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Yahoo's Entire Design Team Fired

portfolio.com — The entire design firm has been let go. The team had been working on next generation design projects. This week, more than 1,000 Yahoo employees have been let go, including the entire design team.

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  • ZeeshanHasan, on 02/16/2008, -21/+294One of the best Moves by Yahoo!
    • convergent, on 02/16/2008, -2/+70Seriously, it looks like instead of just working with all the designers to make a good website, they just blindly added what each designer wanted on the website...
    • LokitheComplex, on 02/16/2008, -3/+78Unless you worked there.
    • fussbucket, on 02/16/2008, -2/+11What?!
      But S. said "The new backgrounds and layouts are awesome!" and P. said "I can't believe I can I.M. right on the page too!"
      So how could they fire them?
    • 5urr3al5am, on 02/16/2008, -2/+9Yeah.. the other day I was looking at the yahoo stuff and trying to figure out how it fit together...? theres .. like ten different user web portal type pages.. and they are all completely different..
      • ThaDRD, on 02/16/2008, -1/+4No doubt. I always liked the simple old-school page they had with the small relevant news box to the right. Now instead of relevant stories, you see "Listen to this singing cat!" or some other drivel.
    • DrGamez, on 02/16/2008, -9/+4I want to know why you Capitalized in the middle of your sentence for now reason.
      • TheCount, on 02/16/2008, -3/+18I, on the other hand, would like to know why you used "now" instead of "no".
        • Nitesmoke, on 02/16/2008, -3/+12I would like to know why you put your period outside the quotes.
          • Plezops, on 02/17/2008, -4/+1I want to know why you guys are being grammar Nazi's... this is digg after all, and you all knew what they meant.
          • lintmonkey, on 02/17/2008, -5/+2The word "know" makes more sense in that context.
          • Nuggstein, on 02/17/2008, -1/+2@Plezops. There's no apostrophe in the way that you used the word "Nazis," and you're the one yelling at everyone.
          • Plezops, on 02/17/2008, -0/+1I didn't say I was using perfect grammar I just said that you guys were being grammar Nazis... and I WASN'T YELLING AT ANYONE, THIS IS YELLING...
        • PlancksCnst, on 02/17/2008, -2/+7The positioning of periods outside of quotes is perfectly valid and is a matter of style rather than grammar. Most logical people prefer the period out side of quotes except when quoting the end of a sentence.
    • simpleid, on 02/16/2008, -2/+3"The layoffs mean the end of a font of design innovation at the beleaguered web giant, which is currently trying to fend off a hostile takeover bid by Microsoft."
      I thought Microsoft only made an offer? Something else must be going on...
    • LeeSoong, on 02/17/2008, -2/+1Well,

      Microsoft can just hire all the useful people let go from yahoo,
      and make their own microsoft page and basically copy everything yahoo does -
      and force it to be the default home page in the next Explorer update, even put an Icon for it on the menu,
      so when you want to open explorer - you always default to the microsoft 'yahoo' like page...
    • enzomedici, on 02/17/2008, -0/+4Yahoo is pretty crappy. I can't even use Yahoo mail anymore on my Mac. It doesn't work right in Safari or Firefox for the Mac. You always have to switch back to "Classic Mode". WTF? ***** Yahoo. Those dumb asses were too stupid to take $45 billion from Microsoft? Seriously dumb move by Yahoo as they aren't worth anywhere near that. People are using Yahoo less and less.
  • Senn, on 02/16/2008, -6/+418At this rate, Microsoft won't have anything left to buy...
    • KibibyteBrain, on 02/16/2008, -8/+57Thats the point. This is a pretty classic move, to cut expenses before a buyout to make the payout in the end all the sweeter. It's sort of the idea of a graduating high school senior who got into Yale not necessarily enrolling in the hardest classes possible for his last semester of prep school. Also Microsoft already has a design team, and probably wouldn't be interested in Yahoo!'s anyway. Still, this is pretty sad, I'd say this is a pretty tell-tale sign that Yahoo! is planning to sell to someone, soon.
      • GeneralSun, on 02/16/2008, -26/+5Wisdom of the crowd fails again. This post is completely wrong yet has 10 diggs.
        Sighs....
        • lex0nyc, on 02/16/2008, -1/+23Wrong how? Don't just shoot ideas down without any explanation, it makes you look like a tool.
          • Awspire, on 02/16/2008, -0/+17Exactly. Their comment is like when someone posts a technical question in a forum, then later replies "I fixed it. nvmnd", without ever explaining how they resolved their problem.
          • hakz, on 02/16/2008, -0/+9that is the most annoying thing ever, especially when you can't find the answer anywhere, you finally get your hopes up when you see the thread and then its destroyed
          • popfrogs, on 02/16/2008, -0/+5@hakz: The only thing worse than that is coming across a dead thread. You google something, find one or 2 hits on the exact same problem...and no fix.
          • diadem2, on 02/17/2008, -3/+1is there any way to undo "mark as offensive?" i was scrolling down and clicked the button (accidently) without even noticing it was there... damn thing didn't even ask for conformation
      • scoot2006, on 02/16/2008, -4/+18Yeah, cause we all know MS has the best designs...........
        • KibibyteBrain, on 02/16/2008, -1/+3I don't think that the quality of design really depends solely on the design team. It has many factors. But none-the-less, I don't think Microsoft would be interested in Yahoo!'s designs any more than their own.
          • mikelieman, on 02/17/2008, -3/+3Then why buy them?
          • alex7575, on 02/17/2008, -0/+3@mikelieman,

