new wk.com site

Check out the new www.wk.com site, created by our guys in Portland. This one represents the whole network. Let us know what you think.

Comments

[Luis Vazquez]

In awe.

I'll need time to say what I 'think' ...but, in layman's terms, I like it.

[anonymous]

Pretty fucking bad ass site.... Nice job Portlanders...

The space background looks a bit low res.... but other than that it's a wealth of valuable information configured in a creative way.....

[fitz]

I find it slightly difficult to work out, its appears simple but then just starts to make life difficult like its taking the piss and getting worse on purpose... i don't know. I also typed the words 'Tony Davidson' into the search box and apparently he merits 'no result' maybe thats something they would want to sort out... or doesn't he work there anymore ;-)

[Mark P.]

Absolutely perfect. Is this automatically the finest agency website now? I think so.

[Provias]

...sorry... no! I think is a little "too serious" and "pretentious" and not in line with the tone of voice "wieden+kennedy" brand has...

I prefer the old one!

Sorry...

anyway, you know better.

[Gareth Procter]

I personally found itvery difficult to navigate and find what I wanted, although there is a lot of scope for exploration (which is maybe the point) I also found it very frustrating.

However I really like the timeline idea I just think that it may work better if the years were seperated instead of overlayed.

I prefer the last one also

[Zusya]

Another vote for the previous site.

It was simple, elegant, yet rich: a great clothing store, where you can see and find everything, and touch the fabric, too.

The new site, while flash-y and now-ish, is a video game arcade: loud, dissonant and cold in all its busy colorful beeping coolness.

Maybe that was the whole point. I still prefer the one I could actually have a conversation with.

[drew]

Your other site was inspiring in its powerful simplicity. It is dead. Long live the old site.

[drew]

Your other site was inspiring in its powerful simplicity. It is dead. Long live the old site.

[will]

the site is brilliant aesthetically, powerful design. but i agree that it is very hard to navigate. i spent ages on the site trying to get back to seeing other pieces of work and it's not that intuitive to use.

[peter]

I'm afraid I really don't like it. Which is a shame as I went through the old site last week thinking how excited I would be to see a new WK site soon, believing you'd really change the mold. What with all that innovation you bring to tired old concepts like cars and newspapers.

Sadly you've got it wrong.

But it's not just you. A lot of agency sites are quite laboured conceits. They tend to shoe-horn the execution of a hastily-thought up concept across tone of voice, navigation, design and content. And end up being either confusing, unsuccessful or conceited. The shame for WK is that you've just done what everyone else does. Zigged.

I also think that if you wanted to use your site to emphasise how different WK is to all the other agencies, you could have done something different. Perhaps even something that suggested an understanding of the medium. But instead you've done a big old Flash site, re-purposed a load of stuff from other proojects, and come up with something that makes you appear polyphrenic. And not in a good way neither.

So no, I'm not a big fan.

Go on, do something great with the web soon.

[neil]

Hmmm. Mixed response so far, you'd have to say. We're also about to launch a revamped version of the www.wklondon.com site. It will be more along the 'powerful simplicity' lines, for those who like that. You can't please everyone.
But all feedback is appreciated, thanks.

[James-H]

I think it's kind of nice. Although it's a little dry. There's a lot of blood (people) and dirt (chaos) and love (that visceral WK vibe from the last site) missing.

On the other hand, it's wonderful how the sections are both easily navigable and so intermingled that you can easily jump from one neuron to another, one section to another, without feeling lost or railroaded.

And WTF? You'll do another one next year. Learn from it. Congratulations.

[mathew]

The site is definitely polarizing.

Old people really hate it, but then again they can't program TiVo.

[Christos]

"Hi I'm the new WK site"
"and I am the old one!!!!"

"Wha.. Why are you so happy Old Wk site?"

"Noooo more clicks, gone! Out of here!!"

"Sooo umm, what are you thinking about me"

"Well.. we could be brothers, or….. Now that I’m looking at you

"Err What?"

"Now that I’m looking at you I see that you have lots of info in there…LOADS of them goood"

"That's great, soooo what about my design some people say it’s not good"

"Arrr.. it’s the power of use son, oh wait I didn’t just said that.... 'SON?' Yess you are my child"

"Dad?"

