TechCrunch Deconstructed
Title: TechCrunch http://www.techcrunch.com/
I'm not a super regular visitor of TechCrunch, but I started following it more after the last major redesign. This design puts more emphasis on the content than their old homepage and positions them as a content producing leader. Making money with content online can be difficult, but TechCrunch has put the emphasis on providing great content- this is a strategy that will continue to fuel their growth. *ZURB is a close-knit team of interaction designers and strategists that help companies design better (www.zurb.com).
Created by Bryan Zmijewski
Captured November 17, 2009 at 05:16PM
With the Notable FireFox Plugin
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1
Boxing in the ad around a piece of content helps increase click-through,. The logo however doesn't offer much in terms of actions and is likely to reduce the click-through.
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2
TechCrunch does a great job of getting feed sign-ups, but these actions get lost in the shuffle. Based on ZURB's experience, people who subscribe to a feed are more likely to engage in the site. $$$
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3
Bravo. People want content, not navigation! However, the calls to action for these destinations should be stronger within the page.
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4
The downside of a "modular," boxed in design is that intersecting lines fight for the user's eye.
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5
The downside of this advertising model is repeated ads- it grabs the attention of a user, but this effort will provide limited value for the advertiser.
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6
In a blog structure like this, content space is valuable- but why treat the event as an ad? Content that supports the event would drive more invested clicks.
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7
Is this an ad? Editorial? Clicking on this graphic takes you to a blog entry, but it appears to be advertising. It's very misleading.
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8
Cool, great information. It costs money, but why treat this as an ad?
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9
Interesting use of buttons to show popularity of a post. For design consistency it would be nice to right align with the dotted line.
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10
Great use of images and headlines to draw people into the site. This feature is a huge win over most editorial sites. An A/B test might reveal having one big rotating editorial image and headline would actually encourage more clicks down the page and increase advertising click-through rates.
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11
This is great. Showing activity encourages more activity.
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12
Boxing in the ad increases the click-through. Removing the dotted line to the right might increase it even more.
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13
Bold headers are great. Users appreciate the simplicity of a clear call to action. They can choose to read the article or not.
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14
This is where a user would expect to see search, though it feels a tad crammed and the rounded form elements don't seem to gel with the heavy grid system.
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15
Logos seem odd and out of place. For a site that considers placement of content, these seem to be thrown onto the page.
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16
Eventually the value of these placements will go down as users continue to return for content- reducing the number of ads and increasing $ will encourage more click-through.
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17
These two ad placements probably don't get a high click-through rate.
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18
Humor keeps things real. Even if it is for stats.
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19
Content, content, and content. TechCrunch gives users what they want. A long scrolling page of content keeps people coming back.
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20
Considering a better footer might increase traffic and engagement. $$$
Comments on this Post
Bryan Zmijewski says,
Here is a 2005 screenshot of the TechCrunch homepage from the Way Back Machine. A few insights:
Bryan Zmijewski says,
More follow-up on previous designs:
Bryan Zmijewski says,
Here is an early 2008 screenshot of the TechCrunch homepage from the Way Back Machine. A few insights:
Jonathan Smiley added notes and says,
The 2008 homepage had a very self-important logo, but was also a much less busy page...made it easier to focus in on the content. A lot of the changes since then make sense from a revenue perspective, but bringing back at least a little of that simplicity would be great.
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