Back in 2012, SB Nation did a massive re-design of our sites. It was a major change and it didn't come without some resistance, but in the end we always felt it was a huge upgrade. This effort was led by the dynamic product team employed by SB Nation and its parent company, Vox Media.
So imagine our elation at receiving an honor like being designated as one of 2012 World's Best Designed news site. That's what recently happened when the Society for News Design designated SB Nation as one of three winners of that award. The Society for New Design (SND) is an international organization for news media professionals and visual communicators - specifically those who create print/web/mobile publications and products. It has around 1,500 members and for the last few years they hand out honors for the best designs for news site.
From SND on the judging process:
The World's Best judges Tyson Evans, Antonio Pasagali, Dave Stanton and Kaitlin Yarnall reviewed the entries, winnowed the list in multiple voting rounds and worked over the course of the weekend to choose the World's Best Designed news sites and apps. Winners required a unanimous vote.
Here is their take on SB Nation's re-design:
SB Nation pushes the boundaries of a news website. It is beautiful and visually compelling without gimmicks. Its design is intentional and clean. It is uniquely "sporty-elegant." Photography is given a cinematic treatment and allowed to shine. Such photo-heavy layouts are frequently attempted on other Web sites, but often crumble under the distraction of poor photo editing, that is not the case on this site. Typography from Hoefler & Frere-Jones is beautifully deployed, underscoring how huge a leap Web type has made in recent years. The site also proves that template-driven design can be elevated to greatness.
The site is responsive in the most ambitious sense of the word. Complex, compelling, and innovative storytelling techniques make excel on a range of screen sizes. It shows some of the best thinking we have seen in the mobile space. Its framework is elastic and robust enough to support more than 300 niche sub-sites and blogs and still feel snappy.
We couldn't be happier with the recognition. Thank you SND! And thanks to our loyal readers. You are the reason we continue to do this every day.
Here's a video where the judges talk about their process.