            I think Yahoo does a bit more than just design...
      • tattertech, on 02/16/2008, -1/+4These cuts were announced a week or two before the MS move.
        In fact, the cuts were announced to rein in costs, I know it's a crazy thought....
        • KibibyteBrain, on 02/16/2008, -1/+2Do you really think that the MS announcement was totally a surprise/random? People have known that Yahoo! was more or less on casual sale for a while, and some [unknown, to me] stimulus has happened recently to make Microsoft make a bid.
          • tattertech, on 02/17/2008, -0/+1Well, rumors existed for a couple years of someone buying or merging with Yahoo. However, the actual timing of the bid was a huge surprise to most.
      • diadem2, on 02/16/2008, -0/+3***** hardcore cold ***** right there.... 1,000 of their own people for extra cashflow for the higher ups
        • pyronik, on 02/17/2008, -0/+2if your not needed your not needed, business is business... life isn't fair.. all that good stuff
    • frontporsche, on 02/16/2008, -0/+9Microsoft's only interest in Yahoo, IMHO, is Yahoo's customer base -- email, IM, and search. The immediate result of buying Yahoo is taking over Yahoo's web-advertising revenue. The long-term result is to migrate those customers into a grand unified Microsoft email/IM/search service, so as to make "Microsoft search" the same sort of household name as "Google".
      • Brad324, on 02/16/2008, -0/+21Yes... I could see the term "Microsoft Search" being used around the house often. "Hey Jonny, could you Microsoft Search me the number for that pizza store? I would like to purchase me some pizza, and Microsoft Search is clearly my search engine of preference"
        • Blandyman, on 02/16/2008, -1/+10My friend asked me if I wanted a frozen banana. So I said, no, but I want a *regular* banana *later*, so, yeah.
      • 6minuteabs, on 02/16/2008, -0/+2It's really about search users, the advertiser base, and the brand name. Microsoft isn't stupid enough to rebrand Yahoo Search to MSN/Live or whatever the hell they call it these days. Keeping the Yahoo brand is a no brainer.
        • Blandyman, on 02/16/2008, -0/+2If anything they'll attempt to rebrand their own services under the yahoo name.
    • Kanidia, on 02/17/2008, -0/+3Why couldn't they fire all the Microsoft designers and port the Yahoo ones over?
  • sjbdallas, on 02/16/2008, -7/+211Probably a good idea. Yahoo's design has really suffered the more features they've added. I stopped using it a few years ago because it had become so cumbersome.
    • accessviolation, on 02/16/2008, -7/+74You should see the new Yahoo Mail Beta. It's god-awful. It's what would happen if Outlook had a child with Satan.
      • luchid, on 02/16/2008, -19/+2That would be make Outlook have a child with itself. Outlook already is like Satan. A more proper analogy would be "Its what would happen if Outlook had a child with Hotmail".
      • FatLoser, on 02/16/2008, -2/+25And then the anti-Christ (overused AJAX) had a beach orgy with Outlook and Satan.
        • Brad324, on 02/16/2008, -0/+18I saw that episode of mails gone wild - it was racy!
      • 2shae, on 02/16/2008, -10/+3Yeah but have you seen the new Beta of My Yahoo (or whatever it's called) that looks really good and so does there search engine.
      • hakz, on 02/16/2008, -0/+6I like the yahoo mail beta... I don't like the built in chat though, useless add on.

        • MikeGrenade, on 02/17/2008, -0/+1Can I interest you in my snail collection? I keep them in molasses.
    • DheiF, on 02/16/2008, -1/+10Entirely agree, and I add to your comment this link which was previously posted here on digg:
      http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/nonflickr/ ...
      which demonstrate the evolution of Yahoo homepage vs. google.
    • Shiner6, on 02/17/2008, -1/+1Wait, Yahoo! actually had a design team? Could have fooled me.
    • jtown, on 02/18/2008, -0/+0No kidding. google.com opens in seconds on any connection. Even when I'm in BFE using EDGE. I won't even use Yahoo at home with a 12 mbit cable connection. If I want mail, I'm perfectly capable of clicking on a simple text link. I don't need "interactive" buttons that slide crap around my screen. If I want a fancy home page, I can use igoogle to build one that _I_ want.
  • Kakcoo, on 02/16/2008, -3/+158Looks like Yahoo is stuck somewhere in the web 2.0 transition. Their page looks kinda like Macromedias homepage some years ago.
    • LightSpeed4, on 02/16/2008, -16/+2i wouldnt diss yahoo, they were here before google, they are one of the legendary internet icons.
      • TheG2, on 02/16/2008, -0/+18And Kodak was one of the great camera and film manufacturers, doesn't mean that if you don't adapt fast enough you won't be left behind in the dust. Kodak failed to move digital fast enough, and Yahoo didn't scale fast enough for their viewer audience.
        • pyronik, on 02/17/2008, -1/+2kodak didn't have the cash to finance a move to digital, they are one of our advanced corporate finance case studies
      • dhomes, on 02/16/2008, -0/+9netscape too was an internet icon as far as i remember
      • G-RaZoR, on 02/16/2008, -1/+2Hotbot FTW.
    • Chirp08, on 02/16/2008, -11/+4Yahoo didn't design there main page, their "design" team might be who maintains the site and takes what was originally paid for and adds crap to (changing buttons, content etc. down the road). The current design was done by Hillman Curtis, who is anything but "bad". go ahead and check his site.
      • Jforsyth89, on 02/16/2008, -2/+6Well that would explain a lot. AOL is also on the Hillman Curtis client list. I wondered why the AOL and Yahoo websites are almost identical in terms of layout and general design.
      • bbabics, on 02/16/2008, -1/+10Um, I suggest you begin poking around his portfolio again before you vouch for his design. Most of his current designs look as if they were designed 3-5 years ago and represent what would be designed for a thing of the past- a table based layout.

