There is a reason why we have seen so many websites recently, from november 2012 to  Jan 2013 

some of below are factors responsible or leading for this 

If its a startup website ( the website has started started making its profits)

Got an investment 

1. THE PICTURES ON THE SITE AREN’T “OPTIMIZED.”
2. <Responsive design >, if you want more mobile traffic 
3. website content is good but its experience is over criticized 
4. Staying Ahead of Competition
5. Keeping it Fresh
6. Adding New Tools

Within as short span of time we saw big giants to mi-gits to newbies  redesigns , we will review a few of them 

At the end of october 2013 we saw skype beta website and mobile apps redesign , it was completely metro style and this created a lot of buzz 

TNW

Again in end of October The Next Web, one of the popular blogs, announced the launch of its redesigned site, immediately available to all readers following a short private beta. The revamped site, named TNW: Reader Edition, focuses on improving readability, mobility and brows-ability thanks to simplified UI, speed and the wonders of HTML5. 

i guess this was a bench mark in blog redesign , specifically new websites.It was Minimalist Redesign and best part is its responsive .

It was pure work of analyse user experience and delivering the product , hats off to the design team 

PlayStation Store announced and immediately redesigned  

Sony announced its store for play station of early October and redesigned it by the end of same month

It was originally delayed in the UK due to “teething problems”, ensuring that the “best possible Store experience” was available for users.

the design was gothic and trendy , truly only for gamers and people with high

the new release part was awesome

though the colors were out of complementary theory , it was a new try

&nbsp;Waze  Redesign 

one of the most upcomming maps services &community-basedtraffic and navigation app. WAZE  redesigned its apps and to add social sharing 

Evernote 5.0 Redesign

Early  November saw its apps for iphone and ipad mac, PC and  got remade the interface was awesome 

the ipad and i phone apps gave  amazing  experience 

Wyoming-based Pitch Engine sees the potential to move the modern press release into a highly visual and increasingly social direction, and so the startup is launching a major redesign and new mobile apps to make it happen.

the design was more on typography white sapace and cool pictures, it was good piece of work 

December start

Gmail 2.0 apps for iOS Android 4.0, 4.1 redesigned , with all new interface

to know more 

New Mashable

to know more 

Youtube

it was sleek and understandable, and one of the most talked designs of the year 

Yahoo mail redesign 

After Marissa Mayer taking charge as CEO, she did introduce a lot of changes the most effective one was this 

she got to the point of importance in new refreshment which the yahoos new users needed

Redesigned Bing search with social side bars 

and after a bunch of biggies like scoop.it  and digios publishing their redesign

2012 saw was year of most redesigned  responsive websites 

now in 2013 jan had a great start 

Wordpress blog provides 17 million users and it has moved on to 3 rd verion

and nearing the end of jan 3013 was hear the buzz of google image search redesigning 

lets all hope 2013 up coming redesigned website has more design focus on Simplicity, and Functionality which can give out a new website experience