Google (GOOG) portrayed as practical, commanding, scary, speedy and fun. However, some people are now thinking that it can also be beautiful.
New CEO Larry Page tries to in challenging all that, copying a note from one of his business role models and competitors, the departed Steve Jobs and Apple (AAPL). Almost instantly following the time that he got appointed as CEO in April, Page ordered to redesign Google’s online properties, which attempts in creating a unified look and feel, which would proclaim “Google,” just as the artistic character of Apple products rendering it instantly identifiable. This would be the first tie math Google is going to get a redesign after the company’s 13-year history.
Google’s new, less-cluttered look first appeared with the Google+ social network at the end of June, and is now about to be incorporate to Gmail, Calendar, Documents, Search and other Google sites across the company’s online territory. Though Google’s plans for a wholesale face-lift got outshined by the hubbub over the presentation of Google+, Page months before had set in motion a crash program by the company’s user interface (UI) designers in remaking the face of Google.
With its geeky, data-driven identity, Google has rarely been lauded for it is artistic. However, since consumers are gathering in front of Apple store to buy Apple’s iPhones and iPads, and with Facebook induction of new products emphasizing look and feeling as well as functionality, Google and other Internet companies increasingly concentrated on appearance.
Silicon Valley recruiters are turning to design students in programs that come from New York’s School of Visual Arts. Most of the top companies such as Apple, Yelp, Twitter, Facebook and Google try to get the best student by presenting them a marvellous job in the industry.
Facebook made some noise in design circles in April when it purchased Daytum. It is just for introducing the company for collecting personal statistics and sharing them via striking digital graphics, which brings its principals Nicholas Felton and Ryan Case to Silicon Valley from New York in working on its upcoming Timeline feature. Facebook advertized the acquisition at its yearly developer conference this year.
Google’s face-lift got praised by design experts, throughout the consensus remains, which the company has not matched Apple. Written on his blog, Vinh mentioned the update as, “less beholden to the brutally analytical decision-making that has guided Google product design and aesthetics in the past.”
Last week Page tried in drumming up some attention, he tries to bring up the changes throughout Google’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts, while talking about how Google+ expected to be a model for the entire Google franchise.