Google Design

written by Scott Watermasysk on Wednesday, April 09 2008

I was just reading over some of the documentation on Google App Engine when something very obvious finally set in.

When it comes to design & branding I am not sure if any company is nearly as consistent as Google. Every page/app/service is a white background, a couple shades of blue, and a bunch of well placed small images. If you take each page on it's own it is downright boring. However, if you sum up the volume of everything Google it is beautiful in it's simplicity.

There are few companies compared as much as Google and Microsoft, so why should this post be any different? Browse around Microsoft.com and you see many varying styles depending on product and markets. Google always seems to get the benefit of doubt, especially when compared to Microsoft, but I personally just find the boringness of Google to be a much better experience.

What do you think? Is Google Beautiful? Boring?

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7 Comments

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Comments

  • paul on on 4.09.2008 at 8:06 AM

    paul avatar

    Form and function, simplicity and style. Google is designed to Index Information so it's white like paper.

  • Tim Laughlin on on 4.09.2008 at 8:12 AM

    Tim Laughlin avatar

    Simplicity by design. That is what Google does. In my opinion Google wins in the area over Microsoft. Google builds tools, not marketing. Or at least they want you to feel like your using a tool. You go to a Google site to get task accomplished. Usability is the key. Everything has a place. It's not different because someone wants to market a particular product. Microsoft, on the other hand just wants to put new products in you face, and hopefully in your hands. That might be okay for a www site. But they do it all over MSDN and what you think is a piece technical information often turns out to be a promotion for a related product.

    So for your question Google is Beautifully easy to use. I for one love a predictable user experience.

  • pat on on 4.09.2008 at 9:56 AM

    pat avatar

    I've always loved google, the simple designs seem to make you notice the functionality, its amazing the amount of STUFF google has :)

  • Rod Trent on on 4.09.2008 at 10:09 AM

    Rod Trent avatar

    One word... "functional"

    Folks just like to be able to use the Internet, without having to jump past flashing ads and features.

    Google's search and apps may not be the best, but they are the easiest to use.

  • Chris on on 4.09.2008 at 12:03 PM

    Chris avatar

    "different markets" being the key. You don't want the same user experience for viewers of the Visual Studio marketing site as you would the XBox 360 marketing site.

  • Bertrand Le Roy on on 4.09.2008 at 6:42 PM

    Bertrand Le Roy avatar

    Beautiful is the last word I would have used. They certainly are consistent and mostly simple, yes, but they all look like no designer gave any input. I've seen developer-"designed" applications that had more graphical appeal.

    Just look at your blog theme, which is a good example of something simple and reasonably beautiful (except for the unnecessary color variations). Google's stuff seems to assume that functional can't be beautiful, which is the negation of design.

  • John O'Brien on on 4.15.2008 at 9:41 PM

    John O'Brien avatar

    [Oh man check her out!]

    When she walks in the room, we all stop and look (for a moment). But then we get in the min-van and go back home to our wives.

    Appreciation for beauty is short lived. After your first few visits to a website you don't stop to soak in the time/effort they put into it's looks. Purpose, Function, and long-term usefulness are what we really want.

    [What? You're wearing a push-up bra?]

    Beauty is expensive. If you have a website with a beautiful landing page, the expectation is that that the same look/feel/appeal will continue throughout the site.

    Google works, because it's simple and functional. I keep going because they always have something useful and new to offer.

    Microsoft's sites are more attractive because they have a boat-load of money to maintain it's looks. However, the ever changing look/feel of Microsoft's beauty is tiresome because it is inconsistent. I only visit Microsoft's sites because I have to...not out of curiosity.

    PS. I stayed on this website because the content interested me. I didn't even care that it had a mustard-urine-colored theme.

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