Logospire v4

Well…it’s time for another refresh. It seems like Logospire is getting a design refresh every few months. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. The design has grown progressively simpler and cleaner, and I think this latest iteration is by far the best one.

I’ve simplified the design even further from the last one by making navigation more compact, and packing in even more logos on the front page, which now shows a grid of 12 logos. The browsing filter is now tucked away in a little pop down menu that shows up on mouse hover. This keeps site navigation really simple and out of the way.

There is now even less stuff shown on each logo on the browsing pages, just the rating stars actually. The logo title and author are shown on hover. I’m taking away everything unnecessary and keeping the bare essentials. Logospire is all about the logos, and the interface to browse the logos should be essentially invisible to the user.

I’ve set the home page to show the Featured logos by default. The logos in the Featured gallery are selected by me based on their originality, memorability, message and execution. This gallery is updated frequently and showcases the very best of logos on Logospire. Of course, you don’t have to look at my selection, browse by Rising, Popular or Latest to see the community choices.

As always, I’m constantly looking to improve load times and performance of the site. I’ve made some tweaks which should speed the site up by about 2x. It was already running very well, but even more speed can’t hurt.

Last, but not least, I’ve refreshed the sponsorship opportunities. The ad banners are now located in a premium location at the top of the page, however, I’m limiting the ads to just 4 banner spaces. This should give the sponsors good exposure on the site while still keeping advertising unobtrusive.

Where are we now?

Here’s some stats on where we are now with Logospire. We’ve got 3,471 logos showcased on the site with 3,800 registered users. Over 59,000 votes. Logospire was launched just over a year ago and the growth of new members and logos has been really fantastic. Thank you to everyone who’s signed up, voted, uploaded logos and helped make Logospire an enjoyable showcase to browse.

What’s next?

My design philosophy for Logospire is to focus more on what Logospire doesn’t have, than on what it could have. What I mean by that is I’d rather take interface elements and features away and deliver a fast and uncluttered user experience than have a site that’s bloated and slow.

My aspiration is to make Logospire the best logo showcase on the Web, and I think to get there we’ve got to cover two angles: great site usability and top content. I think we’re doing great on both counts, especially with this latest refresh. There have also been an influx of great logos lately. Here’s a few I really like: MS, London Video Reviews, Northernlights Coffee, ThreadMe, Business Airlines and Wine Forest.

Anyhow, enjoy the update and let me know if you run into any problems. Like/dislike the changes? Leave a comment blow.