Apple.com Site Redesign?

[MacRumors]

According to Zeldman.com, Apple has contracted two individuals (Douglas Bowman and Jeffrey Zeldman) to collaborate on a makeover of their corporate website (alongside the in-house Apple web design team).

Apple.com has not undergone a major revision since the Mac OS X-theming in 1999/2000. The most recent pre-Mac OS X theme archive available is from November 1999.

No time frame, or the extent of the makeover is given.

Update: A followup post on StopDesign.com claims that a visual redesign is not necessarily in the works:

To clear up some confusion and speculation, this does not imply a visual redesign is in the works. Happy Cog and Stopdesign will be consulting with the in-house team, providing guidance and a bit of a jump start as they explore the waters of web standards and forward-thinking design.

[applemacdude]

Maybe they wanna change teh design because of teh release of panther later on...

I doubt it though

[voyagerd]

I hope it's shinny!

[Mudbug]

Well, I for one hope that it's in the ballpark of being as functional and "pretty" as the current site... The current layout is easy to follow and understand, and is pleasing to the eye, as is the case with pretty much every apple product. I have to admit the designer in me wonders what the outcome will be...

[Keith Purfield]

I think it'll be a brushed metal design. They seem to like Metal now.

[iJon]

i wonder what other sites these guys have done. all i know thats a pretty heavy work load for 2 guys, im sure the paycheck will be nice though. when they collaborate, do these guys just think of the idea, or do they build the web site?

iJon

[evolu]

apple wants to be the #1 site on the net again.

http://www.btobonline.com/netMarketi...003/index.html

[arn]

Originally posted by iJon
i wonder what other sites these guys have done. all i know thats a pretty heavy work load for 2 guys, im sure the paycheck will be nice though. when they collaborate, do these guys just think of the idea, or do they build the web site?

iJon

they're working with the in-house Apple web design team

"We’ll be working with Messieurs Rand Hill, Douglas Vincent, and Chad Little of Apple’s web design team."

[evolu]

Some ideas:

Darker backgrounds (more like the new boxes)
Brushed metal throughout.
Panther style tabs.

[iJon]

Originally posted by arn
they're working with the in-house Apple web design team

"We’ll be working with Messieurs Rand Hill, Douglas Vincent, and Chad Little of Apple’s web design team."

yeah, i guess it would help clicking on the link and reading more. silly me.

iJon

[punter]

I hope they redesign it to include new powerbooks and panther! :P

[Nermal]

Every site needs a redesign now and then, it'll be good to have a change. I wonder how different it'll be...

[pmcaleer]

For those in the web design field familiar with Zeldman, this is a beauty of worlds colliding. I'm looking forward to the next site, whenever it rolls out, with a new anticipation. I'm also confident that it'll be better than the current site by leaps and bounds - and the current site isn't too shabby.

[hike77]

If anyone can do the site right, it will be zeldman. I think this is a great development. I can't wait to see what comes out of it, Hopefully it will even make safari better. You'll want your own site to look right in your own browser.

[Powerbook G5]

I have to say, clicking around on the old Apple site is a pretty cool blast from the past...I remember drooling over that PowerBook G3 way back when! I cannot see what the new site may look like, there seems to be so many exciting things happening with Apple lately.

[aje]

Originally posted by iJon
i wonder what other sites these guys have done. all i know thats a pretty heavy work load for 2 guys, im sure the paycheck will be nice though. when they collaborate, do these guys just think of the idea, or do they build the web site?

iJon

in the web design community zeldman is probably one of the most famous designers, known for raving about standards and usability. which is apple all over.

i'd just like to say though, as a web designer apple.com is one of the best sites on the net. easy to navigate, beautiful, very user friendly. its a tall ask to improve on it.

does anyone know if there is one art director who overlooks the whole apple brand (hardware, software, print, screen)? or if there are art directors for each section? would be interesting to know.

