Kickstarter has changed its layout. Just a quick look makes it obvious, that they focused on clarity, ease of navigation and convenience for the user. How would the new layout affect perception of the site? The opinions are divided. Some even compare it to a cocoon hiding a beautiful butterfly.
Let’s Start With the Numbers
Many users have considered Kickstarter’s layout to be its weakest point. Finding the desired information about the pledge total, number of backers etc required many minutes spent scrolling, especially with a slower connection. General statistics were even harder to find.
New solutions are going to simplify this. Upper part of the home page displays information regarding the number of backers, all funded campaigns and the ones currently running.
Apart from photos and project descriptions we can see the percentage of base goal collected at the moment. Small modifications were also introduced to dedicated campaign sites. Most vital data is posted in one place and located near the main picture or video.
These changes prove that Kickstarter wants to be seen as a professional business tool. Until recently most would call it a website focusing on young people, game geeks and digital entertainment. The site states now that: “You’re entering a page, which will allow you to realize investments from various fields. We have helped almost 140 000 campaigns, and close to 14 million people have backed projects hosted by us”.
New Kickstarter Design – More Air
The new layout of Kickstarter is extra clear. It feels spacious and pleasant to the eye. Materials promoting campaigns take advantage of this especially now that the section with recommended projects has been created. Now it’s easier to discover interesting ventures, take look at them and scan quickly with your eyes. Campaign lists make use of proven solutions. Each line has 3 tiles with short description, info about the creator and some financial data.
“What we’re Reading” section is also worth mentioning. It presents links to interesting articles, which tell us many things about the world of crowdfunding. A fantastic place to look for information.
New Color Scheme – a Shock
New layout elements and the change in color scheme are easily the most debated aspects of the big change. The lettering feels more uniform and round than before. Refreshed color seems to be somewhere between green and black.
Good old green has disappeared not just from the letters. The color always associated with Kickstarter is now visible only on campaign subpages. This decision adds another brick to building new professional image.
Reception
Kickstarter’s new clothes have caused tons of varied reactions. Plenty of UI and UX specialists praise the new looks while others claim that the text doesn’t fit at all. Some even joke that Kickstarter’s worker kept making the font thicker and thicker to the point when it had no more effect.
We’ve been positively impressed by Kickstarter’s revision ourselves. Clear, minimalistic layout makes viewing the content easier and emphasizes all important details. The lettering? We see it as a nod towards creativity and courage to present the newest ideas. Unconventional thinking was key in making crowdfunding so popular.
New clothes were created thanks to cooperation between Kickstarter’s internal studio and Order design studio.
And what do you think about the new layout? Do you agree that it makes the site more clear? What about the lettering? We’d love to hear your opinion.
