MySpace to Redesign. See Mock-Ups Here

MySpace is redesigning its site, partly to make it more ad-friendly.

It also plans to improve nav, music and internal search, MySpaceTV (expect better embed/sharing options) and profile editing (kinda nifty).

Phase I of the redesign goes live June 18th. One advertiser bought all MySpace's ad real estate for that day. No word on who it is, but expect a major brand or an overhyped movie. (Film promotions for The Incredible Hulk are currently wreaking havoc on the homepage.)

It's interesting to see websites and logos change with the times. Everyone seems to be bowing to the web 2.0 aesthetic, which includes, but is not limited to:

o Curvy corners and gradient boxes (so everything looks like it's been blown out of a bubble wand). See Xerox website for a professional example
o Soft colors
o Abuse of sans-serif typefaces. See new Xerox and Kodak logos
o Soothing cartoons. See Twitter error message
o AJAX-powered, tab-based sub-navs. See MySpace mock-up at left, and the redesigned Economist website
o Blended media (video, blogs, music, image galleries, promotions, whatever-else), all competing for space on the homepage

Someday an anthropologist will look back on us and conclude the following:

With so many friendly avatars to choose from, coupled with childsafe curved edges and convenient widgets, users found safe haven in websites that were essentially giant virtual playpens.

Thus were companies able to re-endear themselves to those burned by the dot-com crash. Best of all, they didn't even need business models, the dearth of which caused the crash in the first place. They just served advertising!