I’m sure you’re proud of your shiny new toy, but it’s not so good. New York Road Runners, you’ve fallen into the trap of going for form over function.
Okay, it’s not THAT bad.
You’re a great organization. We love your services. But this redesign needs some work. First and foremost, you need to edit your top bar. “Run With Us” and “Run For Life” are silly and don’t tell me anything. Want to know what you should do? Look down the bar a little bit at “Get Stuff” and “Get Training.” PERFECT! Plain English that tells me what I get.
You only need two simple fixes that would make this redesign go down like sugar — even among cranks who hate all redesigns because they hate change (like me!). “GET CALENDAR” and “GET REGISTERED.” Or maybe “GET RACES.” This whole “Run with Us” sounds like you’re trying to trick me into a timeshare.
Oh, and make sure the calendar works. When last I tried that ridiculous “MORE” button (the top one), it wasn’t working at all. And there was nothing wrong with a month-by-month look at races. Many of us were trained by paper calendars and that’s how we like information.
The pictures and stuff are nice, but keep in mind that you’re an organization used by people on the go, looking for information. You’re not a publisher or a marketer who should be trying to create “sticky” websites, which is marketing speak for leading users down a damn maze so that you can later brag about the time-spent-on page metrics.
This is running, after all, and your site should reflect the spirit of running: clean, simple and, if possible, fast.
KEN WHEATON 