Separating signal from noise - a review of new site launches from the Government and the BBC

It's been a busy couple of days for launches. On Tuesday, the Government Digital Service pushed the button and released the GOV.UK beta to the public. On Wednesday, the BBC launched a new look BBC Sport website. Users of both products have been quick to offer feedback.

The aim of GOV.UK is to eventually replace the aging Directgov website as the single destination for everything the government has to offer. It is clear from the beta that the designers have focused on predictive search as the main method of navigation and, by their own admission, browsing is something that may need to be improved. Page clutter has been kept to a minimum throughout and a simple system of colour coding and icons helps wayfinding – or at least it would if the meaning of those colours and icons were made a little clearer.

Feedback has been invited through a number of channels including Get Satisfaction, Twitter and email. Early responses seem generally positive with a mixture of praise and constructive criticism. A couple of users expressed disappointment with the accuracy of search results when compared to Directgov, some were unhappy with the use of serif fonts and others suggested changes to background colours and contrast. The design team have already acted on a number of these comments and have promised ongoing improvements.

Meanwhile, the BBC has been on a mission to redesign all of its digital services across web, mobile, IPTV and tablets to fall in line with a Global Experience Language (GEL) that was introduced at the start of 2010. The design philosophy that underpins this language aims to ensure that the BBC delivers an experience that is distinctive and consistent.
The BBC Sport website is the latest product to receive the GEL treatment. As has been the case with other high-profile BBC redesigns such as News and most recently the Homepage, a lot of the feedback from users has been negative or even angry. Everything from the colour palette and page layout through to the underlying information architecture and content strategy has been criticised. Are any of these complaints really justified or is this just another example of people disliking change?

While I am a fan of GEL, I have to concede that this particular implementation has some issues. The yellow and black colour combination, while consistent with existing BBC Sport TV output, hasn’t translated well to the web and is just too overpowering and distracting in such large quantities. The application of the GEL grid system is awkward in places too with headlines on the homepage squeezed into a column down the middle and content on article pages flowing awkwardly around pull quotes and other inserts. Information density on landing pages is high and a lack of clear structure makes it hard to separate signal from noise.

It is unfortunate that an apparent lack of finesse in some areas is distracting from the underlying positive changes. The new horizontal navigation does certainly make it easier to switch between sports and brings the experience in line with other BBC sites. Support for live coverage and commentary is better and the light blue signposting for these features is helpful. The addition of statistics – if you can find them – to the football tables is a nice touch, too.

BBC redesigns will always attract a lot of criticism. In this case, a combination of BBC Sport branding, the GEL framework and huge amounts of content have been forced together at the expense of usability. The lack of a beta hasn’t eased the transition either.

Both design teams are actively collecting feedback from their users and it will be interesting to see whether they can use these comments to improve and evolve their products in ways that will make a real noticeable difference. GOV.UK is of course still in the early stages of development which means that users have a real opportunity to influence the creative direction.  The challenge for the BBC will be to listen to its users and try to separate signal from noise. Those who dislike change will I’m sure soon grow to love the new BBC Sport website but it would be foolish of the BBC not to take a good look at all available feedback and be humble in making changes where necessary.

GOV.UK

BBC sport

 

This blog post was written by Matt

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