but the browse section below is a shameless copy-paste from my design. I know the idea of categorising it this way isn't mine, so you can use the style - but simply copy-pasting it from my design...
Easily the best design so far
Very professional looking in layout and design. I could easily see such a design being used.
Thats nice! I'd like to see that for real.
Extremely good, Simon! I really like the bright colors and how you have arranged the top stories/latest news. This could really have been a bbc.co.uk-redesign. =)
I've just spent 30 minutes of my valuble life looking through all the other contributions, and I must say that some look great, but I can easily conclude that you are going to win this competition, good sir!
(Hmm, just spent another 2 mintues writing this comment...)
This is the best design yet, and the most interesting functional spec... great stuff...
The design is good, my compliments! Especially the top is organised well and gives a lot of info in a good way. But from 'Explore bbc.co.uk' downwards I think it becomes very messy. Search, sportsnews, local news, weather, etc. are overlapping each other - I can't really see where the one ends and the other starts. For example: sportnews seems to end at the line, but below it I see Latest Sports Videos and a whole bunch of links - which seems to be related. Also personalised and standard bits are mixed. The tv schedule isn't really boxed, but goes together with the weather in some way.
So the top is great, but going down I think you tried to put to much information and function into the page. This should not be a problem when you categorise it better, but now it is cluttered.
Also it seems to be more of a redesign then an integration of Web 2.0 functionality. On the mainpage I only find links to indexes of my podcasts and messages, but (for example) personalising the page and playing movies is not possible. But I have to say most of the entries don't have this, and they aren't even worth responding to. In the end: it's a very good attempt at a redesign of the current BBC website.
The design is good, my compliments! Especially the top is organised well and gives a lot of info in a good way. But from 'Explore bbc.co.uk' downwards I think it becomes very messy. Search, sportsnews, local news, weather, etc. are overlapping each other - I can't really see where the one ends and the other starts. For example: sportnews seems to end at the line, but below it I see Latest Sports Videos and a whole bunch of links - which seems to be related. Also personalised and standard bits are mixed. The tv schedule isn't really boxed, but goes together with the weather in some way.
So the top is great, but going down I think you tried to put to much information and function into the page. This should not be a problem when you categorise it better, but now it is cluttered.
Also it seems to be more of a redesign then an integration of Web 2.0 functionality. On the mainpage I only find links to indexes of my podcasts and messages, but (for example) personalising the page and playing movies is not possible. But I have to say most of the entries don't have this, and they aren't even worth responding to. In the end: it's a very good attempt at a redesign of the current BBC website.
Thanks for the comments so far, guys!
Jeroen; Woops, my mistake! I used your brilliant solution for the "browse" field for inspiration, and forget to make my own version of it before I submitted the design. Your idea was really great.
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Glad you all like it!
This is, by far, this competition`s best entry. I simply love the way the information floats!
From another point of view, it`s very original compared to, well, every other online news resource out there. Great, we needed this entry!
Nice!
Very organized with lots of information without looking too cluttered.
Great job. One of the best I have seen so far.
Although your design looks great, the use of font's and 'graphical' text would make this design very difficult to content manage. The use of the Meta font on certain headings and text fields can't be made dynamic. Nevertheless, solid effort.
WOW! (No, not World of Warcraft). I've been browsing a lot of the design posted, but this is the design I really felt «home» with. I stopped up, and took a good look on your design. The colors is warm, and you present everyhting in a way that makes it simple to find, and easy to read. And even though you've included a lot of content, it still doesn't feel crammed. A big congrats to you, Simon. I really think you deserve to win. BBC could definitly use your skills for a redesign. Good luck =)
Very nice! The design is very appealing. Clean, smooth and so full of information. Makes you want to visit the site again and again... A winner!
Very nice design, Simon!