The new 91Èȱ¬ Comedy website
Post categories: 91Èȱ¬ Online,Ìý91Èȱ¬ Online
| 17:28 UK time, Monday, 24 May 2010
Comedy on the web works. On iPlayer and on it's pretty much the dominant genre. On from to web native talent like people are snacking on comedy moments, intentional or otherwise, in hugeÌýnumbers. The 91Èȱ¬ is the largest producer of television and radio comedy in the world and as a way of acknowledging the special relationship the web has with this genre we have just relaunched the 91Èȱ¬ Comedy website.
The site's mission statement is "the place for the finest British comedy from the past, present and future". There are collection pages and playlists from comedians like Stephen Merchant and Johnny Vegas aggregating the comedy archive for the first time.
Through the Red Button on television and the ever improving automatically generated programme support pages (to be found at /programmes) on the web, we are offering audiences more from theÌýshows that they love like The Thick Of It and Outnumbered. For the next generation of on- and off-screen talent bbc.co.uk/comedy is a low risk playground where we are developing TV and radio hits of the future.
The web is changing comedy. You only need to look at what's happening in America to see that. Comedy destination websites like , and have large global audiences and they have all now partnered with TV networks in order to spin their web series into TV shows. Having spent most of the last year in beta, we're beginning to see talent and ideas originated online migrating in a similar way. Big Babies which you can see on C91Èȱ¬ and iPlayer at the moment was developed from a series of sketches Broken Biscuits and 91Èȱ¬ Comedy Exec Jack Cheshire made for the website last year. Jason Lewis is another new talent whose TV prospects we are really excited about. The first of his sketches are now online, with more to come in the next few weeks.
Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
Will Saunders is Executive Producer, Online, 91Èȱ¬ Comedy.
Comment number 1.
At 26th May 2010, Paul Robert Lloyd wrote:Leaving the content of this new site aside, once again on this blog I feel I have to raise my concerns about the visual design of this site.
Much like the Doctor Who site, the new Comedy site seems to be based on elements of GVL3, although whether in the full spirit of those guidelines is hard to tell. However, what is noticeable is that this is another redesign in a string of redesigns (Doctor Who, Junior Apprentice being two others I've noticed) since GVL3 was announced that look rather amateur and clumsy.
Once again we have the indiscriminate use of large text, although this time matched with indecision as to whether to use Helvetica or Verdana (or indeed the third font used in the navigation). Verdana is a fairly ugly typeface, especially when used in large sizes yet the 91Èȱ¬ continues its fascination with this type of usage, regardless of the restrained typographical styles promised in GVL3.
Typography aside, visually the design is also inconsistent and incoherent. The photographic masthead seems at odds with the paired back design of the rest of the site, whilst large headings for modules with little surrounding padding means the home page in particular is hard to understand.
Finally, as seen in other recent site launches, there is little or no subtly. Page controls such as pagination and buttons have been added with little consideration for how they can fit with the overall aesthetic, and the social media icons at the foot of each page haven't been styled to fit the design either.
It would appear the new policy within FM&T is to refresh every site based upon half-baked visual design guidelines and with little or no concern for quality. Over the last few years the 91Èȱ¬ had really upped it's game with regards to the design of bbc.co.uk, yet now it seems to be taking a turn for the worse.
As you can tell, I'm incredibly upset that such a high-profile British institution is releasing such poorly executed and ill-considered work into the public. I could test the new Comedy site against the design principles we were told new sites would aim to work to, but I feel it would be a thankless task.
It is clear to see there is now little regard for design at the 91Èȱ¬.
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Comment number 2.
At 10th Jun 2010, jimjam wrote:Hi Paul
I'm the Product Owner for Comedy and I coordinated the delivery of the redesign project. I'm not here to represent the views of my colleagues in the UX team I can perhaps give you my perspective as some form of explanation. I'd like to address a few of your criticisms.
The point you make about the new Comedy pages having only elements of GVL3 is spot on. The core GVL3 elements were only just emerging in the early part of this year. This coincided, somewhat awkwardly for us alongside our planned UX window. We had two choices. Proceed with a design based on GVL2 and deliver something that would feel dated as soon as it launched; or try to incorporate as much of the emerging GVL3 styling as possible within a very short time window before commencing build.
The result is not in fact GVL3 site at all, but it provided an opportunity for our UX team to explore an implementation using a new visual language in the framework available at the time. So, it's a transitional design, built on an outgoing grid system using some of the flavours of the new visual language of GVL3.
Regarding typography, I'd also accept that there are some inconsistencies in particular with fonts, brought about by a combination of factors (a general lack of design availability; a fiendishly complicated CSS framework; changing business requirements; a less than adequate version control system etc).
We're fully aware of these typographical issues and are planning to address this once we've worked through a number of other tasks that are higher up the product backlog.
Regarding your point on the background images, that's a slightly subjective one to which I'd disagree by saying I feel the muted backgrounds - including iconic British comedy talent - provide an interesting visual contrast with the overall paired-back design.
I'm sorry you feel so strongly against the new design, as we're all delighted with it. The overall concept also tested very well with our users too, so why not give us another chance by checking out some of the clips on offer?
You could do a lot worse than spending two minutes enjoying Misery Bear's World Cup (/comedy/clips/p00887k5%29.
Best wishes
James
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Comment number 3.
At 6th Jul 2010, strondy wrote:Hi James, Richard,
We've been developing some content over the past few months for a new web tv channel: www.stytv.co.uk.
After spending weeks searching for the face of the channel, we've settled on two chaps called Dadd and Fryer
The duo are undertaking a series of challenges courtesy of their unseen masters at StyTV
Would you consider featuring the content, should it be deemed good enough? We've uploaded their winning entry and intro video.
The first challenge is as follows:
The pair have been challenged to become entrepreneurs and convert £5 into as much money as they can in a week - anything goes. They will be expected to act like business big-shots, with all the trappings that entails- sharp suits, (big) mobile phones and briefcases. Remember, lunch is for wimps.
Youtube link to intro video:
Thanks,
Tom
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