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Tokyopop 2.0: First Impressions
May 12th, 2007
by Katherine Dacey
Over at Tokyopop, company founder and president Stu Levy has just posted a screenshot of the new and improved web interface that Tokyopop plans to unveil in the early summer:
From a design perspective, the new website is a marked improvement. The eyeball-bending color scheme has been muted; the publication calendar has been rescued from invisibility and placed squarely near the center of the page; and the social networking functions have been given a simpler, more attractive interface. I’m delighted to see that Tokyopop listened to the old curmudgeons like me who felt that the site placed too much emphasis on user-created artwork and blogs but not enough on Tokyopop’s own products. I’m also glad to see that there is now just one navigation bar for the site (instead of three, as in the current design); casual users should have an easier time locating the information they want. What I don’t like about the site are the gimmicky labels that Tokyopop has assigned to the buttons on the navigation bar. They seem like the handiwork of a marketing consultant, rather than someone who actually uses websites. I’m guessing that anyone clicking on “Stars” would be lead to the site’s social networking functions, but that’s not immediately obvious. And what about the equally puzzling labels “Art” and “Life”? Will those lead to more pages of user-generated content, or do those lead to materials promoting Tokyopop’s products? In the interest of common sense, it seems that some slightly squarer labels would make this navigation more effective as, well, a tool for navigating the site: COLUMNS//MANGA//MOBILE//NOVELS//WHAT’S HOT Or something along those lines. That said, I think that Tokyopop is on the right track here. It’s easy to grumble about the “OMG!!!! FRUITZ BASKET IS DA BEST!!!!!!” blog entries and pilfered deviantArt at the site, but there’s some smart thinking behind the TokyoSpace concept: train folks to visit your site regularly, and they’re more likely to learn about your products, buy them, and maybe even spontaneously promote them to other like-minded consumers. Now if we could just get DJ Milky to stop abusing the formatting feature in his blog… | |
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9 Comments Add your own
1. JADY OMEN | June 29th, 2007 at 12:56 am
STUART LEVY THIS IS AN URGENT MESSAGE WHEN IS THE NEW AND IMPROVED TOKYOPOP (2.0) GOING TO BE UP AND RUNNING?
2. Katherine Dacey-Tsuei | June 29th, 2007 at 9:17 am
3. JADY OMEN | June 29th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
hey stu it’s me again i was just wondering the site was up and running this morning friday at about 12:15a.m.
and now it’s closed again what’s up with that?
4. rubberduckiee | June 29th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
yea i was on tp for a while, and then it shut off…. and where did all my music, pics, and chat box on my profile go? and last question when is it suppose to be bak on? sorry for being all questiony and stuff, jw…thanks..bye….
5. Katherine Dacey-Tsuei | June 29th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
6. rubberduckiee | July 10th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
thank you…and i look forward to seeing the new one!
7. Katherine Dacey-Tsuei | July 10th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
8. Neil101 | February 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Hope you have an organiztion for the young filipino and teen agers who dream to be a part of TOKYOPOP production….
i am one of your fan and a nice and perspective person
Who dream to be one of you.
9. tiffany | May 12th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
nick’s
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