For most Plurkers, they will never see the Plurk home page after first signing up and logging in. I know for me, the only time I see it is when I log out as Mike Templeton and log in as Plurkular.
The people who do see the home page are new users and onlookers thinking about joining the service. When someone recommends Plurk or posts a link on another site, those users make their way over and immediately form their first impressions.
The Old Home Page
Up until today, Plurk had been using an orange-dominated page that included their bonehead logo, a list of interesting Plurkers, a unique form of signing up (by clicking the Plurk button) and the interesting tagline, “Plurk is a place that lets you publish and share your thoughts, emo-ness, #^@%!*%(& and loves.”
Everyone who came to the site was first intrigued by the logo, everyone trying to figure out what it was and why Plurk was using it. It was unlike anything other Web 2.0 and microblogging sites were using. Aside from the simple graphics and call to action, there wasn’t much on the page. It was a clean design that left users with one option, to begin plurking.
The New Home Page
Today, Plurk released a new design for the home page and there are lots of mixed feelings. I responded to ZenElements‘ question about the new home page, as did several others.
Following up on my response to ZenElements, I just can’t find the new home page attractive. Unless you count the first timeline screenshot, they’ve completely abandoned their color scheme, they’ve changed their slogan to “Plurk is a social journal for your life” and they’ve stripped the page entirely of their logo.
The Colors
In my opinion, the new colors are hideous. The original oranges were fairly unique, and though they took some time to adjust to, that orange color became part of Plurk’s brand. Now they are using a hot fuschia backgroud with a rainbow trout page gradient.
The Graphics
The strange creature graphics, also a seemingly iconic part of Plurk’s brand, are now absent from the page. If you look hard enough you will spot them in the timeline screenshot background, but they are definitely not front and center as before.
I think including screenshots of the timeline was a good move, but that’s the only improvement I can note in terms of the new graphical design.
The Message
With this visual redesign, Plurk has also forcefully changed the message they are portraying. Where before Plurk was essentially described as a place to share your thoughts, ideas and conversations, now they are ‘a social journal for your life”. For me, I would actually rather see the mass of ‘lifestream’ Plurks decrease rather than increase. Using Plurk as a ’social journal’ also seems much more one-sided and less conversational, as opposed to a place where people ask questions and participate in discussions.
Also, a subhead to the main slogan was also added. When the page was first released, it read “Tired of Stupid Social Networks?”, but was quickly met with objections from Plurkers saying it made Plurk seem childish, so they quickly adapted it to read “Tired of other Social Networks?”.
When I read the new subheading, I felt like Plurk was trying to hard to make themselves seem legit. “Use us because we are cooler” it seemed to be saying to me. I believe that if you have a good product and respond to the users who support you, the masses will come. You don’t have to sell that to them.
The Call to Action
The new design includes a revised sign up button, now simply stating ‘Sign Up Now’ instead of the unique registration process from before. This new take on registering looks like every other site out there. Maybe its because it works, but there’s also something to be said about being unique.
I do like the new login bar at the top for existing users, as the old version made you click into a secondary page that allowed you to log in to the site.
The Verdict
If you haven’t realized it by now, I am completely against the new home page for Plurk. I feel that the A-Team took something that worked well and represented their brand and twisted it into something complete different and distant.
The other thing I wonder about is whether or not this new design will get carried through the rest of the Plurk site, as currently everything else still follows the old format.
My Questions for Plurk and the A-Team
In hope that someone will respond, I have a few questions:
- What drove this decision to redesign the home page?
- Was it the Plurkosphere and the users?
- What benefits does the new design bring?
- Why should we support it?
- Will you listen to the masses (as you have before), or will you stand by your decision for change?
If you have questions of your own about the new design, please include them here in the comments. Hopefully we will get a few members of the A-Team to respond.
