6 ms·

Yahoo's Design Chief Leaves Company

39 points by followmylee 13y ago

synotic 13y ago
Better, original article: http://allthingsd.com/20130523/draw-something-from-this-yahoos-design-chief-tim-parsey-to-depart/ http://allthingsd.com/20130523/draw-something-from-this-yaho... A video of Tom Parsey talking about Yahoo! and design: http://vimeo.com/61682055 http://vimeo.com/61682055
petilon 13y ago
After Marissa Mayer took over Yahoo Mail improved marginally, but the aesthetics of the Yahoo home page deteriorated and while Fickr added attractive features such as 1TB disk space, many users are begging the company to restore the previous user experience. It is clear Mayer is not living up to the hype.
- cpeterso 13y ago
  Maybe Parsey was part of the problem and Mayer is pushing him out.
  - wilfra 13y ago
    That would be my guess as well. Seems like a great time to be at Yahoo, hard to imagine anybody in a prominent role leaving by choice right now.
  - joeblau 13y ago
    That was my initial thought as soon as I read the headline. This seems like he got Forestalled.
- Adirael 13y ago
  > many users are begging the company to restore the previous user experience This will always, always happen. Doesn't matter what you change or how good the change is, people doesn't like when things are different.
muglug 13y ago
I wonder if the role was anything but token - I would imagine the political pressures of dealing with such a multi-headed beast as Yahoo would be enough to dull any overarching creative expression. Prime example of where politics stymies design/UX: 8 years after acquisition, Flickr still requires its users sign in via a Yahoo pop-up.
- gcb0 13y ago
  Even the chief architects have little to say on technical decisions on a company this size. I'd bet that you are correct, just a token position put there by former ceo. I'd also bet Terry semel on this one, as he created positions for pretty much anything he didn't understand (ie everything)
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
jaysonelliot 13y ago
At the risk of sounding too negative, it seems like this was probably not a voluntary departure. Yahoo's home page still suffers from ADD overload, Flickr's UX has been mangled, and Yahoo Mail is underwhelming, at best. Add in the fact that the All Things Digital article mentions Marissa Mayer's "hands-on" approach to design, and it sounds like what happened here was a clash of personalities, possibly tying Tom Parsey's hands and resulting in a series of designs that no-one was happy with, including Parsey or Mayer. It will be interesting to see who replaces him, and whether she or he is allowed to have a long or short leash, publicly.
- kinkora 13y ago
  if you ever been in a design meeting with Mayer, you will know how true it is on her "hands-on" approach to design. She is also very meticulous and border line pedantic when it comes to design. Don't be surprised that there was probably a clash of interest between him and Mayer.
- qompiler 13y ago
  There are rumors Bjarne Stroustrup will lead the design decisions for Yahoo! after Marissa Mayer was impressed by the cover of the 3th and 4th edition of The C++ Programming Language book.
MisterBastahrd 13y ago
You mean they might actually get rid of the dozen shades of purple that currently afflict their sites?
- NameNickHN 13y ago
  They've already started with the app icon of their iOS weather app.
zwtaylor 13y ago
That this news is being released the Sunday prior to Memorial Day is certainly no coincidence.
franze 13y ago
to be honest, the shocking news is that yahoo® even had such a position.
anuraj 13y ago
Yahoo had design? Great!!!

39 points by followmylee 13y ago

Better, original article: http://allthingsd.com/20130523/draw-something-from-this-yahoos-design-chief-tim-parsey-to-depart/ http://allthingsd.com/20130523/draw-something-from-this-yaho... A video of Tom Parsey talking about Yahoo! and design: http://vimeo.com/61682055 http://vimeo.com/61682055

petilon 13y ago

After Marissa Mayer took over Yahoo Mail improved marginally, but the aesthetics of the Yahoo home page deteriorated and while Fickr added attractive features such as 1TB disk space, many users are begging the company to restore the previous user experience. It is clear Mayer is not living up to the hype.

cpeterso 13y ago
Maybe Parsey was part of the problem and Mayer is pushing him out.
- wilfra 13y ago
  That would be my guess as well. Seems like a great time to be at Yahoo, hard to imagine anybody in a prominent role leaving by choice right now.
- joeblau 13y ago
  That was my initial thought as soon as I read the headline. This seems like he got Forestalled.
Adirael 13y ago
> many users are begging the company to restore the previous user experience This will always, always happen. Doesn't matter what you change or how good the change is, people doesn't like when things are different.

muglug 13y ago

I wonder if the role was anything but token - I would imagine the political pressures of dealing with such a multi-headed beast as Yahoo would be enough to dull any overarching creative expression. Prime example of where politics stymies design/UX: 8 years after acquisition, Flickr still requires its users sign in via a Yahoo pop-up.

gcb0 13y ago
Even the chief architects have little to say on technical decisions on a company this size. I'd bet that you are correct, just a token position put there by former ceo. I'd also bet Terry semel on this one, as he created positions for pretty much anything he didn't understand (ie everything)

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

jaysonelliot 13y ago

At the risk of sounding too negative, it seems like this was probably not a voluntary departure. Yahoo's home page still suffers from ADD overload, Flickr's UX has been mangled, and Yahoo Mail is underwhelming, at best. Add in the fact that the All Things Digital article mentions Marissa Mayer's "hands-on" approach to design, and it sounds like what happened here was a clash of personalities, possibly tying Tom Parsey's hands and resulting in a series of designs that no-one was happy with, including Parsey or Mayer. It will be interesting to see who replaces him, and whether she or he is allowed to have a long or short leash, publicly.

kinkora 13y ago
if you ever been in a design meeting with Mayer, you will know how true it is on her "hands-on" approach to design. She is also very meticulous and border line pedantic when it comes to design. Don't be surprised that there was probably a clash of interest between him and Mayer.
qompiler 13y ago
There are rumors Bjarne Stroustrup will lead the design decisions for Yahoo! after Marissa Mayer was impressed by the cover of the 3th and 4th edition of The C++ Programming Language book.

MisterBastahrd 13y ago

You mean they might actually get rid of the dozen shades of purple that currently afflict their sites?

NameNickHN 13y ago
They've already started with the app icon of their iOS weather app.

zwtaylor 13y ago

That this news is being released the Sunday prior to Memorial Day is certainly no coincidence.

franze 13y ago

to be honest, the shocking news is that yahoo® even had such a position.

anuraj 13y ago

Yahoo had design? Great!!!