Rapid growth prompts redesign at Digital Spy

Digital Spy, which is owned by publisher Hachette Filipacchi, says it has seen a 31 per cent rise in traffic this year with a unique user figure of 7.2 million at the beginning of 2010.

The redesign was led by Digital Spy founder James Welsh, who began work on the project last summer. It features an image-led interface with improved navigation, streamlined channels and more integrated advertising formats.

The new look, which can be seen at www.digitalspy.co.uk, aims to improve the user experience and better display editorial content with a clean and modern feel, says Hachette Filipacchi digital and strategy director Anna Jones.

Major changes include a horizontal navigation bar across the top of the page and a reorganisation of the home page, which now displays images with the top news story and four second tier stories, rather than just two as on the previous site.

Digital Spy editor Neil Wilkes says, ‘It’s been more than four years since the site was last refreshed and during this time an awful lot has changed chez nous. Back then, we published around 50 news stories a day, now it’s in excess of 250. We’d grown too big for our old clothes and needed some new ones.’