NEW-LOOK ONLINE GUARDIAN 3

Here's another comment on the new-look Guardian.

"Hi,
"Someone said the new Guardian website is "very impressive." How so? I mean, seriously, given the eyesore they had up before wouldn't anything they produced be a step up? The new site may be better looking than those of the Express and Newsday, but it is poorly designed and a weak news and online experience.

"I'm especially disappointed given that the Guardian offended us with that former disgrace of a web site for going on 8 years. And after all that, this is what we get? Gee, thanks for the suspense, Guardian. One would think that with a parent company like ANSA McAL you would at least have had the resources to commit to a proper site design. But that's like asking you guys to do proper journalism -- wishful thinking...

"After toying with a Washington Post template in the Beta version that leaked out earlier this year, the Guardian has instead gone for a look closer to that of guardian.co.uk. Proof of this: the logo with all lower-case letters. It resembles the UK Guardian's typography. But therein lies a big problem. The UK Guardian's masthead on the print edition is all lower-case. So that paper's website remains true to its branding, font and all.

"The print edition of the TT Guardian uses a different font and the "G" in the logo is uppercase. So the TT Guardian's website, in its eagerness to ape the UK Guardian's, is off-brand. But does anyone care? Does anyone there even stop to think about things like branding? Ask any serious web designer and he would tell you that capturing the brand is one of the key elements of any design brief. Geez, we can't even get basic stuff right.

"Happy New Year all..."

"Mike"