        Check it out for yourself:
        http://www.hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/site_design.sh ...
      • Syphon8, on 02/16/2008, -2/+7I checked his website. The anything but bad you're talking about must be terrible. I could out-design him when I was like 12.
      • spadin, on 02/16/2008, -1/+4Hillmancurtis was great a few years ago. I just looked at their website right now for the first time in three years and still exactly the same.
      • rebotfc, on 02/16/2008, -1/+8Hillman Curtis is a relic from 1997 era design, totally overated and certainly past it now.

        And jesus talk about money for old rope, just compare AOL to Yahoo!
      • vapido, on 02/17/2008, -0/+1It's funny because you use Hillman Curtis as some kind of defense to the comment that "Their page looks kinda like Macromedias homepage some years ago.", as it was Hillman Curtis who designed the Macromedia homepage 10 years ago.
      • Chirp08, on 02/17/2008, -0/+1its quite obvious none of you are designers and no ***** clue what you are talking about, take a class, talk to a web design professor or major, go to a ***** conference. I don't know what what "good design" is in your mind, but "Site Design : HC DESIGNED MET OPERA SITE REPORTS A 64% INCREASE IN ONLINE TICKET SALES" that right there is what web design is all about. it has nothing to do with how flashy or pretty your site is, its about functionality and ease of use, its about meeting the expectations of the user. BTW 2005 and 2006 design projects wouldn't be seen by the public until 2007-2008 when dealing with companies of that scale. A new site will spend 6 months in testing alone. Go back to talking about ***** you have no experience in, I look forward to the "I've been a web designer for x amount of years, check out my geocities site" replies.
    • jim1977, on 02/16/2008, -4/+4Do you ever get the feeling the only people who use the term "Web 2.0" are people trying to sell you stuff, journalists and people who don't know what they're talking about?
    • ICSU, on 02/16/2008, -6/+3Google is stuck in 0.9 then.
  • Scottievm, on 02/16/2008, -12/+37About time.
    • epiccollision, on 02/16/2008, -1/+1i was about to say...yahoo has a design?
  • phenom2k7, on 02/16/2008, -15/+7Ouch.
  • Debsuk, on 02/16/2008, -7/+101Pity MSN dont follow suit
    • mach32, on 02/16/2008, -24/+7use this----> '
      or better yet use the correct word
      • TerrorByteX, on 02/16/2008, -1/+23Use this --> ,
      • scotticus, on 02/16/2008, -2/+24lick here ---> 8====D
      • dorianh49, on 02/16/2008, -6/+3If Digg had a snooty punctuation/spelling correcting button:

        "Dear Debsuk,

        On this sixteenth day of February in the year Two Thousand And Eight, I hereby notify you of certain grammar and punctuation errors made in your above-written post. First of all, your post is not a complete sentence, not having a subject. Secondly, you use an incorrect word, "don't", when the proper word would have been "doesn't". Additionally, you've managed to drop the apostrophe (hereinafter referred to as " ' ") in your contraction. Furthermore, you failed to end your "sentence" with a period. A most disagreeable turn of events, this, and I'm glad that my post doesn't contain any of these omissions (such as commas, or periods). It would have, had I not used the new Digg Snooty Grammar/Spelling/Punctuation (GSP) button to proof what would otherwise have been a disastrous attempt to criticize your post. In conclusion, this is what your post should have looked like:

        "It's a pity that Microsoft Network (hereinafter referred to as "MSN") doesn't follow suit."

        And, of course, my own post should've have appeared this way:

        "Use this -----> '
        Or, better yet, use the correct word."

        I am an elitist hypocritical prick, and I endorse this message.

