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Sploid: Do You Like Jigsaws?

Today Scott Kidder informed me that Gawker released a new redesign of their tabloid site Sploid. I always like hearing about redesigns, especially when they concern major properties so I was very excited.

However, nothing could’ve prepared me for this one.

Now I love innovation and trying new things on boring old blog designs. The original Sploid was a step in a different direction and this one takes about five more steps out there. For the better though? I’m not quite sure.

For me it’s really, really confusing. What do I click? What do I read? Is this Sploid or Oddjack? When did these stories happen? Is the text under the picture part of the picture or a different story completely?

I don’t think you should be asking so many questions when presented with a site. Again though, I do like the risk taking of the designers. Would you attempt something like this?

Published by Scrivs on September 8, 2005 in Design Critiques • Did you like it? Subscribe to RSS | Tweet it! | Stumble it! | Google Buzz it! | Submit it to Blogosphere News

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19 people says things!

  1. You’re right, this is a bit of a mess. I kind of like the print-tabloid-like middle section with the reversed text, but the rest of it is just about as confusing as can be.

    By Jeff Croft on September 8, 2005 3:08 pm

  2. WOW! I love it! It’s pure tabloid/fast-food/junk! At first I thought that the grid should have been designed based on the standard ad sizes but I like that fact that I can avoid looking at them as usual based on the fact that they aren’t the same as the articles. Re-sizing the browser is cool too.

    By Dean on September 8, 2005 3:14 pm

  3. It’s appealing in a ADD kinda way.

    So much news on the page, just begging for me to click on it.

    By Kyle Posey on September 8, 2005 3:33 pm

  4. I really like it. In my opinion, it works on many levels –

    1. It’s very reminiscent of tabloid design

    2. If had to draw a picture describing what a “sploid” was, it would probably be very close to this

    3. The design fits the tagline “news with a tabloid mentality”

    4. It’s very “in your face” and grandiose, just like I would expect a tabloid to be

    It’s brilliant in that the chnks of excerpts and photos splattered everywhere alomst give a sense of the hyperfast camera zooms and quck news excerpts of tabliod shows such as Entertainent Tonight or Inside Edition.

    Works for me.

    By Mark on September 8, 2005 3:42 pm

  5. Of course, also key is

    5. It’s a play off drudgereport.com – taking it to a new, more exciting (if you will) level.

    Isn’t that who they’re gunnin’ for anyway with the launch of this site?

    By Mark on September 8, 2005 3:46 pm

  6. Indeed. I can see the addictive nature of the site and leads me into tomorrow’s entry. Sometimes I have to separate the way I view the web with how everyone else views it.

    By Scrivs on September 8, 2005 3:51 pm

  7. I think it’s excellent, although a date would be nice somewhere for each article. If it’s really well updated though, it’s not really neccesary. Great design.

    By Jake Tracey on September 8, 2005 6:00 pm

  8. I like it very much. It fits the spirit of a tabloid. You look at it until something hits you in the face. Then you click, where normally you’d purchase the tabloid.

    By JohnO on September 8, 2005 6:58 pm

  9. I absolutely love the new Sploid layout. I believe that it actually works for this tabloid-style format. The hover effect on the boxed stories with images is insane. Don’t think I’ve seen it before.

    By Jason on September 8, 2005 7:04 pm

  10. I like the idea, but I think the execution is lacking. Why do they have two headers, for example?

    I think the stories could benefit from some categorization without losing the tabloid feel – take a look at the web site for the top-selling tabloid in the UK to see what I mean.

    Personally, I think The Onion did a better job with their redesign, although it doesn’t have quite the same tabloid feel.

    By Christian Watson on September 8, 2005 7:57 pm

  11. Pretty cool. I think I like it better than the previous design. On the old Sploid I didn’t really like the Newest Stories vs. Top Stories thing they had going. The only thing I’m not liking is the row of small stories on top–not sure why they are different. Like Christian said they could use at least some level of categorization. Always cool to see something different though…

    I actually think Arianna Huffington’s blog thing is working fairly well in its latest incarnation.

    By Geoffrey on September 8, 2005 11:31 pm

  12. It’s getting to the point where the only reason I click on the whitespace feed anymore is because I’m curious about what you’re going to bitch about or badmouth today. Cheers.

    By kevin on September 9, 2005 12:32 am

  13. Everything about this design shouts at me that I should hate it. But oddly, I don’t.

    I like the hierarchy of information – big stories in the top section and then practically no hierarchy after that – they don’t care what you read, just that you do!

    It might be more useful if they told you what the site was – some kind of tag-line in their header?

    By richard leader on September 9, 2005 3:41 am

  14. Scrivs – I agree with you. I feel like I’ve been attacked by content.

    So often you see sites that have been “over-designed” and now it’s swung the other way. This page definately contains too much content for the design.

    It’s nice to see that everyone has a different opinion of it though… :)

    By Tim on September 9, 2005 3:50 am

  15. Kevin: My bitch to content ratio is easily only 1:3 or 1:4. It used to be 1:1 :-) And honestly I’m not bitching at all, just offering my perspective and allowing others to do the same. I will see if I can do a happy post today since it is Friday.

    By Scrivs on September 9, 2005 10:13 am

  16. I never saw the previous design but I personally get dizzy looking at this design.

    WAY TOO MUCH going on with little whitespace.

    I don’t like the design, but hey, everyone else likes it.

    By Bryan on September 9, 2005 11:02 am

  17. I wonder if the redesigners of our newspaper’s site saw this… Recently redesigned: http://www.dailypress.com/

    By Jessica Ledbetter on September 9, 2005 4:15 pm

  18. Okay. I changed my mind. The wow factor wore off and I prefer the previous version. Having to roll-over the images to get the headline starts to wear thin. I find myself less interested in the site overall.

    By Geoffrey on September 9, 2005 7:00 pm

  19. It’s a well laid out website. However, I’m afraid it’s way too much for my already-strained eyes to focus on anything more than the main one or two headlines.

    By JD on September 9, 2005 8:30 pm

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