Let me paint a picture for you. You’re drinking your morning cup of joe, you login to Facebook before diving into your work emails (I won’t tell if you won’t). But what’s this? Facebook looks different. You start to panic. You feel betrayed, yet again, sad and confused. Fear not people, Facebook has made some changes on us again, but they are not life altering this time. I am here to go through these minor changes for you. Here we go:
1. Font–This time around Facebook is keeping their changes simple. One of the biggest elements to the new design is the font. They have gone for a cleaner, easier to read look by making the font a classic san serif Arial (PC), or Helvetica (MAC). Although simple, this change completely alters the look of Facebook (atleast for me). I felt distracted by the larger, harder font, but I think my eyes are adjusting now.
2. Background– Another super simple change. They have changed the background color from white to grey. This really helps to show the three column layout that they are working with. You will notice the newsfeed now seems bigger and the left navigation is more streamline.
2. Images– Images are bigger making it easier to navigate through your newsfeed. This change couples nicely with Facebook’s algorithm, edgerank weighing photos higher, serving them more to your consumers and friends.
3. Top Right Navigation– This is another subtle yet impactful change. As you will notice, They have changed the “gear” icon to a more streamline “arrow”. Your name and the “Home” button are now in clearer to see white font, and they have removed “Friend Friends” from the top bar all together.
4. Center Column or “Newsfeed” — “Update Status” and “Newsfeed” get new icons, and the status box is bigger.
5. Left Column — As I mentioned before, the left navigation is more streamlined and easier to navigate. They have removed “Welcome, Find Friends and Ads Manager” from the top of the column to simple have “Newsfeed, Messages and Events.”
There you have it, Facebook’s recent updates, nothing to throw a fit over. These changes come a year after Facebook announced their plans for a new newsfeed. The company hopes these changes will help with higher retention and stronger engagement. Although I am not sure yet if these design changes will help with those goals, I do like the new look and we are excited to work with our clients to best use the new design.
