Hmm… it looks nice. Probably better than Facebook does.
There’s really no need for a revolution

Agree, could be better. It looks like an msn website.

As a web designer, I really don’t think it’s bad at all. Clean and simple yet it isn’t a drastic change from the old design. I would call it more of a “design update” than a redesign. Redesigns can be a dangerous thing if executed poorly. I think they did a good job!

As a full time interactive creative I can say this is definitely missing something. There are at least 3 different fonts used (navigation, middle section and friends list), and the gradient on the nav is just — bad.

Their blog said they wanted to stay “blue”, wow, and blue it is. Looks like I am socializing in a hospital. Why not mix it up and use the color in the branding? Seems like the logo is on the wrong site.

None of the Big 3 really jump out at you as beautiful, and MySpace is pretty easy to call ugly.

I’ve got to say, for a piece of Google property, it looks pretty decent.

Where’s the “I am feeling lucky” button?

rounded-corners are so last year

First Impression - Looks better than the old one but nothing great or disappointing. Looks pretty neat and cool.

It’s not spectacular but it had to be done. The old layout looked like SquirrelMail meets myspace.

It doesn’t seem that bad to me - but I have no artistic skills.

I think orkut try to be different, but there are nothing special….

Yeah — the whole Feng Shui thing is off for me — how am I supposed to socialize when I can’t achieve virtual harmony……

send them to wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shui

When I first heard about this redesign this morning, I seriously thought Google was redefining Orkut and enabling SocialStream within that brand.

http://abhishek.tiwari.com/200.....he-rescue/

I agree with you. These changes are super boring. Also the color schemes are very facebook like.

Here in Brazil orkut is absolutely the bigger social network and most users from orkut are brazillians. Some people here use the internet for the first time for create their orkut accounts, is a big digital inclusion factor.

Changing the interface too much would provably scare millions of users. Redesigning a big site is always a risk, orkut seems to be in the right way just giving a new look, but the same structure at all.

The brazilian blog “Google Discovery” have more pictures of new Orkut… you can see here:
http://www.googlediscovery.com.....interface/

I feel like the designers said “Let’s make something that takes a back seat… brings the social network to the fore.” Maybe I’m not being critical enough.

Anyway, its clean.

It does look decent comparing to the old one. Atleast for frequent users this should be a good change and not a borrrrrrrring one !!

Someone here is against Orkut ?

Cheers,
Vinay

It’s a refresh and that’s good. Very large successful sites can’t be radically redesigned, at least not in one big launch. eBay tried it and almost had a rebellion. Amazon redesigned because the top tab interface wasn’t working as they added new categories but they were subtle, kept a couple of tabs up top to keep people comfortable. You refine over time, you don’t redesign.

Well they do have that required asymmetric rounded corners (WooHooo!!)
And that blue tint with the bug eyed guy! Dude that is definitely VC material!

Hell I bet if you clicked on any link on that website you would have the “Required” Green (Probably in a Pastel shade) “Working…” DIV tag displayed in the upper right corner of the browser to let everyone know that “THIS IS AN AJAX WEBSITE”

I think the pre-post telling us a redesign was happening built expectations somewhat…and then we get new icons and rounded corners.

Alright, I got the new interface activated in one my account (which I hardly) use but not on my primary account which I have been using for 3 years now.

I found some cool changes logging into both the ID. How about checking the two sets here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/d.....647543527/

Orkut (Old) - The Present layout design.
Orkut Beta (New) - Upcoming Version.

Have taken 10 screenshots on each of the interfaces and you can judge the difference easily.

Cheeers,
Vinay

Several commentators have voiced their aesthetic feedback, and some are hinting at the question, but I think it has not been addressed: what Orkut trying to accomplish? Bring it inline with Google’s branding; homogenize on other site’s visual design; give their UI designer something to do; or simplify the UI so it is more like Facebook?

I vote the last option.

I agree with Mike. I am a long time user of orkut. On one hand, I like Orkut’s simplicity and on the other, I hate their closed platform+lack of features. A little more was expected from Orkut’s new version (long time overdue) I think Google is developing a totally different social network. Orkut will slowly die.

