Review: PayPal Redesign 175
What do you think of the recent PayPal redesign and the new PayPal branding? In my opinion, I think the new design is very unprofessional and lack of consistency. My very first reaction to the new PayPal redesign was "What happened to PayPal? Got hacked!?" PayPal has made such a drastic change that it doesn't even look or feel like PayPal (the PayPal that we used to). I think it will take us a while to adapt to the new design. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying change is bad. Changes are good if the results are positive. Here are my thoughts on the new PayPal design...
PayPal logo redesign
Visually, there isn't much change in the new logo. You can read the details on the logo redesign from the PayPal blog. UnderConsideration - Brand New also has an interesting article on how the new PayPal is created in simple 7 steps.
I find the old PayPal logo works very well on various backgrounds, where as the new logo doesn't provide good contrast on color background. Let's take a look the new and old PayPal logo on various background colors.
Why is this so important?
Don't forget not all websites are using white background. What if the website's backgound is the same color as the PayPal blue? Then, one of the words will be invisible (see image below).
Site Redesign
In general, I agree the new design look more cleaner. But, does it work? Not really...
Menu - CSS bug?
I'm not sure if it was intentional or a CSS bug. Take a closer look at the main menu, notice there is a 2px bottom margin?
On some internal pages, the 2px margin disappeared. Bug or inconsistency?
Gradient login box
The metallic gradient inside the login box is very dark which created low contrast between the text and the background. People with low contrast or dim monitor will have problem reading the small text.
Web 1.0 arrows
The glossy menu is very Web 2.0 contemporary, but the arrows and cut-corners are back to 1999?
Why Flash?
At first I thought it was Javascript, then later I realized it is Flash. Why use Flash for that simple animation/transition when it could be done the same with Javascript? Couldn't they do better animation with Flash?
Inconsistent stylesheets
Just click around the top level navigation, you will find there are two different stylesheets (one stylesheet used Arial font, another one used Verdana font). For example, let's take a look at the Financial Products and Request Money page:
In term of frontend pages, the PayPal site is quite small, so I'm very disappointed that they can't even manage the stylesheets properly. It seems like PayPal is still using the old stylesheet on some of the pages.
Again, inconsistent search form:
Spam page?
Take a look at the Products & Services page, doesn't it look like those parked domains filled with spam links (the middle portion)?
What do you think?
Please cast your vote and share your comments on the new PayPal redesign.
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I read the “logo” thing and just left the whole article. Your explanation why the new logo is worst then the old one is the most stupid think I’ve ever read! It is obvious you have no idea how a logo is designed and presented. You colour bkg variations are TOTALLY ridiculous and I can find a 100 of the BEST logos in the world that won’t “pass” your stupid test.
You don’t even deserve the time I’ve spent writing those words, not to mention your are so incompetent judging by your portfolio.
Max didn’t your mother ever tell you, “if you can’t say anything nice (or constructive in this case) don’t say anything at all…” You may disagree with some of the points raised in this article, but is there any need to flame the author and his work? I think not. That just goes to show how incompetent and arrogant you are.
On a brighter note I on the other hand thought your review was brilliant, and raised a lot of key points to bear in mind when doing a new design or a re-design. PayPal have forgotten their target audience, the site looks muddled and simple CSS mistakes have added up to a poor design.
scart… “about the new logo design? you can make your own if you dont like it.” … NO YOU CAN’T… it is a protected brand. You need to study up mate.
I heard they don’t offer store front to their customers anymore. I’m disappointed, PayPal.
Their older logo definitely popped out more. The new one just seems dull and less noticeable, especially when presented against different colored backgrounds.
I used to use them as a shopping cart for clients but now they only offer checkout integration (I can’t find anything on their site about their old shopping cart services).
Is it safe to say that PayPal is fading out of the Internet tools spotlight?
You woudl think that they would redesign all on another test site first. So much is wrong, not to mention half of it does not even work for me, example: no history what so ever in transactions (and yes I do have many that should show), and I am not even sure if the subscriptions are working properly now. The site looks cheap and tacky and completely unfinished, which obviously it is as they are redesigning on a LIVE site ??
I say fire the designer and hire a 3 year old to do a better job!
Something else that is really irritating, they have set a max width that is so small now names of buyers on the Most recent activity do not fit, you have to have a 1 syllable first and last name to fit on it, so makes it confusing on the eye to see what is what. Then we have alerts that popup saying that they are doing maintenance between 7am and 9am BST, but that pops up at 11am, 2 hours after??
Then the text is so “Dim” it is the first site I have ever had to change my contrast on to read the text without hurting my eyes.
Then the best one of all.
As I cannot get any history, I thought maybe the CVS works, so I click on it and I get a page saying that they want to verify I am the owner of my account before I can perform that action, the number they offered me to select is one at my other house, so I selected “Other” (expecting to be able to enter or select my other number. What it offered me was to give them a reason why, so I selected “change of number” from the drop down box and it replied “OK” and let me carry on and download the CVS ?? what kind of security is that ?
It is all wrong!
Thank =)=)=) you http://www.cennet.gen.tr webdesignerwall Thanks
read the “logo” thing and just left the whole article. Your explanation why the new logo is worst then the old one is the most stupid think I’ve ever read! It is obvious you have no idea how a logo is designed and presented.
The new one is more stable.
Great , Review: PayPal Redesign
Great article. CSS saved web design
Cyrus
Visit http://www.psdtoxhtmlcoder.com
These people that have nothing nice to say about the author are just jealous. You don’t like it, don’t bother visiting the website. I happen to think that he is one of the most talented graphic and web designers around. Keep up the good work and Thank You for the inspiration!
I totally agree with you about the new paypal logo redesign.
PayPal has done it again. They have changed the design again. checkout the new design. It too bad… any comments.
banners and images have rounded corners and a straight line at left. a parallelogram rounded corner at the right side. What happened to the basic design principles. where is the consistency?..
paypal.com
I like the old paypal logo
The designs showed here show what simple and tasteful design is all about. Another one to consider
I’m not sure of others’ experience but I thought the new design suits its purpose. The backend pages, are much more stabler, IMHO, and I suppose the new designs focus was more towards the backend of stuffs than frontend.
Btw, really in-depth analysis you’ve got of Paypal’s pages, of which I would never have noticed if I didn’t come across this page. Maybe the changes were too trivial for me to notice, and speaking from one of their users, I don’t really mind — although the logo contrasting issue on differing backgrounds is a serious issue which they’ve overlooked.
i like the old one much better. pops out more
Like some of those that commented, I hadn’t noticed the difference on my own but after your article the differences really jump at me. I completely agree. I imagine these changes coincide with corporate changes of some sort, but nevertheless should have been considered differently.
Great analysis.
Kurt
7/24 San Diego Mobile Notary
I totaly agree with this. I had this design and the paypal logo is kinda hard to be read in a blue background.
It’s a great post. But i would like to know more about the iphone 4 white information.