        Respectfully submitted,
        mach32"

        OK. I guess I have too much spare time on my hands.
      • MrLlama, on 02/17/2008, -0/+1This comment should be dug up, its actually took more than 5 seconds to write unlike 99% of digg comments and is funny.
    • miaow, on 02/16/2008, -6/+2so many bum designers, so few bum companies left
    • aliguana, on 02/16/2008, -2/+14MSN should hire Yahoo's design team
    • accelleron, on 02/17/2008, -0/+3...yes, then hire all of Yahoo's designers.
      Yah00.msn.com anyone?
  • modnar, on 02/16/2008, -5/+25I'm surprised it took them this long.
  • sroop, on 02/16/2008, -4/+556Yahoo had a design team?
    • lex0nyc, on 02/16/2008, -6/+17The were literally "developing advanced fonts." And people say corporations are an efficient business model...
      • solid12345, on 02/16/2008, -1/+24I didn't quite understand that advanced fonts jargon, what, is it helvetica that cooks you breakfast in the morning?
      • AlpineR, on 02/16/2008, -1/+23"A font of design innovation" (from the article) does not mean "developing advanced fonts" (from your post).
      • cheribom, on 02/16/2008, -1/+9font
        –noun
        3. a productive source
        in other words:
        The layoffs mean the end of a "productive source" of design innovation at the beleaguered web giant
    • Ploosheeta, on 02/16/2008, -0/+10Coulda' fooled me!
    • LordMaul, on 02/16/2008, -1/+14Didn't you hear? They've been developing some of the most groundbreaking design elements the internet has seen since moving away from simple, single-page html sites. The stuff they were working on would rock the design world...Yahoo was going to, in essence, make you their bitch. Unfortunately, after attending a seminar lectured by such important industry leaders as the 3D Realms design team, no one has seen any of the work they've been doing for the past decade or so, leaving the design job up to the 2nd floor maintenance engineer.
      • Frost9999, on 02/16/2008, -0/+23The 2nd floor engineer who modelled Yahoo after his own myspace account.
      • mcduckov, on 02/16/2008, -0/+5Win. Unadulterated.
      • dn11, on 02/16/2008, -0/+3Yahoo: "Suck It Down".
  • npg6913, on 02/16/2008, -23/+6and here goes the economy, down down down
    • Brad324, on 02/16/2008, -3/+1Ronald Paul will save the day.
      • m0tbaillie, on 02/16/2008, -0/+4Ronald McDonald has a better chance of that...
  • binaryloop, on 02/16/2008, -12/+59Good. They needed to be fired for making the new "My Yahoo" and "Yahoo Mail" sites. I reverted back to the older versions because their new ***** didn't work. Fire the idiots who pick the stories for the front page too!
    • drewxhawaii, on 02/16/2008, -16/+8why would "***** didn't work" be the design team's fault?
      • haydesigner, on 02/16/2008, -2/+13@drewxhawaii: "why would "***** didn't work" be the design team's fault?"

        The mind staggers....
      • FatLoser, on 02/16/2008, -0/+10The code was robust but when it saw the ***** design it had a seizure and threw random exceptions?

        In all seriousness, I think it's because "designers" think they can tackle scripting and programming. Funny how they bitch about people who look at what they do as trivial, but then they enter the programming realm and think a few lines of ActionScript or Javascript makes them able to do a real programmer's job.
        • tinker123, on 02/16/2008, -3/+2PHP coders have a similar delusion about doing programming
    • gmprunner, on 02/16/2008, -1/+6Maybe that's why the new Yahoo Mail and My Yahoo are in BETA.
      • thunderer, on 02/16/2008, -1/+10When GMail was in early beta, the only thing majorly wrong with it was the difficulty in getting an invite. I don't care what you classify a feature or function; if it doesn't work well, or as advertised, it should not be live on the site.
        • Shiner6, on 02/17/2008, -1/+3There are many Google products that are in beta and work fine.
        • gmprunner, on 02/17/2008, -0/+3Perhaps Google did more internal testing on GMail before releasing it as beta than Yahoo did before they released their new mail into beta.
  • kbaz, on 02/16/2008, -72/+4Obama '08!!!
    • lex0nyc, on 02/16/2008, -3/+14Yo momma last night.
    • Brad324, on 02/16/2008, -1/+19You have associated voting for Obama with intrusive internet spam - congrats.
    • AriaStar, on 02/16/2008, -6/+2I agree, but this isn't the place. Overexpose where it doesn't belong and you'll drive people to the pother side.
    • Gabberwok, on 02/16/2008, -0/+11You're giving him a bad name.
  • SA007, on 02/16/2008, -13/+4Good for them!I hope their new design team would be good.
  • Mikhail101, on 02/16/2008, -13/+3Good this will hinder their completion of Buzz
  • dantsai, on 02/16/2008, -1/+163This is not the Yahoo design team, but their design innovation team. Big difference.
    • FatLoser, on 02/16/2008, -2/+7What is that big difference exactly?
      • aliguana, on 02/16/2008, -1/+30their design team tweaks and works on the various Yahoo sites. The design innovation team sits around, making beta sites that stick around for two months then vanish. Only the best bits make it into Yahoo production, which is handled by the actual design team. So they're doodlers, and the best doodles get given to the artists.
        • h4mx0r, on 02/16/2008, -6/+3You can get a job for doodling?
        • koft, on 02/16/2008, -3/+22yea, its called R&D, without it, companies die.
    • klethron, on 02/16/2008, -1/+7holy crap they had the nerve to call something innovative?
    • Bamborzled, on 02/16/2008, -0/+4If by "design innovation" you mean "packing as much crap into one page as your server will allow", then sure, they fired their "design innovation" team.
    • dn11, on 02/16/2008, -0/+3In that case they can now replace those 1000 innovators with 1 guy that knows how to make a front page that doesn't look terrible
  • BongoShack, on 02/16/2008, -17/+9owned.
  • Lacero, on 02/16/2008, -21/+67One thousand designers (?!!) yet their home page looks as cluttered as if one thousand monkeys designed it.
    • santaliqueur, on 02/16/2008, -0/+43Read the summary again, it's 1,000 employees, which includes the design team. Not 1,000 designers.
    • solarwind24, on 02/16/2008, -1/+131000 workers, including designers. They're not all necessarily designers.
    • shark72, on 02/16/2008, -1/+16It was the "Design Innovations Team," a pretty small group at Yahoo!. I think it was about four guys. They didn't work on the home page or any other production sites.