I agree that is more of a “Design Update” than a redesign. And once again to agree with others… way too much blue. As an interactive designer, I would have pushed to have the site better reflect the other google tools. Google did a redesign on “Google Docs” a few months ago and did an absolutely stellar job. I think that copying the general visual style of docs to Okurt would have greatly strengthened the google brand and helped convert some of the allready die-hard google fans to Okurt users. Given, a social networking site needs a less formal tone to it, but adding a little color and giving things a bit more space can easily re-tool an pre-existing look and feel to a new home.

I just feel it is to show to its users that orkut shall forever keep innovating..just to stop anybody from moving out to Facebook, which is slowly entering orkut dominated Indian and Paksitani market

Straight outa 2003, ugg…
Actually, it really reminds me of Hyves (.nl), a dutch social networking site that is all the rage, and has been for a while. It also is availible in English, but the text for the website is so unnaturally english…

Nothing revolutionary. True. But its better tan the previous version, what i hate is the ability to embed pictures into scraps.. Orkut seems as full of glitter pictures as myspace, and that sucks.

I don’t like Orkut , you cant perform profile oriented search : age ,interests ,location etc.I think the Idea behind social networks is meeting new people and the current Orkut search doesn’t help.

You completely missed the most important detail: Eduardo (the man in the profile) is “busy for chat”! There was no internal chat in Orkut, until now! I guess this is going to be a huge hit in Brazil and India for Orkut! Who cares for the low-key graphical style when you have brand new chats!

@Upanisad,
The chat is an integration with GTalk, which was available few months ago. It is nothing new.

Not bad …. but, it is nothing new - old stuff and the color scheme is maybe one of the most used in internet history. It is not eco-friendly design. Facebook looks much better.

blah . . . was going to post earlier on this, but spent the past 30 minutes heaving up breakfast. It looks like one of the original internet pages from the early 90’s.
There are thousands of talented developers out there in the world, and Orkut comes out with this?

For a google product its amazing

The pre-post indicating a redesign indicated they were refreshing their look, “the same you change your profile picture from time to time”. I think they did just what they said. If they messed around with the features or layout too much they’d have a revolt - Orkut succeeds because it’s simple.

Hey Michael, you are used to Facebook UI. Regular Orkutters like me were impressed by the new design. You can’t radically change the design which is used by millions worldwide.

The UI changes haven’t hit my id yet. However, starting yesterday I am able to do something I was not able to do before … signing in to Orkut using IE on my phone.

re-design, what diff would it make?none. To me orkut is a bad job on part of google guys.. with so much potential for they are yet to do anything worthwhile

The new design actually is creating space for widgets, orkut content and app content in the middle. They are likely to platformize Orkut now, Facebook did the same thing, uncluttered their navigation by pushing the app links to the top and to the a-column navigation a few months before launching the platform. Here, Orkut is doing the same thing. Someone among the comments mentioned a chat functionality. It is now easy to integrate not chat but anything they want in the middle. Wait and see.

Too much publicity for a mere CSS change…

Just like every other Google property, the visual design is for shit. I love how everyone feels the need to qualify their comments with “I’m an interaction designer!” and “I’m from Brazil! We love us some Orkut!” Come on, people. In terms of UI and functionality, this is underwhelming at best and laughably outdated at worst.

Clean, simple and approachable design (some call it cookie cutter). It works, but it’s not ground-breaking or memorable. Like any design (see all other comments here) it works for some an not others….so you better have a reason to use it!

ok — so what I’m hearing from others is boring people like boring Orkut.

Well — isn’t that the point of having different social nets ?

If we all liked the same thing…..BBBBBOOOORRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG

Hello, hello,
what the hell second biggest social networking site?
Its the least big one man.

I agree with Mike on this one… there is something left to be desired. Although, I have to admit it actually looks a lot like a community site that I once built.

Why do you find this design bad? I think it’s good. Clean and Simple .. just like any other google product.

That’s what sells for google! Isn’t it?

I think the design is far below the expectations. I would definitely expect more than this..

its great i think. really better than old one…

I like the subtle changes.

Very bad seems orkut is taking its users for granted

Simplicity rules. I don’t think it’s that bad at all… Look at Myspace, bleh!

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http://www.fantasysportsmatrix.com