As the article points out the homepage doesn’t look much different, but it’s the start of what I think is an exciting redesign of the BBC that was laid out in this blog post that did the rounds on twitter a couple of weeks ago http://www.researchstudios.com/2010/02/17/bbc/
At the very least it’s a fascinating case study in professional web design.
From the screenshots, it seems they’ve gone with an equally vivid colour scheme. I’m not sure whether I am a fan of the colours… I have found their last iteration a bit difficult to read, particularly the homepage. Or it might be that I’m too conservative when it comes to news sites. I like them simplistic and prefer when the design is so good that it forms a synergy with the content so that I don’t even see the design, just the content.
But all that is blah talk as I have not had the chance to surf the Beta website.
Meh, can’t say I like it. A lot of awkward enpty spaces, for one thing. I visit the Australian ABC news site daily, and have always preferred it to other news sites—although they’ve recently changed the design and ruined it IMHO. Still, I can find info easily.
The “stodgy-yet-busy, red-driven BBC design” you speak of isn’t very nice in my opinion. It felt too old, serious and not really very engaging with the user / reader.
On the other hand I found the old / current BBC design very engaging and welcoming. The use of brighter, cleaner and sharper colours with gradients and rounded corner buttons with lovely rollovers really caught my eyes too. I didn’t see anything wrong in the old / current design and liked it.
I like the new design too and it was probably a good idea to get rid of the clock really. Although come to think of it, it did serve it’s purpose and I can see why they would have it there, being a news Website and all that jazz. I don’t like the grey-ish rollovers in the carousel though, they don’t suit at all. They just don’t seem as clean and sharp as the others. Maybe them rollover boxes shouldn’t have rounded corners.
Since the old / current BBC design I’ve always enjoyed using the Website. It’s a much more enjoyable experience than what it used to be.
![stodgy-yet-busy, red-driven BBC design for years. Now [URL=“http://www.bbc.co.uk/”]the “old” BBC design is a more airy, purple/gray driven design, and the [URL=“http://beta.bbc.co.uk/”]“beta”](http://www.onlinenewsdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/bbc-obama-election-screenshot.jpg){kind=link}