      "Entire design team" was just the submitter's little joke, to fool people into thinking that, well, Yahoo!'s entire design team was let go.
      • DigiDave, on 02/16/2008, -8/+1It wasn't a little joke. Get off my nutz. All I did was find something interesting and share it with others.
    • nextyoyoma, on 02/16/2008, -4/+9God...bury me, but what an idiotic comment.
    • L0t3k, on 02/16/2008, -1/+8Shark is correct. They were working on some really bad-ass, cutting edge UI stuff too. It's a shame. More of the same for Yahoo!, until they get bought up by MS and start working backwards to 1999.
    • dn11, on 02/16/2008, -0/+2So that's why they were getting paid in bananas! It all makes sense now.
  • neofuturist, on 02/16/2008, -10/+4Aren't they the one that were hostile to the microsoft take over??
    Lets see where their CVs will end up now
    • seanc6610, on 02/16/2008, -1/+6"Hostile takeover" refers to a business practice where a competing company buys out the majority of the shareholders in another company, and thus takes over control of the company without consent. In this instance, MS will attempt to buy up enough shares of Yahoo! to gain control and place themselves in leadership positions.
      • figec, on 02/16/2008, -3/+3Sort of. This is not a hostile takeover. This is quite the opposite. Microsoft made an above board offer to the executive board.

        If Microsoft tried purchasing though the open market, or through private transactions, enough shares to appoint enough members to the Board of Directors to exert their will, then it would be a hostile takeover. In this case, they're effectively negotiating directly with the Board of Directors for control and ownership.

        I'm also a little dissappointed that the author of this article thinks that one source is enough to call this a confirmation. That's not to say what is reported isn't true, but that it is not up to journalistic standards to report on something with only one source. It might has well have been a blind item.
      • neofuturist, on 02/17/2008, -1/+1I guess you didn't read what I wrote before downmodding it
        "Aren't they the one that were hostile to the microsoft take over??"
        there's no mention of a hostile take over,
        reread it and maybe you'll understand it
  • ligyron, on 02/16/2008, -14/+8Won't somebody please think of the children!
    • FatLoser, on 02/16/2008, -2/+6Yahoo thought of the children, then they realized an abortion was in everybody's best interest.
  • thesoze, on 02/16/2008, -2/+48remember, LESS IS MORE!!!
    • Meowbiusfox, on 02/16/2008, -3/+2I know Les Ismore.He's a top shelf guy.
    • FatLoser, on 02/16/2008, -0/+7That's NOT what she said!
    • n0c0ntr0l, on 02/16/2008, -0/+3I second that. One of the main reasons I never touched yahoo was because of the cluttered front page. Google is nice and clear, a logo and a box. Yahoo.... well just look at it, same at MSN too.
  • trghpy, on 02/16/2008, -4/+16I hope this doesn't affect YUI development...
  • RegalGSX, on 02/16/2008, -6/+16Yeah, their graphics are still stuck in the 90's.
    • FatLoser, on 02/16/2008, -1/+5They just need to tighten them up a bit.
      • lintmonkey, on 02/17/2008, -0/+2And their moms told them they'd never get *anywhere* with that web site design.
  • Totz83, on 02/16/2008, -27/+18They had a design team? Coulda' fooled me!
    • jeremyfohferemy, on 02/16/2008, -6/+2NICE! HIGH FIVES ALL AROUND!
    • thesonofdarwin, on 02/16/2008, -3/+3Since I couldn't bury you on portfolio.com, I'll do it here. Once is witty, 5 times is annoying.
    • sup4141, on 02/16/2008, -1/+5I dugg your comment before I realized it was the same douche bag who left the comment 5 times on the linked site.
      • Totz83, on 02/16/2008, -5/+0They werent showing up on that site =p Why would I knowingly make it 5 times? Im not retarded bitch lol
  • miaow, on 02/16/2008, -4/+26how did they consistently come up with so much cluttery rubbish ?
  • boldfire, on 02/16/2008, -3/+7Could be a good move.
    "Too many cooks spoil the broth"
  • a517, on 02/16/2008, -4/+6Good, the reason I don't use Yahoo is because the search page takes too long to load. It's loaded with links I haven't even bothered to read.
  • Jergens, on 02/16/2008, -11/+3This is news to me. That they had a design team, not that they fired them.
  • gjokkel, on 02/16/2008, -2/+43This is a huge step backwards. These guys were software designers helping to create Yahoo Pipes and other cool stuff. I think they have a new job at Google starting Monday. The only difference will be that they must use a different exit on Hwy 101.
    • zzt711, on 02/16/2008, -11/+1Hwy 101, LOL. Now they can get all the In and Out burgers they want, it's down the street...
      • Syric, on 02/16/2008, -0/+6Why yes, there are In-N-Out Burgers off of Highway 101. And yes, 101 runs through Silicon Valley. How clever of you.
        Seriously, were you trying to crack a joke or something?
      • eousphoros, on 02/17/2008, -0/+4Not to be a total ass but yahoo's santa clara office is way closer to an In and out then googles mountain view office.
    • protohiro, on 02/17/2008, -3/+1Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
  • nickbeee, on 02/16/2008, -6/+1For all the use they are they might as well do the same with tech support.
  • elvenseven, on 02/16/2008, -8/+2LOL
  • AmyWhere, on 02/16/2008, -1/+27Too bad they didn't fire the strategists instead. It isn't their design that's holding them back.
  • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -26/+6Well, The Skins Factory is always looking for talented, freelance user interface designers. So if you got the chops and are looking for something freelance then contact me at information (@) theskinsfactory.com. Especially icon artists.

