Yes, I know. The Bloomberg website redesign happened nearly two years ago, but I’m still questioning why it hasn’t been replaced. Whenever I come across something that I think is a “bad user experience” I question how or why it came about.
From my own experience I know every single design I created was not implemented exactly as intended. I frequently encountered push back from either development (“this is way too hard and is going to take a long time” or “I don’t know how to do this”) or product management (“we don’t have time to do it this way” or “let’s just get this out the door”).
So I can understand that not every web site, application or product’s final implementation may reflect exactly what the designers originally envisioned. Unfortunately this was not the case with Bloomberg’s horrific website redesign. After doing a little research I discovered the redesign was the brainchild of Bloomberg’s Digital Editor Josh Topolsky and a firm called Code & Theory.
According to Code & Theory “The visual language of Bloomberg.com is a combination of aesthetics and function. From the bold colors, to the use of motion, to visual cues like breaker modules and pull-quotes—everything was purposefully designed to help move a user down the page.” What? What does that even mean? Why do I as a user want to be helped “down a page”? I just want to see the latest news, articles and what is happening in the world when I visit the Bloomberg site.
One of the “visual cues” they used was a progress marker (basically a very thin line) at the top of an article page that supposedly “tells the readers how far along they are in the story”. Well first of all, you can barely notice it (see screen shot below) and secondly, doesn’t a scroll bar already do that! Apparently this fascinating feature has already been scrapped because I no longer see it on the live site.
Another feature they talk about is having “more beautiful ad experiences”. According to Code & Theory this is “a variety of units that connect a user’s scrolling behavior to the motion animation within the advertisement.” What? Really, this is what I want as a user when I visit your news site? A bunch of intrusive ads that animate and move as I scroll down the page.
There is so much that can be criticized about the look, layout, color choices, interactions, and text treatment of the web site, I don’t know where to start. From the hideous orange- purple gradient scrolling headlines across the top, to the unnecessary visual noise created by the unsettling white highlight behind the headlines, the site is bound to immediately assault their visitors.
Putting aside the horrific aesthetics, what really bothers me is how they destroyed the basic user experience. To be honest I couldn’t even remember the previous design until I came across this article on Quartz. The fact that I used the web site on a regular basis to get news updates, insightful articles, and market information, but not remember anything about the color scheme, only means the website was a success. The design should never get in the way. I was there for the latest news, not the latest design whims!
Looking back at the previous designs over the years, I see that up until this latest redesign, a user could easily glance over about 15-20 headlines without scrolling. The new design barely displays 5 headlines in its initial view. But not only that, the disorderly manner in which they are laid out make it nearly impossible to scan over the news headlines. It’s as if they purposely tried to make it difficult for a user to simply digest the news.
Compare this previous design
with the new design below.
Topolsky, the man behind the redesign says “What drives me insane in modern web design is grids. What’s important is a page that moves.” Really, why? Why is it important that a page move? How does that help your users? Without a grid design, a user has to dart back and forth between oddly cropped photos and randomly overlaid text. I’ll take a simple grid design over something that is going to give me a headache.
Needless to say, I can’t remember the last time I visited the Bloomberg web site (unless I was directed there by clicking on a twitter article or something). I have no intention of using Bloomberg again as long as the current design remains.
It’s a real shame when someone’s zeal to make their design stand out and try to be different ruins the basic user experience. In discussing news sites in general Topolsky says “The homepage may be dead, or maybe suffering now, but there hasn’t been experimentation.”
I think it’s time they rethink their “experimentation” and instead start thinking about their users.
Mark Alexander 