Before most people had heard of the web, America Online had a thriving business as the leading provider of online access and exclusive branded content to America's households. There was a time when there was more content in AOL than on all websites combined. With the proliferation of web-based content, however, AOL was forced to profoundly shift their business model. While they still saw significant revenue from customers who had held on to the familiar service, it was clear that the web would eventually kill this traditional core business. They decided to take a bold step and join the inevitable trend: they would no longer charge for access, instead making AOL services freely available. AOL would become an open web portal like Yahoo! and MSN, with a revenue model centered on online advertising. To support the new business model, AOL had to re-imagine its online offerings, making its properties more advertising-friendly and competitive in a crowded online market. The company asked Method to help it create some of those properties, including AOL RED, a site for teens, the Stylelist fashion blog (shown here), and sites for special events such as the Grammy Awards. Method provided branding, user experience, and website visual design for Stylelist, a destination site for fashion and beauty programming. The pages, built to accommodate AOL's proprietary blog format and to provide ample locations for in-line ads, use a restrained color palette that allows content and photography to shine. The design carefully balances the company's goals of creating credibility with a fashion-oriented audience, while still staying true to the navigation and graphic conventions of the AOL brand.