Egocentric Design Ignores The Customer.

The Times recently launched its latest new design. Good design is about improving customer satisfaction and this revamp was, no doubt, distilled from lots of research (albeit coupled with new technological possibilities). Hence there are different fonts, new arrangements and amalgamations of sections and due to the technology, lots of coloured photos and charts!

Now, I'm not sure about the new look and could nitpick, but I noticed that they are not sure about it either. It's definitely in beta because this week the review page format changed from this

to this

You may or may not notice the slight changes, but can you see the big problem? In both versions, the name of the reviewer has prominence over what ever is being reviewed and that is wrong. I might well value the opinions of a certain reviewer over those of another, but my first-level filter as a reader is surely the specific subject of the review. Never mind the reviewer, if that doesn't interest me (or I can't easily see it), I won't be reading the piece and your focus on reader-friendly fonts, layout and space will have been fruitless.

Ego, even subconsciously, should have no place in design. If it does, then you're not truly committed to focussing on your customer.