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I know you're asking that question to point out what you consider to be obvious, but actually I would say the answer to the question is more "yes" than "no".

A redesign in this case may help get new users, but it's much easier (and more cost-effective) to retain existing customers than to gain new customers. So, if your change upsets existing users on any meaningful scale, then it's probably not a good idea.

I'm not saying to never redesign. I'm saying that you should redesign iteratively and in small steps, so that both existing and new users benefit. You never want to attempt gaining new users at the expense of existing users.




These redesigns seem limited to lifting the main functionality out from a bunch of irrelevant detail.

Users who visit the site regularly would probably appreciate the fact that the page contains only the parts they use and no other stuff.

You'd need to do a lot of analytics on the old design to ensure that all the regularly used features are still easy to find.




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