    Yahoo! Artists: You can see our work here: http://www.theskinsfactory.com/skinsfactory/?page= ...
    Best to see what our style is, and make sure you're a match.

    Jeff
    CEO, The Skins Factory
    • cr3ative, on 02/16/2008, -3/+10Wow, that's a horrible looking homepage for a design company.

      /edit: Hahaha, you made Qtrax's design. I had noted how awfully 60's that looked.
      • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -7/+4So let's see your work "cr3ative". With a name as "1337" as yours, I'm not holding my breath.
        • rhyss, on 02/16/2008, -9/+3Don't even bother with these people TheSkinsFactory, they're just a bunch of twerps taking pot shots from their parents house.

          The sad part is, some of them are adults who should know better.
      • hello2usir, on 02/16/2008, -2/+3I like the design. It loads fast and it doesn't have the bubbly overdone 'web 2.0' crap that I see everywhere lately.
        Company name needs a change though. It sounds a little pornographic.
    • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -9/+71000 people are laid off and i offer to put some of them to work possibly, and some of you dig me down? Why? Because there's a link to my site? Give me a ***** break.
      • Fiestardi, on 02/16/2008, -3/+7I hate SPAM
        • rhyss, on 02/16/2008, -5/+6I normally would agree with you Fiestardi,but the guy is not exactly posting spam. He's legitimately trying to connect with those people that were laid off and not necessarily throwing out a generic commercial. It's a bit unwanted for some, but that's true for a lot of comments I read here and I just skip over it.

          He has no method to get in touch with those specific people other than to post here, so I say we let it slide a bit. Again, this is not to encourage others to post SPAM, but I think this is a gray issue and we shouldn't crucify the guy for it. He is trying to be helpful after all.
          • Micktion, on 02/17/2008, -1/+3I think if he really wanted to he could get in contact with these people, without posting here. There's plenty of info in that article that could be used to gain contact with the people who have allegedly been laid off. I say allegedly as I have my doubts about the veracity of this article. I think what he's posted is dubious, and could definitely be categorised as spam. The thread following what his posted is even more dubios, what did he expect? TheSkinsFactory messages here are on the whole really unprofessional. There's no way I'd work there.
        • sovietninja, on 02/16/2008, -2/+1posted to the wrong person
        • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -8/+3Give me a break. If want publicity, I'll pay for it. I'm about to dish out 5 figures to a PR company for an upcoming product. I really don't consider Digg to be a promotions site for my company. But there will be Yahoo! artists seeing this, in which case they might have found what i had to say, a benefit. But I don't have the time to field a ton of emails from artists that may not fit our style, hence the link.
          • rhyss, on 02/16/2008, -7/+3This is the last thing I'm going to say on this topic, but TheSkinsFactory, you're trying to do a good thing, but you need to realize that you're an adult in a school yard fight with kids. You're making your company look bad right now. You made your point, now back off and the Yahoo guys will still come if they're interested.
          • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -5/+3You're right rhyss. Back to work. Thanks for what you wrote before.
          • sovietninja, on 02/16/2008, -5/+3rhyss is wise. This is true. One cannot win a battle against a fourteen year old. Remember I'm not dude and I'm not man I'm Office Rivieria! Unless you can actually punch one of these kids and break their fingers, you wont win against them. Just be glad your successful and the CEO of a company while these kids live on their computers and couldn't figure out how to ride a bike without Wikipedia.
      • shakestheclown, on 02/16/2008, -3/+13for a CEO, you sure are a baby.
        • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -10/+3Says the guy with a communist symbol for an avatar. What are you trying to be hip? You a "rebel"?
          • shakestheclown, on 02/16/2008, -2/+9Are you? I sure act a lot more professionally than you do when promoting my company.