[Waluigi]

Originally posted by iJon
i wonder what other sites these guys have done. all i know thats a pretty heavy work load for 2 guys, im sure the paycheck will be nice though. when they collaborate, do these guys just think of the idea, or do they build the web site?

iJon

I'm a professional web designer, and it is just me (who does all of the graphics, flash, and animated gifs, ect), and my partner who is a genious coder from who is attending princeton (comp sci major). We have done lots of sites, just the 2 of us, no problem. Most of our time is actually spent checking to make sure everything is uniform, all the links work, and there are no bugs. If those 2, a web department from apple, and a whole slew of apple employees to test out a beta site before it goes live, it should be a piece of cake (and a very welcomed revision!).

--Waluigi

[Waluigi]

Originally posted by aje
i'd just like to say though, as a web designer apple.com is one of the best sites on the net. easy to navigate, beautiful, very user friendly. its a tall ask to improve on it.

You think apple is easy to navigate, beautiful, and very user friendly? Although it is compared to every other computer companies like dell, sony, gateway, ect, it is nothing compared to www.yale.edu which in my opinion is the best web site for navigation for a huge amount of content. That is the holy grail of navigation, and simplicity. It makes me cry out of joy with what they have done over at Yale.

--Waluigi

[zoozx]

Not impressed with either of those Co.'s web sites.

[aje]

Originally posted by Waluigi
You think apple is easy to navigate, beautiful, and very user friendly? Although it is compared to every other computer companies like dell, sony, gateway, ect, it is nothing compared to www.yale.edu which in my opinion is the best web site for navigation for a huge amount of content. That is the holy grail of navigation, and simplicity. It makes me cry out of joy with what they have done over at Yale.

--Waluigi

universities are notorious for bad navigation systems, but i don’t see what the big deal is with yale?

i tried to find out about post-grad multimedia/design courses and found it frustrating, therefore it fails in my view.

it was frustrating because there was no clear path for me to find out what i wanted to know

[aje]

Originally posted by zoozx
Not impressed with either of those Co.'s web sites.

well what are you impressed with?

[friendlyghost]

Zeldman really is a leader in accessable standards-based design and it's excellent to be hear he'll be working on the redesign.

He's genuinely knowledgable on standards-based design, which allows sites to be viewed well on numorous browsers whether they are Safari, IE, a little handheld one, or a browser for the blind. The opposite of this intelligent approach is when you see sites that say "Must have Internet Explorer 6 to use this site." Everyone in the mac community should be very pleased zeldman is on board.

I you consider yourself a web developer or designer you owe it to yourself to pick up his book Designing with Web Standards.

[bikertwin]

Originally posted by aje
universities are notorious for bad navigation systems, but i don’t see what the big deal is with yale?

i tried to find out about post-grad multimedia/design courses and found it frustrating, therefore it fails in my view.

it was frustrating because there was no clear path for me to find out what i wanted to know

Hmmm. Academics-->Professional Schools-->School of Art-->Areas of Study. Shows you all the post-grad courses.

4 clicks.

[themadchemist]

I guess everyone, even apple, thinks that the OS X theme is no longer chic (re: macrumors skins)...

I still like it, but it is getting overdone. I can't wait to see what they cook up; I'm sure it'll be great.

The nice thing about Apple's site is that the design is so radically different from every other tech software/hardware company's design...Sort of like the company itself.

If you go to microsoft or to dell or even to beloved IBM, the home pages are extremely similar, with key links at the top and more detailed links on the side...both textual, of course. In the case of Dell and IBM, several popular products can be found toward the bottom center of the page.

Ah, I hope that no matter what the change, Apple keeps its unique design, as a testament to its unique place in the computing world.

edit: Look at a Bauhaus-esque design, like that of the G5, for the new site.

Blocky? Cheese-gratey? Aluminum? We'll see.

[aje]

Originally posted by bikertwin
Hmmm. Academics-->Professional Schools-->School of Art-->Areas of Study. Shows you all the post-grad courses.

4 clicks.

yeah i found it

but it was frustrating - not to mention the total change in navigation/design once you get into the seperate schools

i've seen better nav systems for uni's where the first level is:

prospective students, current students, staff, alumni (and then another navigation system to the side which has all the usual contact, academic systems etc...

much easier as they identify there users straight away, whereas yale doesn't.

"website design 101 - identify your users"