A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about the new Times.co.uk paywall, asking “If you were going to design a paywall, is this how you’d do it?”
Well, I’ve just noticed they’ve iterated the design, and guess what? It’s in line with many of your suggestions.
First let’s look at the old design:
Original times.co.uk paywall design (May 2010)
Your comments included:
- Simon Thulbourn: “Remove the giant image in favour of clearly defining what the user gets in return for their money”
- Paul Gordon: “…the registration page itself should have pricing options and free trial information”
- G Mulder: “what is this huge helicopter image trying to tell me? That SAS is gonna come and get me if I don’t sign up?”
- Johan D: “…neither the content nor the period is clear”
Now, check out the new design:
New times.co.uk paywall design (July 2010)
They seem to be iterating in the right direction, though some of your best suggestions haven’t been incorporated (clear pricing, lazy registration, teaser excerpts, etc), and bizarrely, they don’t mention the free trial until after you click through to sign-up. But let’s not forget, a UX designer’s job is never done. By keeping a close eye on their KPIs and iterating regularly, it’ll be pretty hard for them not to improve this… Right?
