Analyzing Facebook’s Forthcoming Redesign

Last week, a source emailed us two screenshots of Facebook’s forthcoming redesign. While it’s still a work in progress, it shows some simple yet major enhancements that reveal where the world’s largest social network with over 350 million subscribers might be headed. For starters, Facebook seems to be returning to its roots, emphasizing fidelity instead of noise in its news feed.

Here are some of the changes:

• The navigation bar is reorganized, and thankfully, it seems like Facebook is removing the duplicate profile link. The name and profile links didn’t make much sense to begin with.
• The search field is now next to the Facebook logo, a clear sign that the company wants search to play a major role in the future. Searches for brands, events, companies and celebrities will be more prominent.
• By combining settings and login in an all-purpose “account” dropdown, Facebook is making the overall experience cleaner.
• The sidebar is scaled down and takes a lot of cues from Facebook Lite. In fact, the new design takes inspiration from Facebook Lite in the way News Feed, Friends, Events and Photos are displayed.
• Bookmarks is a smart way for users to add links to their favorite applications, fan pages or whatever.
• Facebook IM is still firmly ensconced at the bottom right, but app quick links and notifications are gone.

Josh Brewer, a web designer friend of mine, believes the new design is actually pretty good and will help people consume a lot of information easily, without being overwhelmed. “I think that the changes Facebook is planning are solid, calculated design decisions based on a ton of data and research,” he said.
What are your thoughts?

gigaom.com

Analyzing Facebook’s Forthcoming Redesign