2nd February 2015
The BBC launch a new experimental digital platform
The BBC have launched their latest website called Taster. Billed as the home of new ideas, it is a new way to showcase all the new ideas and experiments to come out of the BBC.
In case you haven’t visited it and to give some context, Taster is an online digital playground where the BBC showcases concepts and allows users to try it. Users can view a range of concepts that can be anything from an interactive educational website, to a social media based poll. After trying it users are encouraged to give feedback in the form of ratings and to share it via social media.
Over the last week, Taster has received a lot of coverage through articles on various industry websites and on social media. One article in particular was published on Creative Bloq and asked the question ‘What do web experts think of BBC Taster?’. With this question in mind and with Taster being an idea not to dissimilar from the Cargo Hold I thought I’d have my say.
When we launched our new website we wanted to include an area that allowed us to showcase concepts and work that otherwise might never be seen. BBC Taster strikes me as a very similar idea, and my initial reaction is that it’s brilliant. For the BBC in-particular, being able to trial technologies and ideas with users and then receive feedback on those ideas with no pressure of success and failure is priceless. All design and digital development is experimental to a certain degree, so being able to find out what audiences like more than others is great.
For me the section that includes the ‘Story of Now’ sums up everything that’s good with this project and I highly recommend taking the time to explore it. Not only is it visually very engaging, the content and the user experience is fantastic. For example, I can imagine this same concept being used as an educational tool for schools and examinations. A much more dynamic and fun way to get users taking in content and engaging with resources.
Visually I think it works, the brand is bold and suits the very nature of the project. Having said that the layout is nothing but on trend, it’s certainly nothing we haven’t seen many times before. But maybe thats a good thing, users feel comfortable with it and in a website full of surprises it’s nice to feel at home on the homepage. Not everything that gets posted is going to win you over, be prepared to not like certain aspects of it, but guess what… thats ok you’re not meant to. Taster will inform the BBC what it’s users like and dislike and they can use this information to give you more of what you do like.
All in all I think it’s going to be interesting following the progress of this project. Hopefully what is currently available on the site is only a taster of what might come in the future. Feel free to get involved in the discussion on Twitter and Facebook and let us know what you think.
