As someone who spends much too much time thinking about user interaction and experience, I spend a lot of time translating the input of non-design-savvy users about websites into usable feedback. (No slight intended towards these users: their input is the most useful of all, it’s only that they often lack the design vocabulary to specifically articulate it.) I’ve got a pet theory that when these users say something looks “professional” or “good”, they are often saying, “doesn’t look like a blog.” Not that the traditional blog layout is inherently bad, but since it’s pervasive, it’s considered pedestrian. The common assumption seems to be that anyone can do a basic blog design. (Which is, to some degree, true.)

For these users, the newest Is Greater Than design may seem like a regression from the previous, more magazine-style layout. But I’d argue that the new, blog-style design is actually a progression, and I’d like to defend the lamented and somewhat pedestrian blog layout, for the following reasons:

1) It’s ubiquitous. Blog designs are everywhere, and therefore, users of all levels can navigate them easily. For better or worse, years of blog-style web design has taught users how to interact with websites in a very specific way, creating something of a navigation and interface standard.

2) It’s intuitive. There’s a reason that magazines like Newsweek and The Week are switching to a blog-style theme: it’s clean and intuitive. There are very clear entry points, and users who have grown accustomed to scrolling several page lengths of content can get an overview of the site’s topics and recent posts at-a-glance. Compare this to a design such as the Huffington Post’s, which is an overwhelming mess for even the most seasoned web user.

3) It’s flexible. As pleasing as the previous Is Greater Than design was, it was very rigid and inflexible. There were certain content blocks, and a simple timely update would require all sorts of reorganization on the backend just to reflect the new content on the front page.

4) It’s chronological. Every site has some sort of archive page, but users rarely visit the archives (unless referred directly from a Google search.) Visitors want to see what is new as quickly as possible. A stripped-down layout allows us to drive attention to the newest feature without any major planning. We post something, and immediately it’s at the top of the front page.

So there you have it. I’ve been working on, and thinking about, this redesign for several months, and hope you enjoy it. Please send feedback to me at isgreaterthan@gmail.com. The most important thing to me is that the focus remains on the writing and images: I’m not interested in attention-grabbing or gimmicky designs. A good design should fall away into the background, and present its content as clearly and accessibly as possible. Is it successful? I’d love to hear your thoughts.