In the video, its confounding and thus, I attempt to create a more user-friendly site providing the least clicks with regards to the pathways. Some things I had in mind include using grids, lesser headline text links and using colour to compartmentalise the different news categories. I also consider other factors such as ads and other monetising initiatives such as paid contents by other news site and how these elements have a relationship with the other content of the news site without being obstructive.

All this with Beatrice Warde’s Crystal Goblet in mind. As it is a news site, the design elements has to be as ‘invisible’ as possible and the content is king. Hence, I look up some interesting news sites for inspiration.

BBC

BBC has

• White space
• Score board on the right hand side of the Sports section for people to be updated
• a nice pop-up subscription for the shop site. However, as a user, I find these pop-ups as annoying and associated with malware.

THE VERGE

Looks like it caters to a younger, tech-savvy audience.

• Collage grid for structure
• Information hierarchy – important stories have a larger square, or white space.
• Home page is black background while other pages are white. Perhaps the black creates a more striking visual impact on the user with its boldness and use of neon. Together with the customised slab serif typeface of its logo and the header occupying half of the screen space before one does any scrolling, it demands attention and is not afraid of it. It projects itself as cutting edge, modern, and a bold approach in design for news.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Minimalist, grid layout. Very conservative design that connects people with the power of similarity. The way the reader will treat the screen will be the same as to how their eyes will treat how they read a newspaper.