            But I didn't digg you down, and just to show you I'm a nice guy, I'll let you know the link to your collective works retrospect is broken on the project showcase. Index.htm is not served up automatically, so it takes me to the directory.
          • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -5/+4Thanks shakes. We just got a new server and moved everything over to it, so things are still not working.
        • undershirt, on 02/16/2008, -2/+2Yeah, CEO's are robots without feelings.
      • javaroast, on 02/16/2008, -4/+8Dugg down for being an *****. Yeah this is a copy and paste from one of your posts. Obviously there are better ways to contact Yahoo designers then on digg. And you know that link spam isn't liked very well on digg. Whining about it in a follow up post and going into ***** mode doesn't help the cause.
        • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -8/+4Right, I'll just whip out the Yahoo! Yellow Pages and give them all a call. Getting right on that. Pour me a cup, will ya java?
        • javaroast, on 02/16/2008, -1/+10Skins, you've done a great job of making yourself and your company look immature. I don't need to pour you a cup, because you are skinning yourself with each post you make. Oh keep up the good work.
        • sovietninja, on 02/16/2008, -0/+6Can I haz cup?
      • sovietninja, on 02/16/2008, -10/+6Skins you just realized that people (kids) are mostly dicks on digg. I dont see you getting buried drastically so its probably a few 10 year olds who think they can create better skins for their windows media player when all they have done is gone a dl some windowsblind skin. I applaud your efforts, and if you guys created the Alienware Alienguise im useing right now I also give you mad props.
        • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -8/+3We created all of the Alienware desktop themes except for Xenomorph - which was the last one.
        • mcduckov, on 02/16/2008, -1/+4No it isn't just kids. If exceptions start to be made then every thread will be festooned with links to "helpful" websites. Was this link posted just out of purely altruistic motives? Would that be because yahoo design engineers can't find it themselves? Or it is more likely that it is a shot at self-promotion on the backs of people who just lost their job?

          You decide.
          • TheSkinsFactory, on 02/16/2008, -7/+1I've been posting here for awhile now. Do you honestly think Digg gives my site any traffic at all? We get over a million people a month. I'm not sweating 20-40 people that may show up because i put a link up so some artists could find my company's site.

            Now if you go here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/play ...
            Tell me who is the top Featured site and who is the top featured skin. Do you honestly think i need a few hits from Digg? :-)
            Now you decide.
          • mcduckov, on 02/17/2008, -0/+2Cool, then you won't do it again. kthx
      • Micktion, on 02/17/2008, -2/+4If you're not worried I think you should be. I'd be wondering what Google will return when you search for TheSkinsFactory, and where this page will feature in those results.
    • dannyboy3020, on 02/16/2008, -2/+2David Schwimmer, is that you?
    • NecroSexy, on 02/16/2008, -4/+6Because people naturally look for jobs at Digg after getting laid off...
  • dailyapplecrisp, on 02/16/2008, -6/+10I don't understand why Yahoo!'s website looks so ***** and color uncoordinated, but Flickr is a nice and simple Web 2.0 site.
    • netzdamon, on 02/16/2008, -4/+13One, flickr was bought out by yahoo and designed before they owned it. Two, flickr does not look that great either.
    • haydesigner, on 02/16/2008, -0/+8Because Flickr was well designed *before* Yahoo bought them.
      • lintmonkey, on 02/17/2008, -0/+3Ohhh! The space-time continuum thingie!
  • shark72, on 02/16/2008, -4/+197The submitter, DigiDave, is a liar, and he's fooled lots of you.

    Headline of the actual article: Yahoo Design Innovation Team Axed
    (which then goes on to explain what the "Design Innovation Team" is... a pretty small group.)

    DigiDave's submission title: Yahoo's Entire Design Team Fired
    (note how he put in the word "entire" to fool you?)

    Buried as inaccurate.

    As gjokkel stated, they'll be snapped up by Google. It's just about four exits up 101.
    • itsthebrod, on 02/16/2008, -9/+2*Google* has a design team?
      • shark72, on 02/16/2008, -0/+7Oh, I forgot to mention that the Design Innovation Team will be hired by Google to be fed to the incubi. Part of Google's deal with Satan and all that.
    • YHCIR, on 02/16/2008, -0/+12This has been happening lots recently, and people just blindly digg articles without reading them.
      Even though 50 people have dugg up your comment, this article has too many diggs to ever get buried. =[
    • DigiDave, on 02/16/2008, -17/+5Wow buddy. Saying I am a "liar and fooled lots of you" is a bit extreme - READ THE FIRST LINE OF THE ARTICLE: "The entire Yahoo Design Innovation Team, aka yHaus, has been axed en masse, Portfolio.com has confirmed with one of the team's former members."

      If anything - it's that I left out the word "innovation." but I only have so many words I can include in the title.

      Bottom line: I can't take responsibility if people don't read the actual content. I'm just sharing a good link I found- chill out.
      • bitspace, on 02/16/2008, -2/+10And doctoring the digg headline to be sensational so as to garner more diggs.
      • smhill, on 02/16/2008, -2/+13Yea, but you left out a very important word. It distinguishes between two groups.
        "US Army footwear discontinued!" vs. "US Army discontinued!"
        See, I just left out one word.

        "If anything - it's that I left out the word "innovation." but I only have so many words I can include in the title. "

        That is a stupid excuse, the phrase "Yahoo's Entire Design Innovation Team Fired" fits perfectly with 17 characters to spare. And it is accurate.

