If you hadn’t notice (and we certainly tried to make sure you did), we’ve launched a completely new look to SongMeanings. Internally we’re calling this SM4, as it is is officially our 4th revision (even thought SM2 never truly made it out the door).
The biggest change you’re going to see is that we’ve moved away from the white page with thin blue or orange-bordered boxes. This was actually pretty difficult, because we always took pride in the text-heavy approach of SM. Like Craigslist, it was the simple, easy-to-use interface that made SM stand apart from other, image-heavy sites. This was years ago though, and the world wide web is a much different place now. Web 2.0 and flash have come (and gone in some cases), and we kept on without making any changes. However, the time came where the old design was too limiting and wouldn’t allow us to easily build in the new features we have planned, so we set out to re-design the site.
When working on the new design, we insisted that the old “feel” of SM was maintained, and I think we’ve accomplished that. We found a great UI/UX designer who we worked closely with throughout the entire process, from wire-framing to color selection to fully built design. In addition to being more visually appealing, the site flows better and aims to call users to action to interact more. This is a good thing, as we want people to visit, to stay to learn and discover new music, and to provide their input as well.
Making a change to the layout of a site can be a risky move. We knew this going in, and made sure to maintain all the great features of SongMeanings but to promote and enhance them, as opposed to completely re-doing them. We’ve also introduced several new features, such as album commenting, a new homepage with articles, reviews and updates, and an improved search with a new “All” option. This platform will allow us to further improve the SM experience and introduce newer features that fans have been asking for.
We’re excited to bring you the new SongMeanings. We love the new look and feel and are excited for the opportunities this opens up for us. We hope you feel the same way–we’d love to hear your comments, so please let us know by sending a note (good or otherwise!) to love@songmeanings.net
Looks great guys, your hard work has paid off!
Agreed. I love it! Very sophisticated and up-to-date design. There are always, always, always detractors who complain loudly whenever a site’s design changes, but in a forward-thinking way while still maintaining the original feel of your brand, the complaints are baseless for the most part; some people just resist change. Congrats on the hard work and a job very well done