"Come here son… good luck out there with all those clicks… I think you are born to succeed"

*WK Logo Fades in*

Wk new site "You know, this smug feeling, it feels pretty good.."

:-)

[Wade Forst]

This brings up the feeling of being in a completely different world/culture/environment, with a different visual language... Does a red octagon mean stop? Does a green circle mean enter?

With a new language, outsiders need a guide. In this beautiful new world you created, I am lost... yet I enjoy the feeling.

Great effort and great work

- WF

[Fabian]

Really nice site.
But where are the gore-tex ads? How can you hide these wonderfull copies?

[sarah]

Quite like the new site. Sometimes felt as though the old one was a bit "too cool for school" in a snarky sort of way. Not that it necessarily was, but if websites could speak... Yes, it was beautiful in its simplicity, and sometimes the flash-laden ones are a bit of pain to navigate, but visually, the new site does a better job of explaining how the w+k brain works, words on the screen not even withstanding. Nice work.

[Mike D]

Check out what Portland did last night. Holy fuck! Beastie Boys came to Wieden Kennedy.

http://wkstudio.typepad.com/

[Gunnermountain]

BIG WORLD...small company. That's what I got out of it artwise. Also the feeling of fleetingness. Things going so fast...nothing really mattering.

[Anon Coward]

Thank Christ for the search function, it even works.

The new site screams 'we get you web 2 dot 0!!! Really!!! We do@!!'

I'm afraid investing that much time in a tag cloud could very well pay off like sinking my 401K into parachute pants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute_pants)
when "\/\/3b 2dot0" just becomes the internet (again.)

I'm still lovin' Leo Burnett (http://www.leoburnett.com/)

[Instinctive Traveller]

Do you think in getting all that functionality stuff right, you forgot about aesthetics? It's way too black; it's way too intimidating. Now why did I use that word? If I were shown this option, as a client, I'd have said the same thing, only in stronger words.

[John]

Can anyone say THINKMAP? This is a rip-off of a great original idea.

[Johnny]

Wow, this really would have been cutting edge in 1998. The navigation is worse than bad. And when I clicked on a news article, it directed me back to the "home page." Oh yeah, there's a typo on the homepage.

[UI Guru]

Design For Your Data

The essential function of a website is communicating information. Depending on the nature and structure of the information, some methods for communicating that information may be more effective than others. What's right for one type of information is not necessarily right for another. I feel that Wieden+Kennedy employed a presentation method for their new website that is inappropriate for the kind of content they have and it makes for an unpleasant user experience.

Take a look at ThinkMap's Visual Thesaurus ( http://www.visualthesaurus.com ). ThinkMap used a technique very similar to "topic-mapping" (a registered international standard: ISO/IEC 13250:2003) to display the synonyms and antonyms for a user's search. Because topic maps emphasize on the findability of information, the overall effect is pleasant, easy to read and effective.

I believe Wieden+Kennedy intended to create a similar type of freeform browsing experience on their new site ( http://www.wk.com ) but missed the mark and cluttered the message because of a mistaken assumption.

Topic mapping works for Visual Thesaurus because the text in the nodes themselves are the information you want - the synonyms and antonyms. There is no need to navigate "inside" a node once you see the result you want on your screen.

However, topic-mapping is inappropriate for content that cannot be represented with a simple, short string of text. Searching a portfolio site, one intends to find images, video, audio and longer text descriptions. The user can't actually get to any multimedia content until they reach the last node in a chain and they have no idea when that will happen. I feel that overall result is one of being overwhelmed, confused and discouraged. Only if the user notices the more traditional links at the bottom for clients or portfolio will the user actually be able to find what he or she may be looking for.

Additionally, the text of a Weiden+Kennedy node is a disembodied word or phrase and offers very little insight into what will happen if you click it. I feel that the end result is a never-ending void of link after link because you never know when you're going to reach the actual content.

I can't help but feel that Weiden+Kennedy's use of a topic map interface as the dominant device on their website is more of an expression of their programming talent than a usable tool to experience their work. There seems to be more "see what we can do" than "see our work" on the site. User interface designers, try to create thoughtful ways to communicate information rather than using a cool new tool where it is inappropriate. You'll do the design world a favor.

- UI Guru