Borders, an old economy company that sells books, music, movies and has 1,200 stores around the world is preparing a new design for its online store.

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The general look and feel of the site is fine but the core of the new site design could be a risky move for a company that is already making it not very good in the online business. It’s called the Magic Shelf and it is a 3-D shelf of book covers like the ones displayed in the real world Borders stores. Clicking on a book drives you to the book’s page with details, reviews and rates.

It seems that the Magic Shelf will become personalized for the shopper based on past purchases and will display books that the customer may be particularly interested in exploring. The new online store is in beta testing on beta.bordersstores.com.

It’s clear that Borders is trying to emulate online the user’s mental model, but will the users like it? Is this anyways today user’s mental model? When I think in buying a book I think in Amazon categories and search, recommendations, rate system and reviews; I don’t think in going to a book shop anymore. OK, right, I also like going to a book shop from time to time but books, music and DVDs are one of the best seller products on the net, meaning that users like the new “Amazon” model.

This design could only work if you want to buy a best seller, and even in that situation this solution is probably going to make you lose your time as you get lost in a virtual book shelf. Another thing I don’t like is that the Magic Shelf is in the home page and takes too long to load, thing that could make users fly even before the site is totally loaded.

Instead of magic, weird solutions, why do not make a nice and simple design? mmm… I would like to see how this works.