New NZ Herald Homepage

Oh… I like it! It is much cleaner than it was before. I think that the addition of extra visuals on the homepage has seriously broken up the page which was previously too text heavy for my liking.

I was lucky enough to be shown what this was going to look like last week, and when you place the old and new homepages side by side, without a doubt the new one looks much nicer.

I like what they have done with the advertising spaces too. So today Farmers has bought out the homepage with the super rec, and because the super rec is being used, the top banner has been dropped from the homepage. I think this is a really good call on APN’s behalf. If a client is willing to spend the money on a super rec (placement and development of the creative) then give them pride of placement. By dropping the top banner, the entire super rec is above the fold (note: I am viewing this in Chrome). From memory, if a normal rec has been purchased the top banner comes back.

I see (especially news sites) homepages as a portal. People go to check out headlines, and then go to a story they want to read. While I am sure that the ads get clicked on, I think the branding potential is much higher.

Can’t say I’m completely wedded to the font, but that’s something I can overlook.

I like. I wasn’t much of a fan of the old homepage, would visit this one more I feel. I will be interested to see if they roll some of these changes out throughout the rest of the site.