Make Marketing History

The views of a marketing deviant.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Egocentric Design Ignores The Customer.

The Times recently launched its latest new design. Good design is about improving customer satisfaction and this revamp was, no doubt, distilled from lots of research (albeit coupled with new technological possibilities). Hence there are different fonts, new arrangements and amalgamations of sections and due to the technology, lots of coloured photos and charts!

Now, I'm not sure about the new look and could nitpick, but I noticed that they are not sure about it either. It's definitely in beta because this week the review page format changed from this

to this

You may or may not notice the slight changes, but can you see the big problem? In both versions, the name of the reviewer has prominence over what ever is being reviewed and that is wrong. I might well value the opinions of a certain reviewer over those of another, but my first-level filter as a reader is surely the specific subject of the review. Never mind the reviewer, if that doesn't interest me (or I can't easily see it), I won't be reading the piece and your focus on reader-friendly fonts, layout and space will have been fruitless.

Ego, even subconsciously, should have no place in design. If it does, then you're not truly committed to focussing on your customer.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think you're getting obtuse John

TOM HAROLD SINCLAIR PROFITEROLE
TENBY, 14.

12:52 AM, June 13, 2008  
Blogger john dodds said...

Just making you work a little harder Tom. Complete with subliminal messaging too but that's Ben's fault.

1:38 AM, June 13, 2008  
Blogger Charles Edward Frith said...

Living abroad quite a lot the decline in content is always quite striking. The Times used to be a good read but is little more than a comic these days.

12:30 PM, June 13, 2008  

Post a Comment

<< Home