37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage • Hacker News Board

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#11

Post by goblgobl » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

There's a good mix of iterative changes and structural changes. I think the structural ones (that don't deal with aesthetics) are the most interesting.

One trick I like to do is stand a few feet back from the monitor/LCD, and try to, in 3-5 seconds, figure out what I'm looking at. I think its a good trick because you'll realize where your eyes go to first (smaller text/details usually gets blurry), and the time interval will tell you what you're communicating clearly.

When you compare the first version in the video with the last using this trick, there's a huge difference.

The 2009 version has an overwhelming amount of detail, with an ambiguous "Change your Business"/"Change the way you work" title. A lot of information is crammed in the first frame (company history, latest news, etc). The 2011 version is remarkably clearer: The two large texts explain the product offerings and that they are kind of a big deal (social proof) - both keys to selling. The rest of the information is prioritized descendingly. "Style" (what people most typical mean when they say design) has been minimized.

Another company's website that is great with this (standing back/first thing that pops in your head) is, suprise, surpise... apple.com

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#12

Post by davidw » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 2:43 PM UTC

jasonfried wrote: post #10

davidw wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed "Drop a bomb" too and thought wow...what a terrible idea. First and foremost because their competitors can obviously avail themselves of the same tools.

That was just for internal fun. I didn't know it would ever make it outside our walls ;)

Figured it had to be something like that if every checked out version was being displayed, and it was on the screen for such a short amount of time.

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#13

Post by wgx » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 2:46 PM UTC

One thing 37S have got (in spades) is good writers. That really shows here, and generally throughout their products.

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#14

Post by jasonfried » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #8

I loved the little war over whether to use 'us' or 'it' (0:52-0:55) in the phrase: Millions of people depend on our software. Entrepreneurs, small businesses and teams inside big organisations rely on it/us daily.

There were dozens of subtle variations on this statement that were never committed. I hope to find some time to do a detailed post on that sometime.

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#15

Post by juliendsv-mbm » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 2:55 PM UTC

Very cool! fun to watch, not a big fan of the music though..

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#16

Post by andrewjiang » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 3:53 PM UTC

Incredibly interesting to watch, especially notable areas of A/B testing. They did a lot of testing with exactly how to display their media mentions.

I'd love to see this for sites that went through multiple pages of transitions.

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#17

Post by duarte » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 3:59 PM UTC

While I was watching, it felt slightly too fast.

I think editing less, leaving it at a steady pace (say 1 second per week, regardless of the amount of changes) would have given it another dimension. A data-dense rhythm.

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#18

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 4:31 PM UTC

DanielStraight wrote: post #2

Two things struck me: 1. Not much overall change. 2. Negative slogans are quickly phased out in favor of positive ones. "Drop a bomb on your competitors" and "gain an unfair advantage" quickly give way to "a better way to work with people."

[deleted]

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#19

Post by timdorr » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 5:32 PM UTC

jasonfried wrote: post #14

mattmanser wrote: post #8

I loved the little war over whether to use 'us' or 'it' (0:52-0:55) in the phrase: Millions of people depend on our software. Entrepreneurs, small businesses and teams inside big organisations rely on it/us daily.

There were dozens of subtle variations on this statement that were never committed. I hope to find some time to do a detailed post on that sometime.

I'd love to see a post on the branding lessons learned through variations in copy. What phrases worked and what ones sucked. The biggest branding mishap I see on a regular basis is a company that doesn't know how to talk to its audience.

Re: 37signals.com - Evolution of a homepage

#20

Post by krobertson » Thu, Sep 15, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

wingerlang wrote: post #7

primigenus wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not much overall change? Midway through the movie the complete design for the entire thing changes from a colourful, pastel shaded page to black/white with large fonts and a focus on copy. That's a pretty huge change and definitely not inspired by marginal A/B tests. They just changed their minds, tried something different, and stuck with it.

Well overall they changed it once. I know a lot of websites that have made huge changes several times. I expected more from the video. There were no evolution. Just little image/text/size-changes. And then they changed it completely, and did the same as before.

I was expecting more, but instead like the minor evolution. You can see the text be tweaked bit by bit. Font, sizing, arrangement within sections, word replacements, etc.

Think it speaks to continually tweaking your site bit by bit. Don't need to completely redo it or do massive revamps.