The Verge Redesign Is Bad but Is Growing on Me

The Verge launched a whole new web dI was beyond excited whenn. When I saw that tweet about the nexcited. I’ve listened to The Verge Cast since it started in 2011, and read their writing since the This is My Next Blog. And while they’ve changed a lot, I still like their coverage over other sites.

When I saw the new design, my first feeling was shock. The new design on the homepage uses lots of different fonts (3 to be exact), a dark background with white text, and lots of neon colors.

I felt overwhelmed with the design and couldn’t figure out what was a link to an external website, an article they’d written, or a random blurb in their story stream. Plus, being a dark-only mode on the homepage with white/grey texts and lots of bright colors made it hard to read.

Now however it’s grown on me a little. I listened to the podcast with the team and they explained the rrethinkinghinking of the site.

I know, having to explain a design isn’t good design.

But, when they said they wanted to shake up the industry and do more micro-blogging it made sense. Their story streams have been nice. I’ve been able to discover new content from Reddit, other tech sites, and even watch Tik Toks they have made or enjoyed.

It’s made it feel more like I am discussing technology and culture with them, instead of simply reading the site. The story streams are much like they’re live blogging technology news, and the pressure to write a ton isn’t there. It’s like a Slack channel where they share interesting new posts from around the web.

I’ve also loved The Verge Cast because they have a fun and light-hearted conversations about tech news, and they’re not too serious and share a ton of inside baseball. Also, the podcasts remind me of when I was technology blogging for Digital Bounds.

I still think they should use one font on the site and allow me to have a white background/black text option. The other colors, new logo, and story stream could all stay.

Either way, I am excited to see if others borrow from their new ideas and keep reading The Verge.