I read a lot on the web.  It’s part of my job, and it helps that I spend a large portion of the workday online.  Coupled with this is my desire to stay abreast of worldly affairs, and I am constantly reading news sites like The Australian, The Age, Canada’s The Globe and Mail and National Post, and the UK’s BBC.

My thirst for news takes me on this international journey through my browser, but I am not always able to get what I want – news.  The BBC recently took a step in the right direction in making me feel better about reading online news by profiling their new site design before it goes live, reminding me that online brand and usability are key components to a brand’s website experience.

I love how the BBC’s main site shows a sneak peak of the ‘New Look’.  In addition to profiling PM Gillard in their images which brings out the (freshly minted) Australian in me, the BBC is proactively interacting with its audience, showing them what it is cooking in the background.  This transparent communication, and the drive to improve their user experience, gets two thumbs up from me, and more of my confidence that they are doing the ‘right’ thing.  Too often companies and brands tell their audience what they want without asking them how they feel about changes they are planning to make.

The new BBC site features a less cluttered page and a focus on headlines – the meat that keeps me coming back.  Other news sites remain cluttered with ads, preventing me from getting information and constantly causing me to close the page without reading the headlines.  A site, and the way visitors interact with it, is the reason people keep coming back.  The ability to keep visitors on the site is an evolution, but one that improves the site experience.  I love how the BBC wants to make their site easier for me to use, and for showing me how they are doing it.  The more a brand can communicate this, the better people will feel about talking about it online.

Arieh Singer