        So the conclusions we are left with is that you are:
        1. Spinning the titles to get diggs, or
        2. Didn't really read the article yourself, or
        3. You aren't that bright and don't understand the difference.

        None of which digg.com benefits from.


        • DigiDave, on 02/16/2008, -9/+4This is the stuff I can't take about Digg these days: People judge other real people from reading a headline.

          You are trying to judge who I am as a person from one little headline I've written very quickly in passing. I didn't force anybody to vote for this - It wasn't a "trick" - I submit stories all the time to Digg - some get votes, others don't. I don't determine either way - the people do.

          The article takes about 30 seconds to read: I can't force people to read it - but anybody who does will get the story instantly.

          MY point is: Don't me a liar, an a-hole... don't call me anything. You don't know me. What gives you the right to attack me as a person?

        • topace3000, on 02/17/2008, -0/+5How ***** hard is it to make an accurate title? People who just see your title are now going to be misinformed, and while we should take the time to read every article it's clear not everyone does before making a digg. So many titles and descriptions are entirely inaccurate these days, and people are rightly pissed off.
        • Kardall, on 02/24/2008, -0/+1Actually, there were over 1,000 employee's fired this week (as per article). So that's not really "Small" in number. Maybe for a large business, but anyone would find that quite a chunk, especially when you are diversified in such a way as Yahoo. To have 1,000 people in total, and the "Innovation Team" let go... that's quite a heavy burden to recover from.
      • fakekevinrose, on 02/17/2008, -1/+4i really hate diggers like you who have to sensationalize their topic headlines just to get diggs
  • kkearney, on 02/16/2008, -6/+0And this includes the entire design team which is made up of an entire design team.
  • MizzouSteven, on 02/16/2008, -4/+4I wonder if this story will ever hit the front page of Buzz.
    I'm assuming Buzz didn't go over too well with the big boys in Yahoo.
  • macwac, on 02/16/2008, -7/+2All yahoo needs to do is higher fresh undergrads to replace their old designer team and they'll have half the salary to pay and the same output.. maybe even more innovative..
  • Mr.Gone, on 02/16/2008, -7/+2So they are hiring?
  • fant0m, on 02/16/2008, -8/+3The entire design firm has been let go. The team had been working on next generation design projects. This week, more than 1,000 Yahoo employees have been let go, including the entire design team.

    Hey, did you guys hear that the people who were on the design team go let go by Yahoo!? Yeah - even the design team was fired!
  • judicar, on 02/16/2008, -14/+7Yahoo inc., the HD-DVD of web portals?
    • itsthebrod, on 02/16/2008, -1/+3Yahoo != Portal anymore. They provide many, many, many services. They're no longer just a directory of links.
      • tattertech, on 02/16/2008, -0/+1No, just go to Yahoo.com, they're still very much a portal. That's why you can go there one stop for so many different types of content.
  • Fixthemedia, on 02/16/2008, -5/+12The home page looks like an old school phpbb portal.
  • samfishercell, on 02/16/2008, -0/+4Yeah...before commenting on the situation, I would be interested in knowing how many designers there were, and what exactly they worked on.
  • KraigR, on 02/16/2008, -5/+1Thank god, now they might be a real website!
    • LightSpeed4, on 02/16/2008, -0/+2with reflections, gradients, a beta tag, and missing vowels?
  • tallguy240, on 02/16/2008, -8/+2I smell the death of Yahoo.
  • LightPhoenix, on 02/16/2008, -4/+12Can I buzz this up?
  • ErnestSixpence, on 02/16/2008, -4/+6There is not a lot of room in 2.0 for a portal. I feel like an era has ended.
    • Groovydoo, on 02/16/2008, -1/+3Dugg for insight
    • plusmedic, on 02/16/2008, -0/+1You are yet another reason why 'Web 2.0' has lost all meaning.
    • koreth, on 02/16/2008, -0/+2Don't worry, I hear they're adding portals back into web 2.1.
  • whodi, on 02/16/2008, -3/+9Buzzed
  • earthmansurfer, on 02/16/2008, -7/+2Actually Yahoo saw the end was near but did not want to go over to the Dark Side. Google won't be allowed to buy Yahoo, so Yahoo is letting some creative talent go, back into The Force. Microsoft triggered the Force with their takeover bid...
    • SniperGX1, on 02/16/2008, -0/+9Lay off the starwars for a little while, go outside, talk to a female, anything.
      • earthmansurfer, on 02/16/2008, -4/+1Saw it last weekend for the first time in about... since it came out.
        Sorry to burst your bubble and further sorry to challenge your truth.
      • bennovw, on 02/17/2008, -0/+1AMEN!
  • tattertech, on 02/16/2008, -9/+4I wonder if these are the same guys that stole AOL's original portal design to make up Yahoo's look.
    (And then AOL redesigned away from it for years, and then recently went back to that look and was accused of copying Yahoo).
    • sovietninja, on 02/16/2008, -2/+3Who the ***** would know that and who the ***** would use AOL enough to make that claim.
  • bxblox, on 02/16/2008, -0/+1Inaccurate description/title.
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