Not just a cosmetic redesign
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
While writing an article about a site redesign that changed the look of the old site but actually made the usability worse, I was struck by two recent redesigns that actually made things a lot better without actually changing the surface.
First comes the Porsche Boxster. While there’s definitely something to the argument that says the only statement a Boxster makes about its driver is that they couldn’t afford a 911, it’s a pretty slick car in its own right, and the 2005 version made some real improvements over the previous years.
More horsepower, improved transmission, sharper brakes, new head airbags, and a cleaner interior - that all sounds good, and actually improves the experience of driving the car. What hardly changed at all was the exterior styling - not a real surprise from Porsche, considering the 911 in all its various incarnations has received only minor cosmetic tweaking over the years.
Which brings us to the new Apple MacBooks. The name might stick in the throat a little, but the new laptops offer some radically improved performance over the old PowerBooks. They’re much faster, thanks to the new Intel chips, and they come with a webcam hidden the screen bezel, and a very handy magnetic power cord socket, so that when you trip over the cord in your hotel room it disconnects from the socket instead of sending your pride and joy crashing to the floor.
One thing that didn’t change much was the exterior look. It might have been tempting to blow the doors off with a funky new look to mark the big changes inside, but instead it looks pretty much the same as it did before. One Apple insider remarked that there wasn’t much more they could do to improve the enclosure, and so they left it well alone.
Which is a very smart thing to do. Both Porsche and Apple show the kind of restraint and user-centered focus most web projects could with. Don’t tear down a site because you want a hip new look, tear it down to improve the way it works for the users. You’re not building for you, you’re building for them.