It is easy to create a redesign for a website. It is less easy to pivot a billion-dollar business which has the agility of an aircraft carrier while she is sinking. If your answer to that question is "What do we really need the planes for, anyway?" and "I think the conning tower would look much better in teal.", you might find a wee bit of difficulty getting taken seriously.
Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
51–60 of 135 posts
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#52Am I the only one who thinks his 'redesign' just looks like any other blog?
"Newer isn’t better. Better is better."
Sometimes it takes courage to put forward a design that doesn't have the glamour of the new. Things that work well can often be boring.
EDIT: quote is from http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2803681
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#53Well having been in the person in charge of a major news website myself I can say we all have lovely designs like this pinned to the walls next our desks. And while I really like his designs and have turned to Andy many times for inspiration, there are some serious context problems... and while I'm bored and off work I might as well write a critique... I had an near identical sports section to the one he designed pin…
What's your take on the strong emphasis he puts on separation of "news" and "opinion" and whether an editorial team could adequately resolve that? As a reader the distinction seems very artificial. I can see how senior newspaper executives might like his argument about emphasising the volume of "editorial writers ... promoted as exclusive, valuable properties" though.
Editorials and blogs are the same thing. They are opinion pieces, they are not news, they are bias, and often have an agenda. Sometimes they are satire. That isn't news its entertainment.
From a purist point of view the news should be factual and impartial. Editorials fail to impartial most of the time.
You have to choose what side of the fence you sit on, are you the BBC or are you Fox News? are you news or entertainment?
I support editorials because they are usually done by journalists who love there craft and do so on there own time, brings job satisfaction to staff.
It also helps pay for the craft to continue. I'm not so hot on celebrity bloggers though, thats just cheap money grabbing most of the time that can devalue the brand. Subject matter experts like sports stars I'll support, but bringing in some TV star to comment fashion is a joke.
But it works, and you have to take the bad with the good.
And most importantly because I think person X is a moronic jerk doesn't make me correct. It causes debate which is good, a long as debate isn't distraction. Which often happens.
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#54Well having been in the person in charge of a major news website myself I can say we all have lovely designs like this pinned to the walls next our desks. And while I really like his designs and have turned to Andy many times for inspiration, there are some serious context problems... and while I'm bored and off work I might as well write a critique... I had an near identical sports section to the one he designed pin…
Thank you for a more clear headed response than mine.
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
"In other words why not a mobile site. Well, very simple. The iPhone is capable of rendering and interacting with the full page. It was the first browser to do so - it don't require a lite version. You could tap, zoom, pinch, drag and get the full depth of the page. Other browsers - like those for Nokia, RIM etc couldn't handle that." That's your main reason for not having a mobile site? In terms of usability, zoomin…
That's your main reason for not having a mobile site No. I never said that. We do have a Mobile site. If you're not going to read the comment please state tl;dr so I can save replying and just go to bed. I said: because the iPhone has a very very advanced browser that is more than capable of handling our Homepage we do not REDIRECT them to the Mobile site automatically. You can still go there if you like. I am also a…
"I said: because the iPhone has a very very advanced browser that is more than capable of handling our Homepage we do not REDIRECT them to the Mobile site automatically. You can still go there if you like."
My point still stands. Just because Apple give you the choice to pinch and zoom doesn't mean that's the way it should be.
The fact you already have a mobile site but choose not to put it to its full use baffles me even further.
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually read the online edition of the Times and I find it highly readable. A very enjoyable experience. I suspect this designer isn't a regular reader. News organizations are viewed as easy targets for designers trying to increase their brand by writing a sensationalist article (did we really need any more convincing after "news itself is broken"?). So don't be bitter. The good work being done at the Times is sel…
I sound more bitter than I am. I guess I am defensive. Very it seems. I know the people in the design group at the Times and Andy writes like there is no Design group, thats its all slap-dash and easy-peasy to fix. That fact that Andy is a design profesional makes my blood boil. Andy should know that is easy to look in from the outside, make grand statements without knowing the truth and reality of why things end up…
Have your read the book?
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I sound more bitter than I am. I guess I am defensive. Very it seems. I know the people in the design group at the Times and Andy writes like there is no Design group, thats its all slap-dash and easy-peasy to fix. That fact that Andy is a design profesional makes my blood boil. Andy should know that is easy to look in from the outside, make grand statements without knowing the truth and reality of why things end up…
Have your read the book?
No, I'm waiting for the movie to come out.
:) sorry couldn't resist.
No. I have not read the book. I feel the point I am making is valid without having read it. The fact is clear that this person is a design profesional even without the book.
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's your main reason for not having a mobile site No. I never said that. We do have a Mobile site. If you're not going to read the comment please state tl;dr so I can save replying and just go to bed. I said: because the iPhone has a very very advanced browser that is more than capable of handling our Homepage we do not REDIRECT them to the Mobile site automatically. You can still go there if you like. I am also a…
"I said: because the iPhone has a very very advanced browser that is more than capable of handling our Homepage we do not REDIRECT them to the Mobile site automatically. You can still go there if you like." My point still stands. Just because Apple give you the choice to pinch and zoom doesn't mean that's the way it should be. The fact you already have a mobile site but choose not to put it to its full use baffles me…
Please re-read my response. I said it is what our readers wanted. Readers. Sometimes your audience isn't always right and you have to deal with that and show them the way (like Apple), but was not one of those cases.
To re-iterate: OUR READERS WANTED THE HOMEPAGE AND NOT THE MOBILE SITE ON THEIR IPHONES.
Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
"In other words why not a mobile site. Well, very simple. The iPhone is capable of rendering and interacting with the full page. It was the first browser to do so - it don't require a lite version. You could tap, zoom, pinch, drag and get the full depth of the page. Other browsers - like those for Nokia, RIM etc couldn't handle that." That's your main reason for not having a mobile site? In terms of usability, zoomin…
That's your main reason for not having a mobile site No. I never said that. We do have a Mobile site. If you're not going to read the comment please state tl;dr so I can save replying and just go to bed. I said: because the iPhone has a very very advanced browser that is more than capable of handling our Homepage we do not REDIRECT them to the Mobile site automatically. You can still go there if you like. I am also a…
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Re: Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com
#60Am I the only one who thinks his 'redesign' just looks like any other blog?
Yes, i felt the same. Has a very wordpressish feel to it.