[shortformblog]

Wikipedia just redesigned, actually, but it was a mere refonting which most users barely even noticed (the most noticeable change was that the headers were converted from sans-serif to serif). There was a slightly-more-ambitious redesign that emphasized white space (like this one), but the foundation threw out nearly all of the changes because users didn't like them.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3028615/the-beautiful-wikipedia-...

http://associationsnow.com/2014/04/wikipedia-redesign-barely...

I'm not saying unsolicited redesigns like this don't have value, but there's a decent reason why an unsolicited redesign like this will never go over with its audience: Wikipedia is the ultimate design-by-committee product, and the users have a lot of say as a result.

Also, Wikipedia has to hit a wider body of users, from dumbphones to outdated browsers. That's a problem with redesigns like this in general: They're not thinking in these terms because they're designing for the high end. Wikipedia is a site that needs to prioritize the low end because it's run by a nonprofit foundation whose goal is to spread information, not just create a snazzy user experience.

It goes against everything we know about product design, and I agree it could look nicer, but the current design approach works for the Wikimedia Foundation.