If menu items are taking 2 lines then reduce the type size or the number of words for that item. And try a little leading.

>”but I LOVE seeing strong typography next to images”
…me too, if the type pertains to the image.

What use is the menu category ‘design’ on a design blog?

- smaller font size for left/right column

- blk/purple/orange? no. Try blk/mustard/grey

- logo is fine but banner ad interferes.

- thick horizontal divider lines: could be a touch smaller.

Don’t be discouraged. Keep going.

A big point of the redesign is to make it easier for people to find their way around and to encourage people to spend longer on the site. People weren’t using the side-column navigation very much – which, let’s face it, was a total mess – and so most visitors just looked at one or two pages and then moved on. Not good – that’s why its now bigger and clearer. It’s working already… traffic today has been incredible and stickiness has gone up significantly.

Obviously there are glitches – that’s to be expected. Please let me know about them; they’ll get fixed over time. And bear with me… you’ll come to love it as much as I do I’m sure…

Anyway, people visit dezeen for the content, not the layout, and personally I think the layout significantly enhances the content. Images look fucking great now, don’t you think?! Especially portrait-oriented images, which blogs hardly ever use but which look amazing now on dezeen, I think (eg today’s Industrial Facility story, Selfridges Wonder Wall story…)

And maybe it’s my print background, but I LOVE seeing strong typography next to images. I don’t know why more sites don’t do it. Why does navigation text have to be teeny tiny?

But whether you agree or not, thanks for your passion – FAR better to relaunch to a tirade of abuse than to silence. Keep it coming!

Marcus