Wednesday, August 22, 2007

PayPal getting a face lift, new logo

Many Telerik developers (self included) run sites that use PayPal to process online payments. Of those that don't, almost all use PayPal from time to time to make purchases online. Therefore, I thought this audience might find it interesting that PayPal is about to get a major face lift and a new logo.

The new web site is currently a live beta and it definitely has a "lighter" more corporate look than the current site enjoys. Gone are the bold blue rounded tabs and in are sleek silver square tabs (rounded tabs seem to be so Web 1.0). It's not the best looking redesign I've seen, especially considering it seems almost entirely cosmetic. Once you log-in, the organization of the tools and content looks very familiar. I think PayPal could have done more to actually improve the site's usability, such as making it easier to locate purchased merchant services through your account page.

The beta site does not feature the new logo, though. To see the new logo, you'll need to check out PayPal's stealth "Paypal-promo" site (checks out as a real PayPal site in the Whois records). The new logo reminds me of Visa's recent logo redesign, relying on simple statements of color and oblique lettering to show that all important forward motion. The new logo is not that different from today's outlined version, but it does look more professional and on par with other "big players" in the credit industry. Either way, the new logo means you'll need to update any PayPal logos on your site so that "customers know you are a current PayPal merchant" as a recent email states.

Expect the new logo to drop publicly "in the coming weeks" and get ready to make some site updates if you support PayPal purchases. And everyone should try out the PayPal beta site and submit your feedback via the Site Feedback link to let the PayPal web team know what you think of the changes. This concludes this public service announcement.

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