U2's site

October 30, 2000 7:00 AM

U2's site gets a redesign, losing the befuddling wireframe "studio" concept for something a little more familiar: a timeline-cum-blog, taking elements of Classic Motown and U2log.
posted by hijinx (13 comments total)

Seems like they coulda matched the hex value of the page background with the Flash movie a little better, but that's me. That Motown site is fuckin dope, though! Anyone know who developed it? Is it a Kioken project?
posted by Karla at 7:13 AM on October 30, 2000

The Motown site is pretty damn nice... I guess not surprisingly, the U2 site is drastically different in Netscape.
posted by phunkone at 7:49 AM on October 30, 2000

Yeah, the boys over at Kioken are responsible for the Classic Motown site.
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 7:51 AM on October 30, 2000

The Motown site is a Kioken project. I've only seen the Classic Version, but it blows me away every time. There are the obvious Flash downsides (non-saveable, non-bookmarkable, non-linkable etc.), but the site really is some of the best Flash I've seen. Sorry for being so incredibly off topic.
posted by Hjorth at 7:58 AM on October 30, 2000

I can't believe how much the U2 site looks like k10k to me (a mix of the old site and the new one).

I hope those guys designed the U2 site, or at least got thanked for the inspiration behind the tiny font buttons and blog down the right side.
posted by mathowie at 9:05 AM on October 30, 2000

U2.com was designed by Magic Minds (who I once interviewed with... they didn't hire me cause I didn't know Flash then called me again a few weeks later to ask again. Some organisation.) As I logged on prolific.org, I think they were 'inspired' by k10k and Kioken big time. I don't understand why U2 went with a Dutch design firm. There hardly is any orginal design done in this country, we simply haven't caught up yet.

Now all companies will read this and I'll never have lunch in this town again...
posted by prolific at 10:24 AM on October 30, 2000

Feel free to skip all the flash crap at the beginning.

My ex happened to be browsing at a Wherehouse last week when the staff decided to crack open one of the dozens of crates of U2's new album and play it. She ended up sitting on the floor talking to the staff for an hour and listening to the whole thing. Grrrr.

-Mars, who went to a costume party on Saturday dressed as Bono
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:53 AM on October 30, 2000

Mars, you mean you haven't downloaded the album with Napster yet? From my few listens, I'd say it's pretty good. It's no Achtung Baby, but nothing is...
posted by daveadams at 1:27 PM on October 30, 2000

Downloading the album on Napster? Dude, that's just not cool...

I think the U2 site looks horrible. The whole appeal of the little row of buttons at k1oK is that they are beveled against a flat color background. Almost every line on the whole U2 site is bevelled, and the colors don't look that great together. Maybe they chose not to make the orange and teal more subdued to distract people from the fact that for the most part the color scheme is the same as k10K 2000 too. And what's with the aqua button for the motown-ripped sliding timeline? That's not a completely different style from the rest of the site or anything.

The best band website I've seen is Sonic Youth's. A nice mix of aesthetic influences, but wisely not all on one page.
posted by kidsplateusa at 2:12 PM on October 30, 2000

Oh yeah, and I don't really like the new U2 site, but it's better than the old one, and there is quite a bit of info, if you care enough to dig that deeply. Now if I could order the old singles that are no longer in distribution, that would rock.
posted by daveadams at 2:50 PM on October 30, 2000

Mars, you mean you haven't downloaded the album with Napster yet?

lol! I don't have any Windows boxes, remember?

-Mars, who does not deign the crappy-beyond-belief mac & linux clients sufficiently functional to be worth notice
posted by Mars Saxman at 7:42 PM on October 30, 2000

Actually, I don't remember :). In any case, that was just a reference to the Rhino Records Napster PSAs that Matt posted a few days ago. But then, I guess you don't have Quicktime either, you freakin' rebel you...
posted by kidsplateusa at 8:26 PM on October 30, 2000

Psst... if he has a mac, he probably has Quicktime. :-)
posted by cCranium at 5:44 AM on October 31, 2000