Pandora’s Evolution
Throughout the evolution of Pandora’s website, I noticed that although their page became more advanced and detailed, they continued to stick with a simple layout throughout the years. What I found interesting with Pandora was that their home page was even simpler in 2014 than its layout in 2005. I believe that the changes that occured on their page was largely effected by the popularity of online streaming. They no longer needed descriptions of what their website was for, because people knew what it was, thus eliminating the need for it. I focused on the homepage of Pandora because going through each time period, you don’t notice too many changes from one image to the next. Although each consecutive frame doesn’t differ much, when you compare the first period to the last, you notice quite a different looking website.
July 22, 2005 — Pandora’s web page at this point was a very un-interesting layout using minimal colors and a simple font. The website contains a description of what Pandora is and the purpose for creating their website. In this stage, users were only able to join with an invitation. I believe that the reason for ‘invitation-only’ was a way for them to get people talking about their website and people could share this website among friends. The colors they used (yellow, blue, black, gray) and their choice of font(plain) gives me an immediate indication that their website is still in their beginning stages.
August 16, 2006 — Everything on Pandora’s website is relatively the same with two additions: a section where the music can be played, and no longer an invitation option.
July 14, 2007- The layout of the website transitions into round-edge borders and the emphasis of using blue hues. Differing from the previous webpage, they have less words but still contain a brief explanation of what Pandora is. They say, “It’s a new kind of radio- stations that only play music you like”. I think that the reason they include this brief explanantion is because unlike the previous stages of their website, people have begun to know what Pandora is. To those who do not know what Pandora is, the short explanation still describes what it is effectively.
November 15, 2013- The “PANDORA” on the page is now in a different font, which is more bold and original than of the previous page, and the “bubbles” are more interesting and have more depth. As I described previously although the page has become much more distinct and lively, they still maintained a simplistic form.
June 15, 2012- The home page is the same background of dark blues and bubble images and now only says ‘PANDORA’ in large font with no underline. There are no other changes from the previous page.
November 15, 2013- The “PANDORA” on the page is now in a different font, which is a more bold and original than of the previous page, and the “bubbles” are more interesting and have more depth.
Although it may not be apparent in the physical layout of Pandora’s website, I believe that Pandora’s website changed due to the drastic changes within the music industry. Online streaming has become much more popular among listeners and this website allows people to listen to music that they want to listen to, while also maintaining the “radio-like” program. The website itself never changes as drastically as many other websites have, but rather through its use of a more simple and direct layout they actually improved their page. The reason I believe that Pandora did not make huge changes to their website is because their concept if simple which correlates with their simple layout. Pandora did not fail at improving their website throughout the years but rather adapted in their own way.
