Friends Reunited redesign proves a hit



Social networking site Friends Reunited has attributed a spike in traffic and a flurry of user activity to its newly redesigned site, which launched earlier this week.

Will Lebens, managing director of digital agency Airlock, which redesigned the site, says there has been a ‘dramatic improvement’ in user activity – such as photo uploads – since the new-look site went live.


London digital agency Airlock designed and implemented a host of new features to give Friends Reunited – which is owned by ITV and has 19 million members – a more contemporary and consistent feel.


‘We redesigned every page and looked at the ease of the user experience. The brief wasn’t for a complete revolution – our goal was to ensure existing users were comfortable,’ says Lebens.


‘We have given the site a much more contemporary feel and made sure there is consistency throughout. It was about taking the entire site as a whole and making sure there was a top-down hierarchy,’ he adds.


The revamp comes two months after Friends Reunited, which was bought by ITV in 2005, dropped its subscription charge to remain competitive against the runaway success of free social networking sites Facebook and MySpace.


London-based Airlock was founded in 2001.


Its roll-call of clients include the BBC, Random House and Next.

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