I just visited Songza and was completely stymied. After clicking around bit, I had that sinking sensation of "Oh. I get it, that's what they're trying to do here." And the only reason I even got that far was because I was in Investigation Mode. Had I stumbled across this site on my own, I never would have guessed that all the functionality offered by Songza actually existed.
They're borrowing a bunch from Google, which is fine, but they may have actually gone overboard with the whole simplification thing. Also, several of the interactive controls are so cutesy/clever that I'm way too conscious of the hand of the designer, something that was rampant with the Flashturbation sites of the 90's. As a result, I'm left wondering who the site is for. Is this one of those "if they're not smart enough to *get* it, they shouldn't *be* here" sites? Overall, the sense I get from Songza is that a refreshingly forward-thinking businessperson got together with a really talented designer and they went for it. Great! Unfortunately it also feels like a seasoned info architect was missing from the mix...someone who would have pointed out that however "uncool" and irritating it may be, there are still some very real principals about users that need to be accounted for...such as non-directed search. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
