Nylon recently unveiled a redesigned website and it is everything.
Colorful, brutalist, maximalist design combined with a lazy-loading infinite scroll and interesting transitions create a very FUN experience.
Apparently, Nylon did design experiments last year and increased engagement by 650% to an average screen time of 13 minutes per user on cover stories. That's insane.
Also, the president of Nylon, Evan Luzzato, has some great points about the detriments of minimalist design. He says:
“Most digital media sites today rely on clean, minimalist design elements that focus on function over form. If you scroll below the fold, you can easily forget where you are -- a big missed opportunity to create brand loyalty." "We wanted to create a holistic and immersive experience that feels unquestionably Nylon from the top of the homepage to the bottom of the infinite scroll.”
And it's totally true, Nylon's site branding is very strong and very maximalist. On one hand, I don't think they are meeting accessibility requirements, and there's not exactly a clear one-direction path for where the user is supposed to go. On the other hand, this is a digital magazine, and the point is to browse -- not go to one destination -- so this maximalist approach, which engaged the user to stay and look around, is perfect for this business model.
ALSO - this is the first US-based company website that I've seen with an ad at the top of the website. Is this going to be a new thing? I thought only European sites (looking at you, denmark) put ad banners everywhere and anywhere. ON THE OTHER HAND, Nylon has recently switched from print to entirely digital, so the ads are probably a major factor in their business model.
P.S. I can personally vouch for the 13 minutes screen time average - see it for yourself and try to tear yourself away. https://nylon.com/nyfw-are-you-cold-video
Sources:
https://digiday.com/media/nylon-magazine-post-print-digital-footing/